Did you ever want something so much you could taste it? Did you ever pray for it, hope for it, even beg and weep for it? And when things didn’t turn out the way you wanted, you were so disappointed, perhaps even angry with God?  I have. A few times. And when that moment came when I realized my prayers were not going to be answered, at least not in the way I wanted, there also came the grace to deal with it.

But it brought to the forefront something else, too: my sense of entitlement. I think sometimes we Christians can fall into an “entitlement” mentality. Just because we are God’s, we sometimes believe He is obliged to answer our prayers in just the manner we want. It’s coming to us. Right? After all, we’ve been walking in faith these many years, doing things His way. Surely we can expect our prayers to be answered now and then.  But what we forget, what I forget, is that God is not obligated to do anything more for us. He already did it all by sending his son, Jesus, to the cross to pay for your sins and mine. And this act has given us the greatest gift of all, peace with God and a hope and a future.

During this Easter season, as I thought about the magnitude of what He did for me, everything in my life, all of its problems, its hurts, its disappointments, paled in comparison.  If God never does another thing for me, I’d have no right to complain. When I reflect on this great gift of peace with God, forgiveness of my sins, and the hope of eternal life, I’m amazed all over again by God’s great love. It’s this kind of loving God that I can trust with my future, to know what is best, even when I don’t understand what He is doing. And He is the kind of loving God you can trust as well.

Until next week,

Sylvia

Years ago, someone I knew became an atheist because when her sister was sick she prayed to God and instead of answering her prayers and healing her sister, God let her sister die.  How deep was her commitment to God prior to this incident? Who can say?  Only God knows the heart, but it does bring up a valid issue, one that, I dare say, many Christians, me included, have experienced, and it is disappointment with God.  We get disappointed when we have prayed and prayed about a thing and it doesn’t happen, of if after walking in what we thought was faithful obedience for some time, God still doesn’t answer our prayers, or He lets something terrible happen, or He allows the sins of others to drastically impact our lives. And we become offended and ask, “why?” and we begin to feel resentful towards God.  And all this says a lot about us. It says we are like spoiled children, wanting our way and wanting it now. It says that we think we can run things better than God; that we know better than He does what is good for us. It also shows a lack of faith because we really don’t believe God works all things together for good for them that love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). 

Why are so many disappointed with God these days? Is it because we’ve become I-centered dough-people? Has our culture made us believe we are the center of the universe?  That everything revolves around us? And if it feels good do it and if it doesn’t, well don’t waste one more second in that marriage, in that job, or in trying to overcome that problem? I think it has.  And though we are but weak flesh and it’s often hard to fight the good fight, and we get discourage and even disappointed with God, we must hang in there.  God really does have our best interest in mind, and there is no better advocate in all the world.  He will stick closer than a brother, never leave us or forsake us, and He loves us with an everlasting love.  And if we trust Him and see the thing through we really will come out conformed more perfectly into the image of Jesus Christ. And that, in a nut shell, is the whole point.

Until next week,

Sylvia