“God never witholds from His child that which His love and wisdom call good. God's refusals are always merciful—"severe mercies" at times but mercies all the same. God never denies us our hearts desire except to give us something better.” ― Elisabeth Elliot
So often I feel like the nation of
Israel whose name communicates the idea of wrestling with God. Time and again I
find myself not embracing the life I have and instead wanting something else.
God provides abundantly and instead of being grateful for the manna, I gripe
about meat.
God faithfully reveals what I need to
know for today, but I grumble about the future. I panic when I see the Red Sea moments
before God intends to part it.
I rush ahead thinking because I have a
piece of the puzzle that now I understand where we are heading only to discover
I misunderstood—again.
Is my God a God of confusion? No. Is
my God capricious? No. He is a good, loving Father who gives good gifts to His
beloved daughters. And yet I often refuse to wait on Him. I want all the
answers as though these will somehow satisfy. I don’t like the messiness of
unknowns.
My faith walk resembles my children
more than I care to acknowledge. As we were heading home from a church program
one evening, my three-year-old son batted away my hand and attempted to dart
into the dark parking lot. I grabbed his arm before he stepped off the curb
into potential dangers ahead of multiple vehicles backing up. He knew our car
was in the parking lot, but he was unaware of the dangers lurking all around
him.
How often do I respond like my son as
I try to follow God? How often do I try to rush ahead just because I believe I received
a word of affirmation from Him instead of waiting on Him to indicate that next
step? While the affirmation leads to the car, the timing of God to reach the
car is vital.
If my son had raced across the parking
lot to the car, he may have gotten hit by a vehicle unable to see him in their
rearview mirrors or lost his direction. I intended to let him walk to the car,
but not without my watchful eye.
So it is with my heavenly Father. The pathway
toward something He speaks to my heart may not be the way I think and sometimes
my attempts to plan muddy the trail.
God is not withholding a good gift,
but positioning Himself to give me something better. May I wait on Him and savor
His presence more than the answers whenever they come. I serve a God who sees,
loves, and protects me.