In the twenty years that I have lived on Daufuskie Island, there have been several things that I have worked hard on, earnestly desiring to bring about a specific outcome, yet ultimately not getting the results that I had desired. I had prayed about it, enlisted help from others, and worked diligently, yet it appears that God had a vision that was different from mine. Those can be incredibly frustrating moments – when things don’t turn out the way that you want, even after you have poured your heart and soul into it. I suspect that all of us know that feeling well.
What do we do when this happens? How do we respond in our hearts, and in our actions? How does this shape our thoughts about God?
For strong-willed people (pretty much all of us), it is hard to accept that we don’t know everything, and that what we earnestly desire and think is good could actually be wrong for us. After all, we have the ability to think, we tend to understand ourselves and others, and we have dreams and desires that we often ascribe to God that inspire us towards certain endeavors. But the problem is that we don’t know everything. And while most of us realize that, most of us are blind to what we don’t know that we don’t know.
After the Israelites had left the slavery of Egypt and wandered for forty years in the desert, they were on the doorstep of the Promised Land, about to enter the safe haven that God had set aside for them. For centuries, dating back to their forefather Abraham, the Israelites had been awaiting this moment, and the 600,000 men and their families were eager to finally settle down. Yet God said to them that, even though it had been promised to them, they could not have it all at once, which would have been quite frustrating after hundreds of years of waiting for the fulfillment of this one dream. However, God told them that they weren’t ready for all of it, and that if He gave it all to them at one time, there would be much of the land that they wouldn’t be able to settle in properly, and it would become overgrown and unwieldy. In effect, God said “you can’t handle it if I give you everything that you want right now.”
The 19th Century Irish-born poet Oscar Wilde is credited with writing “When the Gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.” While I take issue with his theology, his broader point is spot-on. We can be so close to something that we so desperately want that we are blind to the potential downsides. In the moment, we are unable to comprehend why we can’t have the outcomes that we want, and we simply don’t see that the desires of our hearts could have devastating consequences, turning our dreams into nightmares.
So, if your prayers have gone unanswered, or answered in a way that you didn’t want, pause for a moment and consider if the God to whom you prayed might have a better understanding of the big picture than you do – because I assure you that He does. Then push aside your disappointment and replace it with trust, knowing that in all things God is working for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron