WHEN THINGS DON’T PAN OUT: DEVILS ON BOARD

October 5, 2013 at 12:44 PM (Christian Living, Disappointment & Disillusionment, When Things Don't Pan Out)
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We all like to have our way. It’s a natural and normal thing that comes with being human. It’s not necessarily the best, safest, or healthiest thing for us. God has a better way. His way. But sometimes people just can’t tell us differently or convince us otherwise: our way is the best way! It’s this stubborn, inextinguishable belief that’s a huge part of the reason why we like having our way.

As you know full well by now, things don’t always go the way we planned. It’s a real downer and a source of frustration, disappointment, anger, and tears. But that’s life. And we find a way to go on.

But when things don’t pan out the way God said they would, then that becomes a really really difficult thing for me. I’m a believer. I take God at His Word. When He makes me a promise and I take Him up on that promise, I fully expect Him to do what He said He would do. And when He doesn’t, I go through a serious time of reflection and questioning. Is God’s Word true or not? Of course it is, silly! Then why didn’t it work?

I like to have answers. Sometimes, the answers are easy. Sometimes hard to fathom or digest. Sometimes there aren’t any answers. At least, not right now. Maybe down the road. Maybe never. But whether I understand the reasons or not, I’m still a believer. God expects me to continue believing Him. Continue serving Him. Continue praising Him. And since I’m a preacher, God expects me to continue preaching the Word of truth and life.

The Biblical characters were very much like you and me. They were, in fact, totally human. Just like you and me. Life didn’t always pan out for them too. How they responded and dealt with the mess they weren’t expecting  can be a compass, or a lighthouse, to get us back on track with the Lord. So, from beyond the grave, the dead speak and show us how to continue being faithful when it looks as if God isn’t.

DEVILS ON BOARD

When life falls apart on you, your dreams are shattered, and you’re living a nightmare that defies explanation or escape; at some point after you’ve cried and fussed and searched for reasons or explanations, you’ve got to settle down, have a quiet, pensive moment alone with God, and realize that devils unseen are lurking all around you.

These devils have either been allowed by God to wreak havoc on you in order to try or test you (as in Job’s case in Job chapters 1 & 2); or else they’re using the using the law of consequences (that is, the law of sowing and reaping) or God’s chastening hand on you to worsen your suffering and draw you away from God.

There are reasons why things happen. Understanding what these reasons are are sooo helpful because they help us formulate a proper response to our sufferings.

But whether we know what these reasons are or not, the one thing we’ve got to remember and be aware of is the devil’s on the loose. He’s likely perched on your shoulder, as it were. And he’s talking to you, he’s working you over, so that you get bitter and disillusioned with God, you cuss Him out, and walk away from Him.

The principle that I gleaned from John 10:10 is this: WHEREVER THERE’S TROUBLE THE DEVIL IS CLOSE AT HAND. WHENEVER THERE’S SUFFERING AND PAIN SATAN IS THERE TO INCREASE IT AND SOCK IT TO YOU.  

We can look at the familiar story of Job because we know that the devil was definitely involved in that nightmare. But I’d like to look at someone else because, like a lot of us in our time of troubles and trials, the devil wasn’t readily seen. Let’s look at a widow living in Zarephath (1 Kings 17).

Now Zarephath was a small village located between Tyre and Sidon. This was Phoenician territory. The infamous Queen Jezebel was a Phoenician. So this widow was, in all likelihood, a heathen. I personally think she became a believer after Elijah was done with her, but that’s skipping ahead. Like a lot of the heathens back then, she was somewhat familiar with the God of Israel. Israel, after all, was a neighboring nation. And with all the miracles that God did for Israel through the years, just about everyone in Palestine and the surrounding areas knew a little something about the God of Might and Miracles and Mercies.

Anyways, the whole of Palestine was in the midst of a drought, no thanks to Elijah (1 Kings 17:1). It had been going on for some time now that it was to a point where people were starting to die from hunger and dehydration. The widow had a son. And she had enough flour and oil in the house left for one last meal. It would be their last meal. Then, like many others, they would succumb to death.

She was out gathering sticks for the fire when she met up with Elijah the prophet. She could tell right off that he was an Israelite and, judging by the clothes he wore, that he was a prophet. Anyways, you’ve either got to love this guy or else hate him. He asks the widow for some water. And, as she was going to get the water, he also asked her for some bread.

Now get this. There’s a severe drought and famine in the land. He’s a complete stranger. A foreigner. He comes to a lady and asks her for water and food. As if she had enough water and food to share with strangers! What’s even more astounding is, she tells him she’s only got enough food for one last meal for her son and herself, then they’d be completely out and dead. Yet, in spite of knowing her desperate situation, Elijah still insists that she make him food and that she make it for him first, or serve him first: her son and she could have whatever he didn’t eat. How audacious, selfish, and insensitive is that?

Remarkably, and to her credit, she obeys the prophet. Imagine what faith she must have had to share her last meal with a complete stranger. If I was her, it’d have been awfully hard to share. Maybe if there was enough to share, yes. Maybe if there weren’t any children to feed, yes. But when we’re talking about a pittance and a stranger, sharing or caring just isn’t something that comes naturally. You don’t even think about it. But the woman complies with the prophet’s request.

And to her blessed surprise, the prophet miraculously multiplies her flour and oil so that, for the remainder of the famine and drought, the widow and her son ate rather well. They never ran out. They always had food to eat! Suddenly, to her blessed relief, her worries are gone. Life looked bright once again.

Now comes the part when life falls apart on this widow. Her son gets sick. He gets sicker by the day. And eventually he dies. You’d have to wonder what the prophet was doing all that time that the boy was sick. All indications are that he lived with them. He did a miracle with the flour and oil. Couldn’t he have done a miracle and saved the boy’s life?

Anyways, the boy dies. I’d like for you to look at the woman’s response to her unbearable tragedy. In 1 Kings 17:18 she went up to the prophet and asked in tears, if not in rage, What do you have against me, O man of God? Have you come to me to remind God of my sin and cause the death of my son?  In the widow’s mind, Elijah’s presence caused God to remember her sin; whatever that sin was, it must have been awful and condemning enough to gnaw at her soul; and, as a result of His remembrance, God killed the boy as a punishment for her sin. As she saw it, Elijah was directly responsible for her son’s death.

Now get this. Before meeting up with the prophet this widow and her son were as good as dead. They had only enough food for one meal, then it was curtains for them. The prophet showed up and, miraculously, the woman and her son had food enough to last them through the famine. They lived! They didn’t hunger for the duration of the famine. The widow knew this miracle of provision was an act of God. God did this for her because the prophet was a man of God. And God, being the world-renowned God of Might and Miracles and Mercies, did a wondrous, life-saving miracle for her. God showed her just how loving, gracious, merciful, and kind He is. He cared for her and her son. And He took them of them.

If God wanted to punish this widow for her sin He could have done it a long time ago. Yeah, God doesn’t always punish sin right away. But why would God give her and her son a life-saving miracle if He wanted to kill them? He wouldn’t have needed to do anything to kill them: the famine would have done that for Him. But God intervened through the prophet and saved this widow alive because He loved her and cared for her. The widow had to have known this and, if she was like some of us, she would have gone to bed every night thanking her lucky stars that they all had food to eat for that day.

The widow, I’m saying, lived every day with a miracle from God. And now, when her worst nightmare came true, she blamed God and the prophet for her terrible misfortune and unbearable loss. Does this sound like logical thinking to you? It shouldn’t. It’s a loony way of looking at the terrible things that have happened to you. God wouldn’t have saved you only to kill you. He wouldn’t have been gracious and kind, only to strike you down. That’s not how God works. And the proof of it is, God raised the dead boy back to life again (1 Kings 17:21-22). He proved to the widow, once again, that He was the God of Might and Miracles and Mercies. He corrected her mistaken theology.

So what am I saying in all this? I’m saying that even though the devil is nowhere mentioned or seen in this account, he was every bit present, working, and talking to this woman, convincing her that her son’s sickness and death was her fault; God was punishing her for her sins; God wasn’t merciful, forgiving, or forgetting; God was out to kill her and the love of her life; God was against her.

Beloved brethren, the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). When that kind of stuff is going on in your life, quit blaming God. It isn’t God who’s doing that to you. It’s the devil. You don’t see him. But he’s there with you, whispering to you, and getting you to think and say loony things so that you’ll blame God, hate Him, and turn your back on Him.

When life becomes a nightmare you need a miracle from God. Turn to Him. God’s gracious, forgiving, and kind. He’s a God of Might and Miracles and Mercies. He loves you. And He’s willing to prove it to you once again. In fact, GOD NEVER TIRES OF PROVING HIS LOVE FOR YOU! HE LOVES TO PROVE TO YOU THAT HE LOVES YOU! Don’t turn your back on God! Turn around! And watch a miracle happen!

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WHEN THINGS DON’T PAN OUT: DON’T BLAME GOD

June 1, 2013 at 7:22 PM (Christian Living, Disappointment & Disillusionment, When Things Don't Pan Out)
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We all like to have things our way. It’s a natural and normal thing that comes with being human. It’s not necessarily the best, safest, or healthiest thing for us. God has a better way. His way. But sometimes people just can’t tell us differently or convince us otherwise: our way is the best way! It’s this stubborn, inextinguishable belief that’s a huge part of the reason why we like having our way.

As you know full well by now,  things don’t always go the way we planned. It’s a real downer and a source of frustration, disappointment, anger, and tears. But that’s life. And we find a way to go on.

But when things don’t pan out the way God said they would, then that becomes a really really difficult thing for me. I’m a believer. I take God at His Word. When He makes me a promise and I take Him up on that promise, I fully expect Him to do what He said He would do. And when He doesn’t, I go through a serious time of reflection and questioning. Is God’s Word true or not? Of course it is, silly! Then why didn’t it work?

I like to have answers. Sometimes, the answers are easy. Sometimes hard to fathom or digest. Sometimes there aren’t any answers. At least, not right now. Maybe down the road. Maybe never. But whether I understand the reasons or not, I’m still a believer. God expects me to continue believing Him. Continue serving Him. Continue praising Him. And since I’m a preacher, God expects me to continue preaching the Word of truth and life.

I’m constantly amazed by how practical and relevant the Bible is to us in our day. As an example, here’s what I learned from the Scriptures when things didn’t pan out the way I thought they would.

DON’T BLAME GOD

When things don’t go the way they should—at least, the way God said they would; the easiest and readiest thing to do is point a finger or fist at God and blame Him for the mess. Non-Christians are especially vociferous and vile, blaming God, whenever tragedy strikes. Some of us mouth off everytime we don’t get our way. Poor God!  He gets blamed for a lot of things!

I used to blame God in my younger days as a Christian. But the more I read the Bible and got acquainted with God the more I came to a point where I realized that A RIGHTEOUS, SINLESS GOD COULD DO NO WRONG. IT’S IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD TO BE WRONG AND TO DO WRONG!  

  • Psalm 145:17 puts it this way, The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His works.
  • Daniel 9:14 says essentially the same thing: Our God is righteous in all the works that He has done.  
  • Deuteronomy 32:4 echoes the refrain: He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

There’ve been times when it sure looked like God was wrong. He messed up. He was unfaithful. But we will never, not ever, prove God and His Bible wrong! NO MATTER WHAT GOD DOES OR ALLOWS, HE’S ALWAYS RIGHT AND RIGHTEOUS. HE’S NEVER WRONG. HE NEVER MAKES A MISTAKE. HE NEVER MESSES UP—even when we think He did. Even when it looks like He did.

So if God isn’t to blame, who is? I hate to say it, and you’re not gonna like me for saying it, but sometimes—not all the time thankfully, but nevertheless sometimes—we’re the reason why things didn’t pan out the way they were supposed do. We messed up. THINGS GO WRONG WHEN WE’RE WRONG.

We don’t always know it. At least, not right away. Sometimes we refuse to admit guilt, blame, or responsibility. Sometimes we’re willfully blind, self-deceived, and engaged in a cover-up or denial. And at other times, we’re ignorantly blind: we just don’t see the true nature of things. In either case, when we don’t see, we need the Lord to open our eyes, our heart, and mind, to see where we went wrong.

GET TO THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

Let me put this train of thought on hold and talk to you a little bit about myself. I love to garden. I get a tremendous satisfaction in planting a seed and nurturing it so that it gives me the veggies that I’m chomping at the bit to eat or can. It’s a lot of work, sweat, and time. But I get a lot of satisfaction doing the work.

It’s springtime here in the American Midwest and weeds are cropping up everywhere in my garden. I till the open spaces of the garden. But in the asparagus bed, as also in the strawberry and raspberry patch, I get on my hands and knees and pull each weed out. I’ve been that way about weeds ever since I was a young boy on Guam. I like pulling them out instead of cutting them down or hoeing. By pulling the roots out I get fewer and fewer weeds that way.

When we leave the roots in the ground there’s a good chance the weed will come back, sprout up, and grow again. That’s just the way it is.

This reminds me of the parable of the soils in Matthew 13. Some areas of the holy land were really fertile and lush. Others, rocky. And others, overrun with brambles, briars, and thistles. Like many of us today, farmers back then would cut these thorny brushes down, burn them in the field, then plant the seed. But as the seed was growing, guess what happened. The thorns’ roots that were left in the ground came back with a vengeance . They sprouted so many new thorny brushes that they choked out the good seed and the farmer never got a harvest.

Do you see what happened here? The soil was, from all outward appearances, cleared of thorny brushes. But underneath the soil, the thorny brushes’ roots were still there. They were still alive. And as long as these roots were alive, so was the problem.

Much like thorny brushes, in many of us there are underground roots that not many people see. These are the hidden loves, affections, lusts, and desires that we secretly long after and do unseen in the privacy of our house or room. If we don’t deal with these roots, if we don’t get them out of our heart, they’ll end up growing and killing us spiritually. They’ll render us spiritually barren or fruitless. Like the farmer, the spiritual harvest and bounty that we’re expecting just doesn’t pan out.  It doesn’t happen as promised. Why is that? Because the secret loves that we allow to remain in our heart will grow and keep us from bearing and enjoying the fruit. Left alive in our heart, our lusts will kill us someday. It’s only a matter of time.

So what’s the solution? You’ve got to deal with the root of the problem. You’ve got to get sin out of your heart and mind. As long as you leave it there and nurture it, they’ll keep the good seed of the Word from taking root in your heart, growing, and bringing forth the good fruit of change and righteousness in you.

When things don’t pan out the way God’s Seed said it would, when the fruit of the Seed is lacking; it’s not because God’s Seed isn’t any good. It’s not because it doesn’t work. The Seed does work. Just  not in thorny hearts or minds. Beloved, if you want good fruit, good results, God-promised results; you’ve got to get to the root of your problem. As long as the root’s alive, so is your problem. That’s one reason why things don’t pan out the way we’d like.

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WHEN THINGS DON’T PAN OUT: WE LISTEN AND LEARN

May 9, 2013 at 9:02 PM (Christian Living, Disappointment & Disillusionment, When Things Don't Pan Out)
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DEALING WITH DISAPPOINTMENT AND DISILLUSIONMENT

We all like to have things our way. It’s a natural and normal thing that comes with being human. It’s not necessarily the best, safest, or healthiest thing for us. God has a better way. His way. But sometimes people just can’t tell us differently or convince us otherwise: our way is the best way! It’s this stubborn, inextinguishable belief that’s a huge part of the reason why we like having things go our way.

As you know full well by now,  things don’t always go the way we planned. It’s a real downer and a source of frustration, disappointment, anger, and tears. But that’s life. And we find a way to go on.

But when things don’t pan out the way God said they would, then that becomes a really, really difficult thing for me. I’m a believer. I take God at His Word. When He makes me a promise and I take Him up on that promise I fully expect Him to do what He said He would do. And when He doesn’t I go through a serious time of reflection and questioning. Is God’s Word true or not? Of course it is, silly! Then why didn’t it work?

I like to have answers. Sometimes the answers are easy. Sometimes, hard to fathom or digest. Sometimes there aren’t any answers. At least, not right now. Maybe down the road. Maybe never. But whether I understand the reasons or not, I’m still a believer. God expects me to continue believing Him. Continue serving Him. Continue praising Him. And since I’m a preacher, God expects me to continue preaching the Word of truth and life.

I’m constantly amazed by how practical and relevant the Bible is to us in our day. As an example, here’s what I learned from the Scriptures when things didn’t pan out the way I thought they would.

WE LISTEN AND LEARN 

God gave me a promise of healing and I take that very literally and seriously. After all, He wouldn’t have made me the promise if He didn’t mean it. If He meant something else.

I recently went through a bout with high blood pressure. It came right on the heels of my sister-in-law dying, which was a rather intense situation for all of us who knew her and loved her. Well, we thought that my  high blood pressure was connected to Doreen’s death. So it stood to reason that my blood pressure would return to normal after we laid Doreen’s body to rest and got on with life.

Several weeks later, my blood pressure remained high. I’m talking upwards of 178/98 with a pulse running between 95 and 115.  I’m talking rapid, loud, pounding heartbeats. The kind of beats that keep you up at night because you can’t hear or feel anything other than your heart racing and pounding like a car that’s careening out of control and seconds away from crashing.

Naturally, I prayed and ask God to heal me. I spoke words of life, health, healing, and peace upon my heart. I rested in bed. I honestly tried not to be worried or anxious. But after six weeks in this weakened condition, with no improvement whatsoever, I have to admit I got afraid. My pastor came and took me to a clinic. And from there I was ordered to the emergency room. My blood pressure was 225/125. My pulse was 116. I was on the verge of a massive heart attack or stroke.

Reluctantly, I went to the ER—not understanding why God hadn’t heard or answered my prayer. Yeah, I was afraid. But I wouldn’t have been afraid if He’d answered my prayer in the first place and brought my blood pressure back to normal several weeks ago. Why did He let the trial get out of hand? I was counting on Him to heal me. But He didn’t. Now it was up to the doctors to do that.

Like I said earlier, I’m a Christian. I’m a believer. And I wasn’t about to turn my back on God just because He didn’t heal me. God has His reasons. I didn’t know what His reasons were at the time. But He graciously preserved me for the six weeks that my heart was pounding and overworked. I was thankful for that much.

Not too long ago, the Lord showed me why He didn’t answer my prayer. It was because He wanted me to make some lifestyle changes. Dietary changes. Changes that would make me healthy and strong so that I can live longer and finish the work He gave me to do. If God had answered my prayer the first day of my trial, or shortly thereafter, I wouldn’t have made any life-prolonging, lifestyle changes. Why would I? I would have used His healing mercies to continue eating salt like it was going out of style. I wouldn’t be exercising on a daily or regular basis. I wouldn’t be concerned about the toxins that are poisoning our foods and our bodies.  Unanswered prayer was a wake-up call from God that effected an immediate, and on-going, change in my diet and lifestyle habits. It was a blessing in disguise. Something good came out of a bad, disillusioned experience. I learned to make the changes that God wanted me to make.

This reminds me of the familiar comfort of Romans 8:28, 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. God didn’t promise that everything that happens to us is good. What He promised was He would take everything that happens to us and make them work out for our good. No matter what happens to us, everything—including the bad things, the things that nearly got us killed, the things that caused us a lot of grief, misery, and pain—will turn out for our good. Of course, we’ve got to continue loving God in spite of all the suffering. But the comfort is something good is gonna come out of our trials and tears.

In my case, God didn’t heal me of my high blood pressure problems when I was going through them. That’s because He was doing something good, something better, for me. By not healing me at the time He was actually saving and prolonging my life! Wow! How neat is that! I would never have imagined that had God not shown me.

I could have chosen to be bitter and angry towards God. I could have criticized and rejected the promises of healing. Like many before me, I could have brazenly preached that trusting God doesn’t work. But I chose to be thankful and chose to continue believing God even when I didn’t understand. As a consequence, God made everything turn out good–actually, gobs better, for me.

Just so you know, my blood pressure’s back to normal now. I’m making the lifestyle and dietary changes that God wanted me to make. And God kept His healing promise after all. Just goes to show that God’s Word is true and He’s true to His Word. When it looks like things aren’t panning out the way God said they would, it’s because He’s got something good, something better, in mind for us. We just need to listen and learn.

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WHEN THINGS DON’T PAN OUT: WE STILL BELIEVE

April 15, 2013 at 2:12 PM (Christian Living, Disappointment & Disillusionment, When Things Don't Pan Out)
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DEALING WITH DISAPPOINTMENT AND DISILLUSIONMENT

We all like to have things our way. It’s a natural and normal thing that comes with being human. It’s not necessarily the best, safest, or healthiest thing for us. God has a better way. His way. But sometimes people just can’t tell us differently or convince us otherwise: our way is the best way! It’s this stubborn, inextinguishable belief that’s a huge part of the reason why we like having things go our way.

As you know full well by now,  things don’t always go the way we planned. It’s a real downer and a source of frustration, disappointment, anger, and tears. But that’s life. And we find a way to go on.

But when things don’t pan out the way God said they would, then that becomes a really really difficult thing for me. I’m a believer. I take God at His Word. When He makes me a promise and I take Him up on that promise, I fully expect Him to do what He said He would do. And when He doesn’t, I go through a serious time of reflection and questioning. Is God’s Word true or not? Of course it is, silly! Then why didn’t it work?

I like to have answers. Sometimes, the answers are easy. Sometimes hard to fathom or digest. Sometimes there aren’t any answers. At least, not right now. Maybe down the road. Maybe never. But whether I understand the reasons or not, I’m still a believer. God expects me to continue believing Him. Continue serving Him. Continue praising Him. And since I’m a preacher, God expects me to continue preaching the Word of truth and life.

The Biblical characters were very much like you and me. They were, in fact, totally human. Just like you and me. Life didn’t always pan out for them too. How they responded and dealt with the mess they weren’t expecting  can be a compass, or a lighthouse, to get us back on track with the Lord. So, from beyond the grave, the dead speak and show us how to continue being faithful when it looks as if God isn’t.

WE STILL BELIEVE

My sister-in-law came down with a really aggressive form of cancer a couple of years ago. She started getting really sick in November 2012 and by January 2013 she was in a real fight for her life. Things didn’t look good for her and my first inclination was to let her go to be with the Lord. But Doreen was believing for life. She had a promise of healing from God’s Word. And she wouldn’t have any talk or thought of dying. She was gonna get healed of cancer!

Well, if she was believing for healing and life, I felt we owed  it to her as a family to believe with her. So we took up arms against the devil, lifted up the shield of faith, and wielded the sword of the Spirit. We warred and sang our way from one battle to another. And God worked miracle after miracle! We were stunned! We maybe shouldn’t have been. But we saw God’s power working miraculously in response to the faith and prayers of God’s people. We were so humbled by God’s love and mercies towards Doreen and us. So encouraged by the fact that we were seeing God’s Word and power and faithfulness in action. So grateful that faith and God’s promises do work!

After another successful day of warfare and miracles, we went to bed Saturday night confident and hopeful that Doreen was on the mend. She was able to swallow again. That meant she would eat and drink more, get strength, gain weight, and mend back to health—just as God promised and just as we believed.

I was stunned when I woke up early Sunday morning with the news that Doreen had only a few hours to live. How can that be? She was doing good when we left her late Saturday night.

Then I remembered a dream that the Lord had given me that very early Sunday morning. Doreen’s husband, Jeremy, and I were in a boxing ring, the devil was on the canvas, and Jesus the Referee lifted up both of our arms and said, This fight’s over. This fight’s been won. Ominously, when I woke up Sunday morning, there was this dread, this knowing, that God was taking Doreen home. Sure enough, when the text message came, it was like a text message from God: It’s time to quit believing for healing and life. I want her home with Me. It’s time to let her go. This fight’s over. This fight’s been won.

Won? By dying? I couldn’t understand it. I still don’t. I’m hurt and grieved. But, I’m a believer and I still sing God’s high praises because He’s true and faithful no matter what happens.

I’m talking about what we do when things don’t pan out the way we thought or believed they would. A friend of mine was sharing her story with me recently. She’d been contemplating adopting another young child. She’d prayed about it and, one day, God gave her the go-ahead and told her the child would be a blessing to her every day of her life.

Life didn’t pan out for her the way God said it would—at least, not in the way she understood God’s words. The child was a handful and a trial in many ways. A lot of heartaches, disappointments, and tears. It contradicted what God told her. For years and years she didn’t understand.

Then one day recently, after years of enduring a reality that contradicted God’s promise, God showed her what He meant by the promise. The blessing that the child would be every day was not so much the child, but the work that the Lord would do in her through the child. The blessing was God’s transforming work in her.

In her case, when life doesn’t pan out the way you thought or believed it would, the problem is not because God didn’t keep His promise. He keeps it. He always does. The problem is our understanding of what He promised. We think we understand. But really we don’t. So what do we do when life doesn’t pan out? Whether we understand God’s ways or not, we keep believing God. God’s Word is true no matter what.

What I went through with Doreen and what my friend went through with her child reminds me of an incident in King David’s life. The King wanted Joab his General to number all the men of war. Joab, however, didn’t think that this was a good idea. Unless God told you to count, you didn’t count. That’s because you’d start trusting in your numbers instead of God to win your battles. Anyways, Joab knew this and advised the King not to do the census. The King, however, prevailed and Joab reluctantly did as he was ordered.

When the numbers came in, David felt guilty about what he’d done. But it was too late. God had His punishment in store for David. The King could choose one of three punishments: (1) three years of famine; or (2) three months on the run from his enemies; or (3) three days of the plague (2 Samuel 24).

Well, David knew the Lord to be a merciful God. With a merciful God, what could possibly go wrong? Sure, some people would get sick. Some might even die. But it isn’t going to be a catastrophe because God’s merciful. He isn’t going to let that happen! So David thought.

But the plague didn’t pan out the way David thought it would. In three days’ time, no thanks to David, seventy-thousand people were dead! Seventy-thousand! This clearly wasn’t what David was expecting! When David grasped the awful reality that confronted him, he, I’m sure bitterly, cried out to God and said, I’m the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep—what have they done? Let Your anger fall against me and my family (2 Samuel 24:17).

David was trusting in God’s mercies to spare him and the nation from the worst. God is merciful. But His idea of mercy doesn’t always line up with ours. Seventy thousand dead isn’t our idea of mercy. Evidently, for God, it was.

Grief-stricken and stunned beyond belief, David built an altar and worshipped God (2 Samuel 24:25). In doing so, he shows us what we do even when it seems as if God failed us or punished us disproportionately to our sin: we still believe, worship, and follow the Lord. No matter what comes. No matter He does or allows. No matter what’s happened. We still believe.

We don’t always understand. Sometimes we think we do. In either case, when life doesn’t go the way we thought or believed it would—the way God promised it would—it’s not because God led us wrong. Sometimes He lets us know why. Sometimes He doesn’t. No matter what, we still believe and worship God. Maybe, like Satan and Job, God just wants to show us off to the devil and prove to that liar that God’s people will still love Him, trust Him, serve Him, and praise Him, no matter what misfortunes come their way.

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