This past Christmas, I was looking forward to spending the day with my daughter and our little granddaughter. We had already celebrated Christmas a couple of weeks before with both my kids and all of our grandchildren. Christmas Day was going to be low-key, but essential to me nonetheless. Unfortunately, sickness derailed our plans, and my husband and I found ourselves with nothing to do on Christmas Day. It’s tough to spend a holiday alone…
At the close of the Christmas Eve service, I “happened” to be downstairs, where I usually wouldn't be, and ran into my Pastor’s wife. She asked what we were doing for Christmas, and I explained our circumstances to which she enthusiastically responded, “Why don’t you join us!?” I was overjoyed to receive that invitation. We had a wonderful day with good food, catching up with old friends, lots of laughs, and playing games! If you know me, I love to play games - my family, not so much. Lol.
Even though I was initially very disappointed not to be spending Christmas with my family, especially after a year that featured one disappointment after another, the Lord blessed me with a Christmas that was precisely what my heart needed. It certainly looked very different from what I thought was going to be best for me, but in hindsight, God’s best for me was indeed the best for me in this season.
We all can struggle at times with trusting God when His best looks different from ours. Reuben and Gad, Old Testament Bible characters, decided what was best based on appearances, rather than trusting God and moving forward into the Promised Land.
“Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had an exceedingly large number of livestock. So when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that it was indeed a place suitable for livestock, the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon, the land which the Lord conquered before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” They said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession; do not take us across the Jordan.” Numbers 32: 1-5
Moses was not happy with their decision, but when an agreement was reached regarding their participation in the war to assist the other tribes, he agreed to give them that land as an inheritance.
Despite this, Reuben and Gad still demonstrated a mentality of sight over faith and instant gratification. They also put themselves in future danger of divisions and
conflicts. Ultimately, they were trusting themselves rather than God’s best.
Let’s look at some encouragement from God’s Word to help us to trust God’s best when it looks different than our own.
Choosing Faith Over Expectation
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7
I don’t know about you, but as the years have passed, I have become increasingly cynical about expectations. It could be that life hands you disappointments, and the more life you’ve lived, the more disappointments you'll have. As hard as I try to keep my expectations low, deep inside me, there is always this hope that it will work out the way I want, and then when it doesn’t, my disappointment is even greater.
I think we can do this with God. We expect Him to come through in a specific way based on what we see, and when He doesn’t, we can become angry with Him because He didn’t live up to OUR expectation.
Think about a young mother who has prayed for her marriage for years. She has clung to promises in Scripture that gave her hope that God would restore her marriage, but the marriage fell apart anyway. She feels she did everything right with the expectation that the Lord would answer her prayer, yet now she finds herself alone with two children…
Now think about that same mother ten years later, who met and married the most loving, gentle, Christ-loving man who loves her and her children sacrificially. We’ve all heard stories exactly like this. It’s not just wishful thinking.
Initially, this young mother thought her first husband was what was best for her, but the Lord knew best, and the marriage was not restored, despite her efforts, through no fault of her own. She tried and did everything God asked her, but He knew He had a man who was the best for her and her children, and the Lord would send that man in His timing.
When we are in the moment, it is hard to walk by faith, but God. When we put our faith in a God who loves us with an everlasting love, we will not let what we see in front of us cloud our judgment, but will trust God when His best looks different than ours, even when we don’t know what that is yet.
Trusting God Beyond What I See
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
Reflecting on the story of the young mother, she indeed prayed for the promises of God and hoped that, although she didn’t see any change in her husband, the Lord would bring about that change. You might think, “Well, I can see where she would have issues trusting God after the fact.” In situations like these, it is important to trust God beyond what you can see.
The assurance and hope we have is that the Lord will ALWAYS act in our best interest. The safest place for us to be is in God's will. Even when we are in the thick of very trying circumstances, we must trust God beyond what we can see because no matter what, God’s best for us will happen.
God’s promises are yes and amen for us, BUT, our understanding of those promises and how they play out for us in particular might actually be limited by what WE are seeing, rather than trusting that the Lord sees what we cannot. Remember that God is always working in the unseen places for the good of those who love Him.
The Lord loves us with an everlasting love. Even when it seems that God is silent, remember that God is working behind the scenes for the good of those who love Him. One of my favorite analogies of when God seems silent is thinking of taking off in a plane on a cloudy day. As you take off on the runway, the plane starts to lift off. The heavy mist runs down the windows, and the ride is bumpy due to turbulence caused by the clouds, which may cause some anxiety. Then, before you know it, you have suddenly broken through the clouds where the sun is shining brightly. It was there all along.
Life will have turbulence, and it may feel like God is nowhere to be seen, but remember, like the sun behind the clouds, we can trust God beyond what we know because He is ALWAYS watching over us and working on our behalf to give us His best.
Letting Go to Receive God’s Best
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5-6
I’m not sure what happens to people as they get older, but it seems we lose our trust in everything except ourselves. Why don’t we stay in that peaceful bubble we enjoyed as children, when we know that as long as we are with one of our parents, we don’t have to worry about anything? They will take care of us and do what is best for us. I understand that, sadly, some children do not have a secure childhood, possibly even an abusive one, which could certainly cause a lack of trust, but speaking for myself, who had a safe childhood, I too can fall into the category of trusting in myself more than anyone else…
Maybe this is why it’s even harder for us to trust an “unseen” God. Yet as Believers, we all have “seen” God personally through His acts of faithfulness, whether it be provision, protection, healing, comfort, peace, etc. We have certainly heard testimonies from other Christians about God’s faithfulness, and, of course, the Word of God is full of stories that demonstrate why we can trust the Lord.
Yet when it comes to what we think should happen, we feel that we know what’s best. In fact, we even come to our prayers telling God what He should do. I confess that I can almost fear what God’s best is in a situation because it doesn’t line up with what I think is best or what “looks” like would be best. Indeed, sometimes what is best for us can be painful at first, as with the single mother we discussed, but ultimately, it will bring about so much good.
How do we trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding? We must trust the heart of God. God’s heart sent his Son to die in OUR place so that we would have eternal life. God’s heart desires to be in relationship with us and has made a way through Jesus for us to have unlimited access to Him. God’s heart delights in providing for us and showering us with His goodness and love. When we truly understand these things, it will be easy to let go to receive God’s best, and what a blessing that will be!
The single mom, whose story was woven through our discussion, is just an example, but one that could be applied to any circumstance. I hope it encourages you to trust God when His best looks different from what you expect.
Dear Heavenly Father, Please help me to trust You when Your best looks different than mine.
In what area of your life are you having trouble trusting in God’s best? How will you apply these encouragements to your circumstance?
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/DieterMeyrl
