What an amazing thought. The ‘God of the Universe’, the ‘Almighty’, the ‘Alpha and the Omega’, the ‘Beginning and the End’, the great ‘I Am’ does not always deliver.
The other day, friends of mine asked for prayer for a relative who was grieving at the passing away of their two year old boy. The toddler was found face down in the pool, having been there for sometime, they were able to resuscitate him. It looked good for a few days. He was doing really well. But then he crashed, he crashed hard. He didn’t recover. His mom, hates God. Why did this boy regain consciousness and have marks of improving only to die shortly thereafter. God did not deliver. He certainly could have.
He did deliver a one year old boy from Escherichia coli, commonly known as E-coli. A few years back our church prayed for a young boy to be delivered from this awful bacteria. He was healed. Two years later, at 3 years old, this same boy found himself in an fast moving aqueduct in his backyard. The nanny took her eyes off of him for two minutes and the little boy found himself swept down the deep water way that feeds the farms in central Washington. The nanny, once she realized what happened, jumped in and swam after the boy looking for him frantically. Under barbed wire, through culverts, and down the aqueduct, she spotted him hanging on to a bush on the side of the embankment.
When she got to him, alone hanging on to a bush, she asked him how he was able to grab the bush and keep from being swept down the fast moving aqueduct. He said a lady named Jewel lifted him out of the water and had him hang on to the bush. This is central Washington where it is flat. The nanny didn’t see anyone for miles. Not to mention, how many of us if we had rescued the boy from the fast moving water would just walk away in that moment? None of us. But yet, God delivered this little boy through an angel named Jewel. Why him and not the boy from the pool?
We might find ourselves struggling with the ‘why’. We might even note how unfair our circumstance is. We have a disease or debilitating illness, our life is falling apart before our eyes, we are fired from a job we were good at, we see our children suffer before our eyes and we can’t do anything about it, our parents hurt us, we are affected by others bad choices, and the list goes on. God, why don’t you deliver? Aren’t you supposed to be good? Why, why don’t you deliver?
I’m reminded of the words that three men once spoke boldly before a world ruler. As their own life was threatened by being burned in a furnace, they said these words, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Daniel 3:16b–18
Yes God can deliver, and He does. Sometimes though, He does not deliver. These three men understood this. In verse 18 there is the pivotal three letter word, “But”. This three letter word takes the phrase or sentence before it and negates it with what follows after it. So what one of these three say is that no matter what happens, they are being true to who they are and the convictions they have.
God is holy. God is true. God is good. God is love. God is righteous. These three followers of God knew this. Therefore they were able to stand under unimaginable scrutiny, and in the face of death, still be obedient to the Word of God. We still talk about this story though it happened thousands of years ago. Think about that. Their act of obedience in the face of death still is told on Sundays and through out the week thousands of years later.
God takes our situations, our dispositions, our circumstances, and uses them to glorify Himself. He doesn’t always tell us the why. He doesn’t have to. May we understand that His love for us in unfathomable. And in that love for us, we can stand in our circumstance and know that God can deliver us. BUT, if He doesn’t, He is going to use it to magnify and glorify His name. It’s not up to us to figure out how or why, it’s up to us to be obedient in the journey.
The apostle John in his gospel account records a conversation between Jesus and Peter. Peter wants to know what John’s role will be after His resurrection. So, Peter asks, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” John 21:21–22
Wherever we find ourselves, His word to us is, “You follow me!”. He does not always deliver. But in whatever circumstance we find ourself in, He will glorify and magnify Himself, therefore we will follow Him. The first question in the shorter catechism of faith, based on the Westminster Confession of Fatih is this:
Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
- Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
May He be glorified through our life in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in, whether He delivers or not. Sola Deo Gloria.