Temporary disappointments do not define your ultimate destiny. For God’s child, His unseen realities are truer than the pain you may feel. Flawed people, fleeting pleasure and fading hopes should propel you toward God, the only One who can satisfy your deepest longings. Disappointment, pain and even lingering suffering are profitable when yielded to God, who knows and loves you best. Injustice in this world makes you long for His perfect justice. Pain in this world makes you long for eternity, where pain and tears will be abolished. When disappointments break you of spiritually debilitating self-will and pride, will you trust that God is doing something good? When people fail you, remember God cannot. How is your current suffering stripping you of every option but trusting God? How are you experiencing His daily measure of sustaining grace? How does a bigger and higher view of God give you help and hope?
As humans, we long for resolution. We enjoy movies and entertainment that solve all the suspense and tension in the allotted time. Some of us enjoy googling our questions to receive instant information. We like to see things resolved, and preferably fast. We do not like waiting. Waiting implies dependence on someone or something else to bring an answer or solution you lack and long for. You wait for the doctor because you need the expertise that a professional brings. You wait for needed rain because you are powerless to produce it yourself. You wait in a long queue because doing so is your only hope to board the bus or receive the needed service. Waiting for God to bring resolution to suffering is perhaps hardest of all. Joseph had to wait. What are you waiting on God to resolve, or at least help you understand? His plans and purposes far exceed your limited vision and understanding. Can you trust God, even when the answers are few, the pain is deep and the solutions invisible? Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” God is worth waiting for.
Even for believers, faith falters. In this life, our trust in God is neither complete nor perfect. Sometimes we face the day with bold, decisive faith. Other days, we struggle to believe what we know is true. Do you ever genuinely want to trust God but find a constant pull to focus on the obstacles? God is not shocked by our faltering faith. Joseph offers a stellar example, but the hard days of his challenging life required active surrender to God. Faith is not denying the hardship, but trusting God in the midst of it. How is God calling you to stronger faith? What do you do on that hard day when your faith falters and the visible challenges loom large? God Himself stokes the fire of our faith with His strength and power. He calls out faith when we struggle. God will teach you how to trust Him. That may require unplugging you from earthly sources of security so you can experience God as the unshakeable bedrock of faith. God lets it be hard here so we will discover He offers more than this fallen world can offer. How is God revealing Himself and growing your faith this week, even if that growth is hard?
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