Dave’s Monday Blast – May 16, 2022
Pastor Charles Stanley was asked this question: “I’ve heard you preach on the goodness of God, but I can’t see it in my life. After I was saved, everything got worse, not better.” Have you ever felt like this? Perhaps you’ve prayed for a good outcome to a problem, but God didn’t answer. In fact, the situation may have become more difficult than it was before you prayed. Or maybe you claimed a promise in Scripture, but it seems like God hasn’t kept His word.
Would it help you to know that this is a common experience in the Christian life? INTENTIONAL men of God do know this. They also know that the problem is not with God, but with our understanding. We must be careful not to confuse the Lord’s goodness with our expectations. When we don’t understand what He’s doing, we can still trust who He is.
Stanley comments: ” I think you’ll find the story of Moses helpful as you seek to understand God’s ways. After God spoke to Moses from a burning bush, the reluctant leader obeyed, went to Egypt, and told Pharaoh to let God’s people go. But the outcome wasn’t what he expected.
Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he added to the Hebrews’ workload, increasing their hardship (Exodus 5). God’s promise to free the Israelites was sure, but His means of accomplishing it would not be easy.”
We’ve probably all experienced something similar. We obey the Lord, yet trouble and suffering follow. Then we think we’ve done something wrong or accuse God of being unfaithful. Neither reaction is the right solution. Instead, we should look beyond the immediate circumstances.
Over the next few weeks I want to unpack this idea of looking beyond our circumstances and begin to discover how to see things through HIS EYES. We have to remember that God works with a big picture in mind. Moses may have wondered how increasing the Israelites’ suffering could possibly fit with setting them free, but he knew the Lord’s name was I AM, the One who eternally exists in the past, present and future (Exodus 3:14).
God’s plans reached far beyond the enslaved Israelites. He told Moses, “Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I extend My hand over Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst” (Exodus 7:5). Yet even this was not the end of God’s purpose. His ultimate goal was to bring forth a Jewish nation through whom Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer, would come.
That’s good isn’t it!
