To Follow Jesus

by Rocky Fleming

Day Three - Trust God's Plans Above All Plans

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9 (NASB)

I once had a friend in one of my Journey Groups say that he wants to have a conversation with God when he goes to heaven and ask God why He didn’t respond to him when he prayed and asked for His help. He trusted Him, and God didn’t come through, was his complaint. He felt that he deserved an answer. Do any of you feel this way as well? After the man said this, I replied, “You will be approaching Almighty God who created you and all of creation, and you want to hold Him accountable because some of your prayers were not answered? You want to demand an explanation! Is that what you are saying? (pause). Well … after you do this … let me know how that worked out for you if you make it back.” I think he got my point.

But seriously, don’t we often want, and even demand, an explanation from God why some great difficulties come into our life, and He didn’t intervene as we wanted? We think, if God loves me, why does He let me be attacked, cheated, or slandered? He has the power to stop it. But He stays silent. A bigger question is, do we trust Him when we don’t understand Him and His ways? Are we willing to trust His plans for our future and that He has allowed such perplexing difficulties into our life for a reason when we can see no reason why they were permitted? Sure, we need to ask the first question, “What have I done to bring this on me?” If we see a reason, we should repent and correct, and God will be faithful to forgive us. That’s an easy one. But what if we can see no reason, and what has been done to us in so unjust, vicious, and from the influence of a dark evil that can only be understood as coming from hell itself? What do we do then? Will we trust Him? Will we trust His plan? Will we continue to love Him when we feel as David did, abandoned, alone, forgotten, and forsaken? He said:

“With my voice, I cry out to the LORD; with my voice, I plead for mercy to the LORD. I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him. When my spirit faints within me, you know my way! In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me. Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul.” Psalm 142:1-4 (ESV)

David was God’s anointed king. He was a courageous warrior. He had many experiences with God’s deliverance. However, he was still just a man. There are unexpected, deep, dark times that fall on us, as with David in this incident, and it seemed that God was not around. When this happens to us, will we still trust and love God even though we don’t feel like it, or are we frightened, bewildered, alone, and slandered? We must, for He deserves it, and He will never forsake us or leave us to the wolves, for He is our Good Shepherd. That would be shown to David. God would prove that He is faithful, and He will always be that to His child.

I am amazed at the number of stories in the Bible where God purposely stacked the odds against people who followed His leadership. I think of Gideon, whose army was whittled down from thirty-two thousand men to three hundred. Why? This is what God said:

“The people who are with you are too many for Me to hand Midian over to them, otherwise Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has saved me.’” Judges 7:2 (NASB)

Now get this. With God’s help, the army of three hundred men that Gideon led defeated 135,000 Midianites. Great odds against them, but God was on their side, and that was enough. Can we see in this instance that God was teaching Gideon and Israel to trust Him under all circumstances and in all challenges, though they seem greater than our ability to stand? That has not changed. God still uses that same process so that through Him and His deliverance against great odds, we see His intervention, and we then grow in faith … and He gets the glory, not ourselves. May God pity the ones whose hearts are as hard as the Midianites, for as with them, their day is coming. They battle against the work of God and His Spirit, and that will not go well with them unless they repent.

Does it help us to think that God will avenge us? Be careful with that thought. Do we want Him to punish and even destroy them? I don’t think we will if His Spirit controls our thoughts and compassion. Though we gain comfort in our hope that He will intervene and stand against those who embrace evil to stand against us, wouldn’t we rather that the Holy Spirit shine His light on the people and cause them to see what they are in league with? Do we hope and even pray that He will intervene for their good and their sake rather than to avenge us? The Holy Spirit speaks to my heart through His word and guides me to believe that this is the way He desires that we react.

Some might think that I’m passive in my response against slander and such. Believe me, I have taken a different course in the past and grew to regret it, for I interfered with what God wanted to do. Some might think that I should battle against people like I speak of with harsh words and my own campaign against them, for they have done so against me. I assure you that I am in the battle and will use the weapons for spiritual warfare that wins, for that is what we deal with. It is a battle against evil, and God wants to deliver us from evil, even those who do not realize that it is evil that drives them. I’ll close with this scripture as my marching orders in these battles, and I hope it will help you in yours:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Ephesians 6:10-12 (ESV)

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.” Remember this, for we need to realize the source of evil to people and through people is darkness. That is where the battle must be fought.