When we don't get what we want . . . Part II

Loved ones, I don't know how else to explain it, but Christianity that revolves around chicken dinners and church socials doesn't mean that much. I hope that by now, you understand that I am not shunning fellowships with other believers; but it was when Jesus saw that the crowds were showing up to fill there bellies, that He told them that they would have to eat His flesh and drink His blood. He offended them, and many of them stopped following Him. But the same is true for us today. What Christ is challenging them to do, is to take Him from the outside to the inside. When a man eats bread, the bread disappears; and even a small child understands that the bread goes from the outside of a man to the inside. That, loved ones, is where the nourishing begins. When we imbibe Christ, He nourishes us from inside. It is only, Christ on the inside, that transforms a man into a servant of the Most High God.

It is then, dear souls, in the worst of it, that Christ becomes life and peace; not when He is one of a dozen things that we fancy, but when we can't breathe with out Him, because with out Him we do not know how we will make it to the next day. It is when our lives are broken into pieces, that we experience God. What do I mean by that? Even a novice can sail with a light breeze, but it takes stormy seas to make a sailor: experience. How are you ever going to learn what it means for God to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask or think in love, unless you are so broken that only God can help you?

What are you doing, Father, that you would allow me to be hurt this way? I'm making you more like Jesus.

Listen to me, dear ones, God is working in us to make us more like His precious Son. It is the greatest love, that this Father allows His children to be hurt, not to their ruin, but to their benefit. When Christ fed the 5,000, He didn't wink at His disciples and say watch this: He was moved with compassion for them; and then He said bring me what you have, then He blessed it and fed them all. Are you moved with compassion to help others? My father, on one of our drives together, told me, "Son, you don't love people in spite of their weakness; you love them because of it." Where else will that compassion come from, unless you become so intimately aware of your own helpless state? But, it is here, loved ones, that God can be seen working through you. Look at Peter's answer when Christ asked if they would leave Him as well, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." Bless you all.

When we don't get what we want

What happens when you pray about something over and over again? You feel quite sure that this is where God is leading you, and yet, the results are not at all what you expected, certainly not what you wanted. The questions fill you mind, and you wonder if you were just completely out in left field. When you love the Lord and pray daily, it is incredibly troubling to believe that you are following His will, and then you find yourself up against something you can't believe that you are facing. Something that just levels you. You go from being sure that you are following God, to wondering if you were not following God at all. It is so incredibly painful, when everything that you believed is dashed to bits in front of you. You know that God is faithful, and you are left with no answers.

Loved ones, sometimes it is right in the middle of God's will, to put us up against something that just breaks us. I'm sorry, but there are no pretty words for what I am talking about. It is not just a loss of hope, or getting hurt; it is a profound wondering if you have spent weeks, months or years of your life not being able to discern the will of God. When eyes that you once knew love in are suddenly filled with hatred; how do you get up the next morning? When you are assured that you no longer belong, and one by one other friends turn away; where do you find any strength to go on? When your heart is so abstrusely broken; what can you do?

In my Bible reading, I ran across the 88th Psalm. It was stunning, because heretofore, I thought even the most lamenting psalms offered some silver lining: a reason for the badness. This one ends with a man crying out to God, with no answer or reason for his trouble. Matthew Henry offers this, "Those who are in trouble of mind may sing this psalm feelingly; those that are not ought to sing it thankfully, blessing God that it is not their case." It's an astounding measuring rod for trouble, though. Is God willing for one to end up like this?

Is this in God's plan? Dear ones, I know that I can not adequately speak for God's reasoning, nor is He obliged to share it with any of us; but this I do know, God is faithful even in the worst of it. Let me tell you another story, and see if you see a parallel. A king sent his prince to his people. He loved them, he taught them and he even healed them. This prince traveled through his kingdom giving bread, but not like any other bread; he gave them water and they didn't thirst any more. Even the children were given an audience with the prince. But some in the kingdom, didn't love the prince, the ones who should have loved him the most, hated him, the nobles of the kingdom. The scattered his friends, and they turned the people he loved against him. They beat him, they tortured him and killed him. Three days later, miraculously, the prince came back to life, and here is the beautiful part: he loved them still.

Psalm 88
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 88