Just about every Christian has days when faith wavers under the weight of frustration or disappointment. Life falls apart in spite of our best efforts and we wonder “Does God know what He’s doing?” Sometimes His plan emerges quickly and we feel the joy of resolution. Some situations remain without explanation years later.
When I was a young preacher, fresh and ready to take on the world, I felt strongly led by the Spirit to uproot my little family and move 2000 miles west to Wyoming. There, in the town of Gillette, a booming energy center at the time, I planned to plant a new church. After our arrival in the town, one frustration followed another. I ended up working as a laborer laying concrete for parking lots so we could pay the bills. In all of that, a friend connected me with an engineering company that was looking for quality control person for a huge job site!
Over the next 12 months I learned how to read blueprints and about major construction practices. Then, my Dad called me from New Jersey asking if I would come back to the church to become the project manager of the construction of a large church building. I thought I went to Wyoming to plant a church. God led me there to gain an education and to prepare me for the next step in the road. (Beside that, I also learned so much about the meaning of His amazing grace but that’s another story.)
It may sound like a clich̩ but here is what I know today Рat the end of my dreams there is the plan of my loving Father!
About 6 centuries before the time of Christ Jesus, the Jews found
themselves overtaken by the Assyrians, their nation destroyed, their dreams
shattered. Many concluded that the story of God’s people was over, but there
was a promise from the LORD: "For I know the plans I have for
you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to
give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to
me, and I will listen to you." (Jeremiah 29:11-12, NIV) In His time, they did rebuild the nation!
The story of Ruth is one of providence, too! Naomi and her family were living in Moab. Her two sons married Moabite women and for 10 years, life was good, then... her husband and both sons died! Naomi's life was tragic, her dreams shattered. As she prepared to return to Israel, her daughter in law, Ruth, declared that she would go there, too. They were poor, struggling to survive on the generosity of the people in Naomi’s hometown. Where was God in all that happened to her? Right there with her. Now that might just seem to the 'right' answer, but it is the true answer. After learning of the tragic circumstances of her life, we are encouraged by the end of Naomi's story. Her daughter in law was loved by one of Naomi’s kinsmen. He married her and that Moabite woman became the great-grandmother of King David!!
God used Naomi, to touch an alien woman’s life. Ruth was
brought to Israel and included in the line of David and the line of the
Messiah, Jesus. You might read that and say, "So, does that make the pain
Naomi had to endure all right?" I cannot answer that, nor can you!
Here is what I do know- at the end of our dreams we find God’s
purposes. Often, because of our prideful self-sufficiency, God must allow our dreams
to be shattered so we can find His plan for us. When God doesn't make OUR
dreams come true, we are faced with a huge choice. Will we trust Him and wait
for a new dream to replace the shattered one OR will we descend into bitterness
and unbelief?
In such moments, I borrow the prayer of a desperate father who
brought his son for healing to Jesus and cried out when the Lord asked him to
believe: "I do believe, but help me not to doubt!" (Mark
9.24)
IF we will trust Him, He can give us a new dream, a new life
that recovers HOPE! Life is not about us living in a perfectly balanced scale
where the pain is always offset by the blessings, where the hard times are
offset by the good times. Life is about living in full faith,
trusting that He is able to keep us secure in His love through the shattered
dreams!
Are you wondering if God knows what He’s doing today?
Quiet your heart!
Reach out to people who
will love you, weep with you, and hold you up until your faith is strong enough
to touch the heart of God again.
Reject the easy answers, the psycho-babble, the half- truths..... but do not reject God. Ask Him for courage to weep yet keep hope and faith intact as you pray --- "I do believe, but help me not to doubt!"
The word from the Word comes from Paul’s second letter to the
church in Corinth. As you read his witness to God’s goodness, may faith grow in
you. "I think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the
trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and completely
overwhelmed, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we
expected to die. But as a result, we learned not to rely on ourselves, but
on God who can raise the dead. And he did deliver us from mortal danger.
And we are confident that he will continue to deliver us. He will rescue us
because you are helping by praying for us. As a result, many will give thanks
to God because so many people’s prayers for our safety have been
answered." (2 Corinthians 1:8-11, NLT)
(Video of this blog at this link)
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I love this hymn, singing it often!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning
New mercies I see;
All I have needed
Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness,
Lord, unto me.
Great is Thy faithfulness,
O God my Father,
There is no shadow
Of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not,
Thy compassions they fail not;
As Thou hast been
Thou forever wilt be.
Summer and winter
And springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars
In their courses above;
Join with all nature
In manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness,
Mercy and love
Pardon for sin
And a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence
To cheer and to guide;
Strength for today
And bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine,
With ten thousand beside!
Chisholm, Thomas O. / Runyan, William M © 1923. Renewed 1951 Hope Publishing Company
CCLI License No. 810055
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