This Isn't What I Asked For!
We're smack dab in the middle of the Christmas season. Churches are practicing for cantatas. Families are planning parties. Moms are shopping while Dads are decorating. And kids? Well, most of them are wishing. They're hoping Santa Claus got their letters and that they were good enough to get all the things they asked for on their Christmas lists.
This idea brings to my mind another scene from one of my favorite shows/movies: Signed, Sealed, Delivered. In the Christmas episode (which has become one of the best Christmas movies ever in my mind), one of the "misfits" in the Dead Letter Office, Shane, is expressing her annoyance with a last-minute letter delivery. After finally catching up on all the letters addressed to Santa, the team is presented with a letter addressed to God. At this point in the movie, the following dialogue takes place.
Coworker: "I'm just a bit mystified. You've been cheerfully working without complaint for six weeks, day and night, answering thousands of children's letters to Santa Claus, so why are you so disturbed by one child's letter to God?"
Shane: "Because. When a letter to Santa Claus gets answered, it's wrapped around something real... A doll, a bike, a puppy. But with God, who knows what the answer is? There's nothing to unwrap, nothing to hold, nothing to see. And that's assuming he's even bothered to answer you at all."
Finally, the viewers come to realize that Shane's avoidance of God is not one of disbelief in His existence but instead in an inability to trust Him. As a child, she had asked God for something. Something big! And because things didn't turn out the way she wanted, she assumed either God didn't hear, or He didn't care. She was cold and bitter. She felt betrayed, disappointed, and frustrated to the point that she decided God could not be trusted.
Oh, how easy it is to fall into this trap. It doesn't matter if you're six or sixty, if you've been saved for three months or thirty years. Sometimes, it's hard to trust God. It's difficult not to grow bitter when we pray so fervently for something, only to have everything fall apart. We pray for healing, but the loved one dies. We plead for security, but instead, we lose everything we held dear. We request direction, but every day brings more questions than answers.
After a while, we begin to feel like Shane. We have nothing to unwrap, nothing to hold, and nothing to see. And with so many seemingly unanswered prayers, we begin to wonder if God even cares. If He did, wouldn't He answer? If He really loved us, wouldn't He help us out of this mess? If He honestly had our best interest at heart, why would He put us through so much heartache? Even the psalmists poured out such questions.
“How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. ”
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.”
“I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.”
The question echoes through the pages of history: How can we trust a God who seems apathetic toward our distress? The answer, though simple, is not always easy to digest. In short, we have to remember that things are not always as they seem. For Shane, her prayer had indeed been answered, just not in the way she expected, which is often the case with our prayers. Sometimes, too, we forget that our ways are not God's ways, and our timing isn't the same as His. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and we can't always understand the process. That's why we have to trust. Not in the situation or the expected outcome, but in God. We have to trust in His character. We have to believe with all our hearts that He is good and only wants what is best for us, which sometimes means telling us "no." We have to remember that His will—not ours—is the ultimate goal and that just because God is silent doesn't mean He isn't working.
No, things aren't always what they seem, which is why it's so important we hold tight to what we know. It's the only way to avoid the bitterness from unmet expectations. We must not expect God to do what we want, but instead, we should trust Him to do what is right. And if we do that, we'll never be disappointed because God is always right, and He only does what is good.
“The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.”