Korinn Smith is the Communications Director at Element Church. Recently, she shared this devo with our staff at our weekly staff prayer meeting:
Doesn’t life just always go our way? We get it easy and do not have to face unknown circumstances as a Christ-follower? Can you sense my sarcasm?
News flash. Life doesn’t go our way, and often times our extreme expectations of how life should go lead to crippling disappointment. Often we let the magnitude of our disappointing circumstance bottom out our hope. Disappointment from unplanned events can often take our eyes off of God and directly on our circumstances, leaving a stuck feeling, and even a forfeiting of our future experiences.
When disappointments happen repeatedly our thoughts can grow dark. That’s when the enemy can move in and steal our hope and doubt can overtake our faith. As Christians, we are called to faith even through unplanned events. It’s faith in Christ Jesus that will lead us to liberating freedom regardless of the circumstance.
In Numbers 20:1-13 (You can read it on your own) we see a faithful servant of God worn out from the grumblings of the people about the unplanned disappointing circumstance that they were in. We see anger in the servant Moses instead of obedience.
God told Moses to speak to the rock and water will flow, but instead, Moses used force to strike the rock in violent irritation. Moses is discharged from his duty of leading the people into the Promise Land. And Aaron his brother is also withdrawn from his work as he did not hold his brother Moses accountable.
The weight of their unexpected circumstance fixed their eyes off of their Deliverer, and their hope bottomed out. God’s promise still stood though. God still performed the miracle and water flowed from the rock, and the people are sustained. The Israelites cross into the Promise Land as God had promised. God still shows us his unfailing love even in the midst of our disobedience and distrust.
Truth: God will bring water from the rock to love me at my worst and to satisfy my thirst!
We can see in this passage the Israelites modeling what I call “If Syndrome” setting in their hearts as they took their gaze off God’s promise of a land flowing with milk and honey and onto the negative. Instead, they need the “Yet Syndrome.” Yet syndrome is when you trust that God’s ways and thoughts are higher than your own. Yet syndrome is full of faith and hope. It looks like this:
We don’t have figs or grapes… Yet.
We don’t have water… Yet.
In our modern-day lives, it translates from:
I don’t get this, to, I don’t get this… Yet.
I can’t do this, to, I can’t do this… Yet. (Hello, God’s timing not mine)
This doesn’t work, to, this doesn’t work… Yet.
The Israelites made it to the Promise Land because God keeps his promises. Jesus is ALWAYS there to walk with us through our disappointment and heartaches. Holding on to faith in the face of the unplanned and disappointing circumstances is absolutely crucial. Making God’s promises bigger than our disappointments is absolutely essential.
Application:
God has given us a book, the Bible, literally full of promises. This book will bring our hearts back to life. God’s promises are not marked with an expiration date. Worshipping God opens the door for the holy spirit to come in with encouragement and healing. Taking our gaze off of our disappointments and on to God will help us go from a place of fear to a place of trust, even in the midst of the unplanned and unexpected.