Not too long ago God broke my heart when He denied a miracle I had prayed for with great faith. Not only had he told me No, but we answer to received was unjust and horrifically painful.
I took it up with God, desperately needing a way forward. I needed to find a gentle space to land in the tension between the mysterious way He acts, and the perfection of His well.
The truth is, God is the God of the unexpected, both the unexpected that delights and the unexpected that disappoints. He is the God over healthy babies and sunrises, clear scans and job promotions. But He is also the God over disabilities and car accidents, persecution and loved ones lost too soon.
How do we to balance the weight of this juxtaposition?
Certainly John the Baptist understood this. Locked in a cold dark prison he sent word to Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another.” (Luke 7:20) Even after all the miracles John had seen, even after his years of baptisms and ministry, he still held a flicker of a doubt that Jesus was the expected Messiah.
If He was, shouldn’t John’s circumstances look different than the 4 walls of his prison cell?
When I sat in my own circumstantial prison of denied prayers, I learned an important lesson. While I still pray with purpose, my most beloved expectation is incarnation. Presence. Emmanuel. God with me.
Comfort.
Peace.
Strength.
Remember, through every delight and every disappointment, He is good...
…and He is the only good we truly need!
Lock eyes on Him, and trust God with us to see you through!
“But as for me it is good to be near God.” Psalm 73:28
Leave a Reply