Recently God has impressed it on my heart to check my first reaction when something happens that doesn’t go according to my plan.
Do I blame Him, or do I praise Him?
Whether it’s small, frustrating things that happen in my day-to-day, or huge, horrible things that happen in the world around me, I want my first reaction to be to trust the loving-kindness of Jesus, and to know that He is working all things together for good. I don’t want to be like the Israelites who complained against God even though they had seen His goodness, and missed out on the Promised Land:
“Yet they still went on to sin against Him by provoking and rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness (the land of drought), and they tempted God in their hearts…” – Psalm 78:17-18
“They remembered not [seriously the miracles of the working of] His hand, nor the day when He delivered them from the enemy” – Psalm 78:42
Tempting God in our hearts is believing that if something doesn’t work out how we think it should, He is somehow spiteful and out for our hurt and not our good. How it must dishonor and break God’s heart for us to trust and love Him when things go our way, and to turn around and blame Him in our hearts and minds when they don’t. However, even if we do that, it’s not really God that loses – it’s us! He is so full of compassion, and will forgive us every time, but blaming Him means that we are wasting time feeling bitter and resentful and losing the joy and peace that is rightfully ours in Him.
Not worth it.
The whole crux of our faith is that God is FOR us, not against us, and that if He loved us enough to give us His Son, He will also freely give us all things (Romans 8:31-32)! It doesn’t make sense to blame Him because He not only doesn’t do wrong, but He, in His great kindness, does good on behalf of the one who waits for Him (Isaiah 64:4). One of my friends said it best:
“What if the things you wanted to happen were never a part of His plan anyway? What if what you think went wrong was actually His plan all along?”
He can truly make anything happen – make beauty out of ashes, and turn what the enemy meant for evil into the most spectacular miracle. He can do the IMPOSSIBLE, and He truly is our only Hope. Why would we ever choose to walk away out of anger and distrust from the only One Who loves us more than we can even comprehend? Who is not only capable of making all things work together for good, but Who actually has a heart and plan to do it? He is a full-circle God Who gives hope, promise, AND fulfillment – He doesn’t withhold good from the one who walks uprightly even if it feels like there are delays (Psalm 84:11). His ways are higher, His thoughts are higher, and His goodness is better than ours (Isaiah 55:9). He knows what He’s doing.
Right as I started writing this, the sun came out, and it immediately started pouring outside. Did you know that every time it rains and the sun is out, there is ALWAYS a rainbow, even if you can’t see it? That’s how God is. He is ALWAYS faithful to show up, even if you can’t see Him. He brings color into chaos, purpose into confusion, and glory into the most gloomy of days.
What if all of the gloomy days are simply an indication that a new season is coming – that it’s Spring and God is about to do a new thing in your life that couldn’t come any other way than through torrents of rain?
Don’t miss your chance to praise Him in the midst of the frustrating situations you find yourself in because He is worthy. He will always give you perspective to see what He’s doing when you wait on Him. 🙂
Amanda Rassamni 
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