Where is Your Promise, God?
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (NIV)
Isaiah 43:18-19
I’m the queen of both romanticism and nostalgia. This means that my vision of an upcoming change in life doesn’t always match reality. If we decide to move across the country for my husband’s job, I tend to romanticize the change with cautious optimism while greatly minimizing its challenges. Or, if time ushers in a new life stage, such as the beginning of middle age, I go to the other extreme and embrace nostalgia while despairing that the future will never be as enjoyable and meaningful as the past. In either case, my tendency to imagine the future creates expectations that slam into reality and produce disappointment and discontentment once one chapter closes and another one opens. Can you relate to either of these? Whether we are optimistically romantic, or hopelessly nostalgic, our presumptive nature is a tactic to help us manage our expectations and quiet our fears.
But what happens when we hear the call of God and follow His will for our lives? Shouldn’t our fantasy life quiet down? Since God is the perfect Father who loves us and wants good things for us, the best place for us to live is right in the center of His will. If this is true, then why do we sometimes struggle even when we are following what we believe is God’s will for our lives?
Recently, Paul, my husband, and I moved our third born into college. The move arrived six short weeks after my mom died. Just like that, our house suddenly grew quiet, and the person who believed in me all my life began her new life after death. Both events were right in the middle of God’s will for me. He knew all the days of my mom’s life, and He knew that Mom’s death would coincide with the birth of our third child’s independence. But instead of experiencing tranquility in God’s will, I struggled with feelings of emptiness.
What circumstances are you navigating that aggravate your soul even though you know they were orchestrated by God? Perhaps you moved across the country, to another culture, or to a different job. Maybe you adopted a child, felt led to donate a generous sum of money that leaves you feeling stretched, shared the gospel with a stubborn relative, or simply entered an unwanted stage of life.
Despite allowing time to adjust to new situations and working through emotions that accompany change, following God’s will may have left you where it left me, discontent and confused.
Being in the center of God’s will doesn’t guarantee a life of ease and comfort. He sometimes takes us to difficult and unfamiliar places and situations. We see this in the lives of many of our faithful, Biblical heroes.
Joseph was unfairly jailed. Mary endured probable loneliness and ostracism from her community. Paul suffered shipwrecks and near-death experiences, and even Jesus struggled to accept God’s will when He was called to the cross. And yet, Joseph saved his people from famine, Mary delivered the Messiah, Paul became one of the greatest preachers of the gospel, and Jesus earned salvation for all humanity for all time.
While following God’s desire can be challenging and messy, it’s also where we experience the miracle of Jesus’ power and presence. These are experiences so precious to us that we gratefully cling to their memories with shining eyes and grateful hearts.
How, then, do we find peace when it’s tempting to panic after we’ve been called to the mission field, a new stage of life, an upsetting crisis, or an unexpected call from God?
We remember God’s promises and recognize our tendency to pretend.
God doesn’t promise us a life of convenience. He promises us a life of deliverance.
He also promises us His peace and His presence while we live out His purpose for us.
This means that we need to start cooperating with His plan and stop resisting it. Instead of gazing longingly at the past or idealistically at the future, we need to anticipate God’s power in our present.
We do this by shifting our mindset from doubt to trust. Doubt shines a light on everything that’s hard and disappointing about our circumstances, but trust illuminates the possibility that victory is coming sooner rather than later.
It’s easier to fantasize, romanticize, or gaze longingly at our past than it is to endure unpleasant difficulties in our present, but the more we anticipate his victory in our circumstances, the more we surrender our present to his presence. And His presence provides the peace that strengthens us while we wait for his power of deliverance.
Dear Heavenly Father, forgive me for feeling discontent. I’m struggling to feel your presence and I’m wondering if these circumstances are what you want for me. Help me lay down my will for yours. Show me the way you want me to go and strengthen me to live believing in your victory. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Resources to Help:
1. Ask the Lord to help your unbelief (Mark 9:24)
2. Ask for strength to endure (Philippians 4:13)
3. If you have time and the inclination, read about saints who have endured before you. One of my favorite books is, “The Hiding Place” by Corrie Ten Boom.
Songs to Help:
1. “Same God” by Elevation Worship