Trust, Obedience, and Commitment

[Rhoni]

Originally Posted by scotty

We tend to think that the presense of trials are equivalent to the absence of God. Not so. When trouble comes our way, as it did for Joseph, God is most likely at work on a much bigger plan than we can imagine.
Who would have thought that Joseph’s disappointments were God’s chosen route to blessing and prominence for Joseph?
Joseph was able to tell his brothers, “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”
A day came when all the disappointments made sense.
He had trusted God and God had worked a plan for the greater good.
While no one should minimize or belittle the excruciating pain of hurts and disappointments, we must realize that no matter what has happened or comes about; our lives are in God’s hands.
God who is at work on our behalf, left us these reassuring words:
Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,"
says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
Isaiah 54:10 NIV
So how do we respond to God when disappointments come?
When disappointments comes from not receiving the answer you desire, remember that your prayer may be answered in an unexpected way.
King David felt in his heart that he should build a temple for the Lord. But, God told Nathan the prophet to go tell David, “Thou shall not build me a house to dwell in.”
This is not the response that David expected or wanted.
His intentions were good and he no doubt felt this in his heart, but God said no.
God has three responses to our questions: yes, no, and later.
We accept that we have definitely heard from God when we get a yes. However, when we get a no or a later we wonder if we misunderstood the Lord, or we think God didn’t hear the question.
David no doubt felt in his heart that he should build the temple, he could have told Nathan the prophet that he had missed God, because of what David felt in his heart but David takes God’s answer, God’s no, and responds right.
He does not pout, cry or travail because he is disappointed.
David does not try to bargain with God or blame God.
He instead, lavishly praises God and thanked him for answering him.
He says,
King David went in, took his place before God, and prayed:
Who am I, my Master God, and what is my family, that you have brought me to this place in life? But that's nothing compared to what's coming, for you've also spoken of my family far into the future, given me a glimpse into tomorrow and looked on me, Master God, as a Somebody. What's left for David to say to this — to your honoring your servant, even though you know me, just as I am? O God, out of the goodness of your heart, you've taken your servant to do this great thing and put your great work on display. There's none like you, God, no God but you, nothing to compare with what we've heard with our own ears.
The Message
1 Chronicles 17:16-20
He ends the prayer with “Because you have blessed it God it is really blessed.” (The Message)
When David could not build the temple, he started collecting materials for the next generation to build what he dreamed up.
When disappointment comes out of nowhere, remember that God may have allowed you to be a testimony to the enemy.
To the child of God there is a divine dimension to our disappointments.
Be ready for the possibility of a surprise ending.
Like Joseph, David, and Job, others have learned that it is not over until God says it is over.
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus could testify that the sentence of death was not always certain.
When the future looked bleak, remember that Moses and his followers, with an angry army behind them and a vast body of water in front of them, walked through the Red Sea on dry ground.
Just when the failure seemed too great for grace, David was pardoned.
Remember our finite disappointments should never overshadow God’s infinite hope.
God is in control!
~~Pastor Burl Crabtree
(Some resources from articles in the Pentecostal Herald August 2007.)

Good stuff.