When God Fails You

Have you ever felt like God failed you? Maybe you prayed really hard for something, had faith, and believed God was going to do a miracle for you, but He didn’t. He could have cured your disease, but He didn’t. He could have given you a new job, but He didn’t He could have provided the money you needed, but He didn’t. He could have spared your child’s life, but He didn’t. He could have kept you from getting into that accident, but He didn’t. Sometimes we’re in trouble, and we think God should bail us out.  After all, the Bible is riddled with miracles.  We’ve heard testimony of how God has worked in our neighbor’s life, or how He transformed our friend’s circumstances.  We believe God should give us our miracle, and fix our problems. Have you ever felt like that? I have. I taught 5th & 6th graders in VBS this week.  Our theme was Journey off The Map, and we were taught to follow our guide, listen to our guide, and trust our guide.  If you’re out on a journey, you’ll need a guide, a good one, and you’ll to put your faith in that guide, because he knows what he’s doing. God is our guide. Our lessons centered on the book of Daniel in the Bible.  We learned how Daniel purposed in his heart to obey God.  We also saw how at one point in his life, he was punished for his faith in God, more specifically for worshiping his God instead of King Darius.  Daniel was thrown in a den of lions, and yet, God spared his life. It’s one of those miracles in the Bible that we love. There were also three other men who chose to worship their God instead of bowing to a ninety foot tall golden idol.  Their names were Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego.  They were thrown into a fiery furnace, a furnace whose heat was turned up seven times hotter than usual.  It was so hot, the flames killed the guards who threw these three faithful men into the fire.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.  If it be so, our God whome we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou has set up.  – Daniel 3:16-18

These verses really hit me this week, because all too often I get an attitude with God, especially when He doesn’t do what I want Him to do, or what I’m positive He should do.  I get it in my head that somehow I know better than the God of this universe. These three men stood before the king, who held their lives in his hands, and they said, our God can save us, and we believe He will; however, even if He doesn’t, we’re going to serve Him anyway. God does not owe us our miracle. He may choose to bless me, save me, prosper me, advance me, but even if He doesn’t, I’m going to serve Him anyway. Are we at the place where we can say that, or are we still bargaining with God. “If you heal me, I’ll serve you for the rest of my life.” “If I win the lottery, I’ll give half the money to the church.” “If you bless me, I’ll pass it on.” “If you only just get me out of this terrible situation, I’ll go to church.” We bargain with God all the time, and then we have the nerve to get mad at Him when He doesn’t come through with His end of our selfish deal. God doesn’t owe us a thing. He’s good to us, blesses us beyond anything we can ever deserve, gives us life, and peace, and happiness, because of His goodness. We want things from God.  We want to see God do great things.  We want the miracles. It’s easy to say that we’ll serve Him if there’s something in it for us. My God is big enough, strong enough, faithful enough to save the day! #truth. But if He doesn’t, I’m going to serve Him anyway. What about you?

Because let’s face it, God knows what He’s doing. Too often we can’t see past our present circumstance, so let’s trust Him, praise Him, and serve Him, whether He comes through with a miracle or not.  I know my God can deliver me, but even if not, I will worship Him.  

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