Why do we question God’s will when we are not getting what we want.

I seldom question if God’s will is best for me, I question if the best will be painful for me. -Thomas Merton

It is true for me, and is something that I caught and had to repent about just today. It seems that when we get into uncomfortable situations, or we hear that little voice in our heart tell us to sell everything and move to the desert, we are quick to rebuke it in Jesus name, but what if it is Jesus telling us to do it? God takes us captive all the time, puts us through trials, mine was to take hell from the place I worked. I felt a little uneasy when and how I quit, I thought it would bring me peace, but it didn’t feel right, until I suppressed the thought into nothing. But like Papa usually does, brought it back full fledged in class today.

When you hear the voice of God to tell you to do something, to go somewhere or to stay in that place, there is no guarantee that it will be easy. But trust in Him that you will be OK. God will take care of you. We will be known by our hurts and wounds Jesus said, just as He is known for His wounds. Do you think God made it easy for Jesus while doing His ministry. Heck no! Jesus had a helluva time. God gave him 12 screw ups to babysit for three years not to mention the pharisees giving him a hard time. Put yourself in Jesus shoes, at the end of the day after people wanted to kill you, you sit in a strangers house and do a little praying, knowing that tomorrow it was off to another village to be ridiculed. There was no griping no arguing, no hope of sleeping in your own bed. Yet he did it. And he gave thanks to our Father. 

Jesus showed us the true essence of worship should be based on God’s worth and value, not our circumstances. If we didn’t get that promotion, do not curse God, maybe it wasn’t the right time, only God knows. But in our captivity, our true heart is revealed. It does not matter if you keep a smiley face on Sundays, give your ten percent and raise a great family, it’s those times of pressure when our heart’s cannot hide any longer. Ask yourself if you praised God when you lost everything. It’s a hard truth to face but one that is necessary for growth. Pressure is needed for growth and revelation not to mention character. I can honestly say that I have not praised the same as when everything is peachy keen. When I say praise, I don’t mean prayer necessarily. I’m talking about how we handle the things God has given us freely. Think of the rhetorical job you have, all those years you worked and struggled to make it to a certain position. After two years in that position, you think it is time for a raise and promotion, although you do your job half assed and complain to everyone that the place is draining the life out of you. You happen to get the promotion, but nothing changes in the way you perform and you get demoted. Is it the companies fault? Really, you got that promotion without deserving it and when it didn’t stick around you really loose it with the company and quit.

Similar with relationships and with God, you can ask Him for a family and all, and it might be in good intentions. But you cannot seem to get it together enough to get out of your mom’s basement. Do you think God will give you a family? Probably not, even though He wants to, bottom line is you are not ready. And again, should we be mad? It seems now days it is us, us, us, us. God is privileged to have me ask Him for stuff, to acknowledge He is there, He NEEDS me! I thought this once or twice when I was younger. Now that I have a little bigger perception on God, I shudder to think how much He doesn’t need us, and how gracious He is to keep us breathing. Praise God.

It is hard to be Jesus* to others while we are focused on our own pain. Rather, we should try to identify with the pain of others and we should give out of our brokenness and neediness for our Father. We all have hurts and wounds, we should revel in them rather than wear a facade of the perfect Christian. Look at Paul, a man of brokenness. In his younger days he boasted in being one of Christ’s disciples. On his deathbed he boasted in being the worst of sinners, he boasted in his brokenness. When we love, we will get hurt again do not hide this hurt, bask in it! Because when we look for and escape we miss the present moment, and you know what God says about the present moment, I AM.

*not literally the Christ, but a person who resembles Christ in their kindness.