Hope Differed Make the Heart Sick
Okay... I am teaching tonight.
I can feel in my spirit what I am supposed to talk about, but I still haven't figured out how to put it into words. So I thought it might help for me to do a stream-of-conscience here to help me get it all out.
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My title is, "When God Disappoints: What do you do when you are disappointed with what you think God is doing?"
There is a place in the Christian walk when you feel let down by the Lord. It happens. Things don't always turn out the way we expect - the way we prayed for. Then what? Did God let us down? Did He lie? Why could something so bad happen to someone who loves the Lord?
At the burning bush, the Lord told Moses about the land flowing with milk and honey. He told Moses there were people living there, but what He didn't tell him was that those people were giants.
Moses led the Israelites out of slavery, across the seabed of the Red Sea, through the manna in the desert. And here, as he reaches the place where God has promised they would inherit, it is full of giants and warring nations. No wonder he hit the rock in frustration!
The Shunamite woman was given a miracle baby because she found favor in the prophet's eyes. But a few years later, the son died before he reached adulthood. Wouldn't that shake your faith in the goodness of God?
Mary was given a son, of whom this was said: "The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." Yet he died a gruesome death on the cross 33 years later.
The disciples followed Jesus, believing that the Messiah was going to overthrow the Roman government. But they watched his dead body being carried to the tomb.
Whether we want to believe it or not, we are sometimes disappointed by God. We are sometimes not happy with what He is doing.
(Isn't it awesome that we serve a God who is okay with us being upset with him?!)
So, the question remains, "What do we do when we are disappointed by God?"
I have been disappointed.
I prayed for sick people who were never healed, even though His Word says "pray for the sick, lay hands on them, and they will be healed."
I believed for a blessing because His Word says, "Whatever you ask, believe for it in My name, and it shall be done." The blessing never came.
I begged for a miraculous change, quoting "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." The status quo remained.
So what can we do? Where do we go? What do we pray? How do we act? When we are let down by the One Person who we never thought would let us down?
It's about love.
Let me tell you about my husband. I love him. I once had a girl who thought she was in love ask me, "How do you know you love B? Why do you love him?"
It took me a long time to figure out the answer to that.
I could say because he makes me smile. But if he hit his head and completely lost his since of humor, I would still love him.
I could say it's because he's good looking, but we all know that looks fade over time. I will still love him when he's old and bald and feeble.
The bottom line is that I don't love him because of what he does or how he looks.
I love him because he is. He exists.
If tomorrow (God forbid) he went into a coma, and if he were no longer to do any of the things he does now, I would still love him.
Because he is.
I love CJ for the same reason. As a tiny infant, she did nothing for me. She cried and pooped and ate and pooped some more and slept. But I still loved her more than my own life.
Because she is. She exists.
And God feels the same way about us. It doesn't matter what we do or don't do for Him. He loves us because we are. We exist. There is no other reason.
And this is the answer to our disappointment - that we fall in love with God in such a way, that our love is based, not on what He does, but on the fact that He is. He exists.
This is what God meant when He said to Moses, 'I AM THAT I AM.'
He was saying, don't worry about My name. Just know that I AM. That's all that matters.
Because if we place our love and trust in the things that God does for us, we will be disappointed. Because God rarely does what we expect Him to do.
Now, don't get me wrong. Anything He does is going to be for our best and His glory.
But he rarely does it in a way that we understand.
If Moses' faith had been in the promised land, the Israelites would have turned back at the Red Sea.
The Shunamite woman would have cried at her son's funeral and turned against the prophet.
Mary and the disciples would have given up on God.
But their faith was in the I AM.
They loved God because He was. Because of who He was.
Not because of what they thought He would do for them.
And that's the place God wants to draw you to.
Because if you love God for no other reason than the fact that He exists. He is. He's here. If you only love him for that, you will NEVER be disappointed. Because He will always exist.
And the more you love Him like that, the more you get to know Him. And the more intimate you become with Him, the more you realize that He is a good God.
So then when storms come. When nothing seems to make sense. When circumstances threaten to smash all your promised blessings. You will not waiver. You will not be shaken. Because your trust in in a good God, a God that exists and reigns , regardless of what's going on around you.
So, again we are faced with the question: "What do you do when you are disappointed by God?"
Turn to Him. Confess to Him that you only want your hope to be in Him. In who He is.
That will be your peace in the storm. That will make your heart secure.
It doesn't mean bad things won't happen. It just means that those things won't cause your faith to be shaken. Because you didn't believe in those things, anyways.
Your hope is in the Lord. In the I AM.
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Ok. That's all I can write right now. I need to get to work.
Please be praying that this comes across correctly. Our service is at 7pm.
Thanks!