| “Disappointed with Small Beginnings?”
“The
Lord is close to those who have suffered disappointment.
He saves those who are discouraged.” Psalm 34:18 |
Dear family of friends,
Disappointments happen to each of us. We work long and hard for a
special event, a needed life change, a relationship gone sour needing to be
rebuilt…and yet we so often experience hurt and frustration when it doesn’t
happen the way we had hoped. And even expected the way it should have.
Then we want to blame God, while asking the question which often
haunts many, “Why God?”
It happened to me again. But by this time I had learned not to
question the One who loves, the One who cares, the One who I know had asked me
to do something, and so I did. It didn’t turn out the way I had expected, or at
least had hoped it would. But then after many starts and finishes now, you get
back up and go on. Persistence will pay off if we don’t quit.
When only eight people showed up for the event (and five were from
my own family), for which I had been planning for months, and had spent time,
energy and money on while expecting at least 30-50, I was truly disappointed.
As I sat there on the table, before the cars would start pulling up, after the
final two hour long decorating and other preparations had been done, I fought
against that which I knew wanted to attack me.
Disappointment. Rejection. The lying voice whispering, “You really
didn’t hear His voice, did you?”
Several times over the years, I knew that I knew - in my “knower”
as one Bible teacher used to say – that I had heard the Lord, did what He
asked, and then didn’t get the expected results. At least not at the start.
Whether it involved a ministry job change, a major move for the
family, a purchase of great value, or sharing a word with someone and then
getting some backlash, it took time before the real purpose of the Lord was
understood and the promise fulfilled.
I have learned, after much practice of course, that His ways are not our ways. He led Moses to the Red Sea, with what seemed to be an impossible way of crossing, after leading the Hebrews out of bondage. Joshua had to march his army around a stronghold city seven times. What was he thinking after the 6th lap? Daniel was placed in the lion’s den. Did it at any time first cross his mind, “If only I had obeyed the king and avoided this.”
Really God? Is this how you operate?
It sure is. They were able to face that because of the lessons
they committed themselves to learn in the long process leading up to that
point.
The Lord God Almighty wants to teach us to simply obey His word
first. He wants us to step out and do what we believe He has called us to
do. The results are to be left in His hands; not in our well planned out
ones. As we learn to walk through that which we face today, the bigger giants
yet coming will be looked at with faith and courage too.
It may be years before we realize that the seed planted in the
dirt will become a mighty tree, or the word spoken to that person will long
settle in their spirit, and they become the next Billy Graham.
The Lord is not short on time, or bringing about His planned
purposes. He knows the beginning from the end. After all, He IS the Father of
time, the Creator of all things. And His plans and purposes will come about,
even as He truly has spoken. After all, Jesus (Yeshua) rose from the dead,
proving that He is true and we can eternally believe His word.
Take courage in hearing His voice. Don’t give up or allow
disappointments in small beginnings to keep you from seeking the Lord with your
whole heart, mind, will and emotions. He is the Rewarder, and you will see the
good results.
It just takes a little more time.
Ahava (love in Hebrew) to my family of
friends,
Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA organization. Fed.
ID#27-1633858.
Ahava Love Letter #67
“Disappointed with Small Beginnings?” ©2013 Steve Martin
Date: In the year of our Lord
2013 (08/11/13 Sunday at 7:30 am in Charlotte, NC)
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