A Moment

Have you ever been disappointed with God?
• He didn’t answer your prayer.
• He didn’t give you the job you wanted.
• He didn’t heal the person you wanted heal.
• He didn’t provide what you needed.
There have been moments when I have really been disappointed with God. The biggest one was when I was 23 years old.  I had went to Anderson,In for the annual convention. I came back and my dad was dead.  I remember going to the hospital to see my dad’s lifeless body laying on a table. I remember being left alone for a couple of minutes. I began walking around his body praying that God would bring him back to life.  God didn’t. I went home. Through my Bible up against the wall. I was totally furious with God. I remember saying, “why on earth do I believe in you?” For nine years I would continue to ask that question.

This long moment in my life forced me to ask some hard questions about whether or not I was going to continue to follow God or not. I was frustrated and disappointed with God. That is what disappointment does. Like discouragement,  it forces us to ask the questions that need to be asked. Disappointment forces us to seek for answers that only God can answer. Disappointment forces us to make a decision that will change our life. Disappointment forces us to get on our knees and ask God “why on earth do I believe in you?”  That is a question we all need to ask. Especially if you have walked through any tragedy, discouragement or disappointment. Every tragedy, every discouragement, and every disappointment is a moment in our life that shapes our future. That shapes what we believe and don’t believe about God.

Like discouragement,  disappointment is part of the journey. Our faith journey is really a bunch of moments connected together by God. God uses every moment to shape us, mold us, prune us, and yes even disappoint us. Like the old hymn says:

Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after thy will,
while I am waiting, yielded and still.

God never disappoints. God’s plans are always to give you a hope and a future. Disappointing you is never on God’s agenda. But God uses your disappointment.

Why do we get so disappointed with Him?

In those difficult moments of our life we expect God to treat us better. We think we deserve better from God than what we are actually receiving. There is this sense of spiritual entitlement. Entitlement sets up my human desire as the determiner of what is right and fair. The truth is we deserve nothing but alienation and punishment from God. We are an enemy of God because of sin and we are not entitled to anything. When we enter into that relationship with God we are not entitled to forgiveness, mercy, and compassion. These things are given to us as a gift. He gives us those gifts at just the right moment in time we need them.

This sense of entitlement is demonstrated well in the story of the Prodigal Son. When the younger brother comes back, the father welcomes him back and lavishes him with gifts and a party.  What is the older brothers response? (look at  Luke 15).

He (Older brother) goes to his father and says, 28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’

Can you hear the sense of entitlement?  “All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing then told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even a young goat for a feast with my friends.”  He is saying, “Father you owe me!”

God owes us nothing. But He gave us everything through his one and only Son. Our sense entitlement ruins a God moment in our life. This is part of the reason we get disappointed with Him. Because He is never enough and his timing is never right. 

If all we want is the good stuff from God then we don’t really want God.  If all we want is perfect health. If all we want is the perfect spouse. If all we want is enough income. If all we want is perfect kids If all we want is the perfect ending. You are always going to be disappointed. There is no such thing as perfect health, a perfect spouse, the perfect kids/grandkids, the perfect ending, perfect timing, or the right amount of income. The more we realize this the less disappointed we will be.

In one moment Joseph had the perfect life. He was the favorite one. He was going to receive his father’s inheritance. The next moment his life was turn upside down over night. And for the next 13 years there was disappointing moment after disappointing moment. In those disappointing moments it would have been easy just to take the easy way out and give up on everything. Thank goodness Joseph’s love for God was not based on the circumstances in life he was going through.

If your love for God is based on your circumstances, then your relationship with Him will always be an up and down sort of thing. Every moment we walk through in life is designed to mature us. When you get to the point where you know God is enough – you know you have grown up. You have gone from pull-ups to real underwear. You have from nasty baby food  to real food.

God is enough. Only God is enough. Nothing other than God will ever be enough. If we pay attention to them, those moments in life where you feel disappointed in God, can be moments when you learn that God is enough. He is our divine “Enough.” There is freedom in letting go of what I think I deserve and holding onto the only One who matters. God never disappoints.

Romans 8:27-28 reminds us,

27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Look at Joseph’s story.
You never read about him being disappointed with God. There was a moment when He probably was a little disappointed in the cupbearer who forgot he was in prison after he helped him interpret his dream. There is a moment when the cupbearer did finally remembered Joseph and his ability to interpret dreams.  God allowed Joseph to languish in prison for more than two full years. In that moment Joseph must have wandered where God was, why nothing good was happening. But God was with Joseph even though it didn’t feel like it.

Look at what happened to Joseph.  In that moment when Joseph interpreted pharaoh’s dreams and gave him the plan to survive the seven years of famine, his life was turned upside down …..again. What was meant for evil God used to save a nation. 

Like Joseph ….. When God is enough, God causes all things to work together for your good. Joseph understood that God was with him in every moment of His life. The good moments, the disappointing moments, the bad moments, the insignificant moments. In each of those moments, God was enough. 

This past week I got to share with the kids at our local christian school. I shared with them some moments as a kid in my life that I remember to this very day. I shared with them that in grade school and middle school I was made fun because my high water pants and turtle neck shirts. I was made fun of because I was a smart kid that didn’t let others cheat. I was made fun because of my height.   In middle school I was bullied. Fortunately I was smart enough to talk them out of physically beating me up.  In middle school I was knocked down on some stairs and was literally walked on while picking up my stuff. Nobody helped. I never told my mom and dad these things happened to me. I don’t even think I have told any of my brothers and sisters.

Those moments in life could have destroyed me. Discouraged me. And defeated me.  God used those moments that were meant for evil towards me to give hope to those who are feeling knocked down. God used those moments that were meant for evil and to harm me to give me a story of hope to share with kids, youth, and adults which could hopefully inspire them to understand how much God loves them.

When God is enough, He causes all things to work together for your good. And you won’t be disappointed. Ever.