I received an email last week that stated, “What do you do when all hope seems lost?” Basically the email was about what do you do when it seems as if God has let you down? Last week I had a week in which it seemed (notice I said seemed) as if God let people down. There were several families that I either met with or heard from who were going through extreme trials and pain. Some were concerning financial difficulties, some were concerning relationship issues, some were going through the grief of the unexpected loss of a baby, and some were in the middle of a marriage crisis. What do we do when it seems as if God has let us down? This is no easy question to answer and maybe it’s not even the right question to ask. I think part of the issue in America with God is that we have made Him to be a fairy. He is our wish commander. We expect God to do what we ask whenever we ask it. We expect God to be that person that gets us out of every bind we put ourselves in. We see God as that person that is supposed to prevent us from every hurt and pain. I believe this is faulty theology. I think far too many Americans think Gods purpose is to make their lives easy, great and comfortable, if that is you, you are missing the boat. The opposite is true God is not to make us great but rather we are to make Him great. A constant prayer I pray for myself and family is God do whatever you need to, whatever it takes God to keep us dependent and relying on You. God do whatever is necessary for us to have complete reliance on you. What do we do when it seems as if God has let us down? Well we make Him great in those times. John Piper often says, “God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him.” That’s part of the answer to the question of what do we do when it seems as if God has let us down, we keep finding our satisfaction in Him and not our circumstances. See when that email came and when all these people went through this hurt and pain all at once it was a great reminder to me. God is not a puppet. God is not obligated to answer selfish prayers. God is not obligated to take away pain from our lives. God is not obligated to make a believers’ life a bed of roses. We are obligated though to make Him and His name glorious. We are obligated to truly rely on Him and Him alone. We are obligated to walk in faith that all things do work together for the good for those who believe and Love Him. All those families that I had the great privilege to minister to last week was a great reminder to me because I found myself for a minute asking, “Hey God what’s going on here, these families love you and these families are serving you?” It was personal for me. Some of these families Les and I have been on a monthly basis fasting and praying specifically for them. So you think God we did what you told us to do, and they are doing what you told them to do, yet look right now their hearts are getting ripped right out of their chest they are hurting and struggling so bad. See it was also personal for me in the fact that one of our reason for fasting to pray was for ourselves. Our middle daughter Ari is in need of getting some orthodontic work done. She desperately needs this. With our insurance the dentist said they will either approve the work at 100% or 0% so we fasted and prayed and confidently went to the Lord and asked that the insurance would find favor with her case. We prayed with assurance that it would be covered. We received in the mail last week a letter from the insurance saying they have denied the claim, 0% covered. What do you do when it seems like God has let you down? Shortly after I received that letter I went to the doctor office to get a shot and on the way I heard from My Savior and so I texted Lesleigh this. “My Savior said everything is going to be Ok. So you need to know lester everything will be OK.” With that she responded, “you just made me smile because at first I said God we prayed with such assurance and faith you’d take care of it and then I immediately thought He will provide and be glorified even greater through this than if the insurance will take care of it.” So we are learning to make God most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him. We have made arrangements for Ari to get braces it’s just money and will get taken care for someway. But we have also gone forward with something else. See we have been praying for a while now about being foster parents and also fostering to adopt or just adopting. It seems like an impossible thing to do right now, especially financially with this added bill of the braces. We are claiming Proverbs 16:13, Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.” We will be taking the classes and getting our home visit set up so that we will be certified. We would love to finish our attic for more living space so we can the most space to take in the most kids. We are committing these plans to the Lord and so they will be established. The reality is God doesn’t let us down. There is nothing that has come into our lives that hasn’t come into it for the purpose of making God great and glorifying His name in it. Remember that everything in your life is in it for a God purpose. When we begin to see everything, good and bad, in our life as opportunities to glorify God we will be most satisfied in Him. Please join me in praying that as believers we make it our goal not to be safe but rather to say whatever it takes God make me to make you great! This can be done. A family just miscarried their baby boy at 20 weeks and in the midst of it they have said over and over, God is enough, God is great, God is our peace. They have said over and over, It is well. It is well. Listen this glorying God and making Him great. It can be done. Recently a wife comes to me and tells me her husband has had an affair on her. Today we are planning on renewing their vows this October and baptizing as a part of their wedding renewal. They are more in love today than they have been in there 20 years of marriage. They are more committed to Christ today than they have been in a long, long time. This is glorying God and making Him great. It can be done.
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