They hadn’t
been to church for a while so I gave the husband a call.
“Hey Chuck,
(not his name) how are you doing? Haven’t seen you guys for a while. Is
everything okay?”
After a
couple uncomfortable seconds, Chuck said, “we probably won’t be coming back to
church.”
“Are you
serious? Really? Why? Have I done something to offend you?”
“No. You
see, Mark, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. We did everything we were
supposed to do. We taught our children the Bible. We took them to church. We
told them about Jesus. We prayed for them. And then my son winds up getting a
girl pregnant and having to get married. It just wasn’t supposed to be this
way.”
I felt
really sad for Chuck and his family. And I felt really sad that Chuck had the
expectations of God he did and that he’d obeyed God for the reasons he did.
God doesn’t
promise us trial-free lives if we obey him.
God doesn’t
promise that if we keep his commands he’ll reward us with cruises and country
club memberships. Tim Keller, in Prodigal God, talks about how the prodigal
son’s elder brother had expectations of his father which tripped him up:
We see that
the elder brother “became angry.” All of his words are dripping with
resentment. The first sign you have an elder-brother spirit is that when your
life doesn’t go as you want, you aren’t just sorrowful but deeply angry and
bitter. Elder brothers believe that if they live a good life they should get a
good life, that God owes them a smooth road if they try very hard to live up to
standards.
Not only
does God not owe us easy lives, but he promises we’ll suffer:
Many are the
afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Psalm
34:19
In this you
rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by
various trials… 1 Peter 1:6
Count it all
joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. James 1:2
We should
not be amazed that suffer; we should be amazed we don’t suffer more than we do.
It helps me
to remember that not only do I deserve any thing bad that happens to me, I
deserve far worse – I deserve to burn in hell for eternity for my sins. Of
course I’d never tell anyone in their sadness or suffering you deserve to be in
hell so buck up, but it helps me keep things in perspective for myself when I’m
tempted to complain.
So when is
it appropriate to say “It wasn’t supposed to be this way?” Whenever something
good happens to us! Whenever we are blessed! It wasn’t supposed to be this way
– I sinned and rebelled against God – yet look how he has blessed me!
So don’t
obey God thinking he’ll owe you, for God owes no one a thing. Serve him out of
gratitude for all he’s done for you and because you love him. Serve him for his
glory.
No, it
wasn’t supposed to be this way. And aren’t you glad?
Yesterday, I felt intense anger and bitterness.To God. Again.
I got desperate and frustrated.
God, why did you not give me this job?
God, I fasted and prayed. I did nightly devotions. I even shared your words through my blog. God, why did you not give me this job??!
And now, again, I feel so stupid.
"...not only do I deserve any thing bad that happens to me, I deserve far worse – I deserve to burn in hell for eternity for my sins..."
Because of this big issue I am facing right now, I forgot Him. I forgot what He did to me. I forgot His unconditional and unfailing love for me. I forgot that He and His love is much much greater than my problems.
"...don’t obey God thinking he’ll owe you, for God owes no one a thing."
This is exactly what I felt this previous week. I felt that by doing all these "good" thing, God would give me this job. I thought God owed me this one. But no. God does not owe me anything. Instead, I owe Him everything. And that's the reality I always forget during storms in my life.
***
Dear Father God. Sorry. Sorry that I've sin. Sorry. I became frustrated and desperate. Sorry i thought of myself as deserving of your blessings. Sorry for thinking that You owe me this. Sorry for insisting my plans over Yours. Sorry my God. Lord, I am praying for restoration of my faith and my love to You.
***
Yes, rite. When "it wasn't supposed to be this way" we will wonder "WHY?"
ReplyDeleteGod cannot bless us, change our circumstances, heal our bodies, fulfill His promise or put His stamp of approval on our service to him until we align our thinking with His thinking.
God is much more concerned about our honesty before Him and our attitude of grace and mercy toward others than He is about us doing everything correctly.
So let us remember" It takes time for God to do His work. We do not have to lose heart because of any lack we discover in ourselves.
Commit your way to the Lord. Psalm 37:5 encourages us " trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass. The Almighty God is at work in our lives. We can certainly trust Him for the journey He set for us.
He is completing His work in you. Believe Him!
God bless.