When You Can’t Understand… Trust God!

The Bible says, in (Proverbs 3:5) “trust in the lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path.  But what if your path leads you to pain, pressure and problems?  This is what John the Baptist endured.  He did not deserve imprisonment.  After all, he was the forerunner of Jesus Christ and the voice of God in the community.  Also, he was the cousin of Jesus.  At one point, he sent Jesus a message asking,” are you really the messiah, or should we be looking for another?” Paraphrased: “Lord if I’m in your will, how come I am in this situation?” His question (of doubt) was motivated by unfulfilled expectations.  We also may think, “Lord, I have obeyed you, how come things aren’t working out for me?” and it may even seem worse when you are faithfully serving Him.

Meg Woodson, when writing about the death of her daughter, said this, “I will never forget those shrill, piercing screams of pain; while God, who could have helped, looked down on this young woman who was devoted to him …  And decided to sit on his hands and let her death top of the horror charts.” Talk about unmet expectations!  Jesus could have saved John from being beheaded, but he didn’t.  Instead, he replied “don’t worry everything is on target, the kingdom is being built.  You did your job well.” (read Matt 11:4-5).  It probably was not the answer John hoped for.  He was expecting solutions to temporal problems while Jesus was busy establishing a spiritual kingdom.

So remember, the next time God does not seem to meet your expectations, it’s not that He doesn’t care, it’s a that he sees the big picture and he’s a handling issues you can’t even begin to comprehend.  So, choose to trust him, despite it all!

Job 13:15

Though he allows me to die, yet while a trust him