Having Faith in Times of Uncertainty

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Dealing with being disappointment and misunderstanding

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Having Faith in Times of Uncertainty

What has God done for me lately?

[ME] Brought a dog “Nico” into my life - we were very upset, I was very upset. Why? Because Jaxon had been taken out of our lives very abruptly. We only had Jaxon for six years. He was a dauschund that was bigger than life. It is amazing how a dog, or any animal, becomes part of the family…a family member. Jaxon was greatly loved.
I was also upset because Jaxon represented the one consistent companion that my daughters’ had since moving to Leduc and LAC. A close friend, they could snuggle with and count on to be there; to have fun with, listen to them, interact with, when there were no relationships at the church for them.
I have been very upset about this because when we were called to LAC I thought God and I had an agreement - I come as long as there are friends for my daughters at the church. Plain and simple, there has not been. Instead, God gave them both some really good friends at school, Christ the King, and at the youth group, Leduc Fellowship Church. Better than I could have imagined.
I have become very grateful and thankful to God for this; for the blessing of these people and places in my daughters’ lives, because God does not always operate in the way that you think He should, or desire Him to. Especially when you felt guilty about moving them from a place and people they loved and you were not sure if you made the right decision and heard God right. It weighs on a person, a pastor.
“What sin have I committed Lord that You have brought this death upon my daughters?”
[Lynnette’s Mom & Dad] Jake and Vera. We had no clue that four years after we moved to Leduc, Lynnette’s mom and dad would be joining us. A severe outbreak of bed bugs, in their unit, at the seniors manor they made home, would cause them to leave and lose nearly all their personal possessions behind and move to Leduc. Calgary was home their whole life, 50+ years!
“What sin have they committed Lord that You have brought this death upon them?”
Little did we know that our moving to Leduc was going to become central to finding a place for Lynnette’s mom and dad, and helping to take care of them during her severe pain and Covid.
Part three of God’s planting us in Leduc…
[Lynnette’s brother, Jason], comes to Leduc. He moved from the other LA…the one in California. His place, in Malibu, burnt down in the massive fires two years ago. He found a place in Pasadena, small and expensive, came to Leduc for Thanksgivng, and then could not get back into the US. He stays with us. He flys us down to LA to drive his Jeep back and get some personal belongings. Mom’s pain strikes. Covid hits and the US boarder closes. Being a Canadian, with health coverage, he is on the right side of the boarder to get the treatments and medication he needs, when it closes.
“Man of God, what do we have in common? Have you come to remind me of my guilt and to kill my son?”
My cry was “God, what have you done for me? Why have you not held up your side of the agreement? Why make my daughters suffer? The guilt ways upon me. Jaxon dies, the last close companion to my daughters, is taken away. Why take the dog…why? Why could you not have taken Hamish the incessant yappy dog, that barks at me all the time, when I am in my backyard? Why? The pain I feel for my daughters is great, my anger greater.
And then comes Nico, ‘the shadow’, for free. He follows me everywhere. God says, “Okay, I will give you a dog, a great dog, a rescue, for free, with a great personality and contageous smile, who is going to stick to you like glue. You are going to tire of his stick-to-you-of-ness like the Israelites tired of eating manna...but he represents so much more, it will just take some time for me to work out all the details first.”
What, indeed, has God done for me lately…lots, I just tend not to see it until I stop and reflect, such as during a time as Covid.
We have a family, that we were away from for 11.5 years up in Peace River, now living in Leduc. A brother back after 22 years away (for now). Support and a home for mom and dad, who were homeless, in a time that is unprecedented during Covid (we live 3 minutes away compared to 9.5 hours). And all I wanted was a dog and close friends for my daughters, and a death to my regret. I was looking back trying to plow a field, being unworthy and unfit for the Kingdom (Luke 9:62).

But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

The little bit of faith I had was the belief that God called me here and that He is good, He is faithful, and that He speaks and can be heard.

God is Faithful and Good

68 You are good, and You do what is good;

teach me Your statutes.

69 The arrogant have smeared me with lies,

but I obey Your precepts with all my heart.

70 Their hearts are hard and insensitive,

but I delight in Your instruction.

71 It was good for me to be afflicted

so that I could learn Your statutes.

23 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

​

Does God call our sin to rememberance to punish?

Man’s belief is that bad things happen as a result of my sin. God punishes the sin we do with consequence.

She said to Elijah, “Man of God, what do we have in common? Have you come to remind me of my guilt and to kill my son?”

11 They said to Moses: “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

Moses’ encouragement afterwards, in the face of the Israelites questioning of his character and God’s , is to not, “be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation He will provide for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you must be quiet.”
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ex 14:13–14). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
It is true that our actions can either result in reward or consequence, as God stated to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 28, by following, or not following, God’s commands and statues carefully. Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, not to abolish them.
The apostle James says that our motives cause our own downfall (James 4:1-3).

What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your evil desires.

My motive, to make sure my daughters transitioned easily and had friends. A place like where we came from. But my motives, where not God’s motives, my thoughts not His thoughts, my ways, not His ways (Isaiah 55:9).

20 Then he cried out to the LORD and said, “My LORD God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow I am staying with by killing her son?”

Surely Lord, after saving the son from starvation, you are not now going to kill him by disease, will you? You surely are not going to abandon my daughters? No.

32 For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD. “So repent and live!

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, 5 made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

God Shows His Love and Mercy

22 So the LORD listened to Elijah’s voice, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Then Elijah took the boy, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “Look, your son is alive.”

Do we actually think that God sends calamity to remind us of how sinful we are?

We already know our sin and shortcomings according to the Apostle Paul, one sincerely acquinted with sin and his own shortcomings as a murderer of Christians as a Pharisee:

15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts will either accuse or excuse them 16 on the day when God judges what people have kept secret, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.

Who do we believe God to be? A God of punishment or the God of Love, who is good all the time and is not given to being tossed to and fro by a sea of uncontrollable emotions?

9 The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

No, He is patient with all of us, not wanting any of us to suffer death, sorrow or pain; but sometimes the boy does die, the dog, the relationship, the opportunity.
When this happens, what is it a chance for? An opportunity to exercise faith.

An Opportunity to Exercise Faith

Elijah stretches out over the boy three times and prays for the boys life to return to him (v.22). God does so. Elijah exercises faith in an uncertain sitation and time. Do we do the same?
Elijah’s faith in the midst of uncertainty allows for:
God to demonstrate His life giving power.
God to demonstrate that He is God, not Baal.
That God is ever listening and watchful over His creation.
That God has compassion towards the believer and unbeliever alike.
The faith exercise builds up the widow:
The miracle of God helps her to know that Yahweh is in fact ‘the God’ of all.
That God will go to any length to prove Himself - His existance and love - to human beings, but we still have to choose to believe Him. God is loving us constantly to draw us to repent and believe!
The world has all that it needs in God, that includes the believer. Why do we need to go and look elsewhere!
1, 2 Kings (3) Elijah’s Miraculous Powers (17:7–24)

Hauser comments: “Thus, as the challenges by death grow in intensity, God himself becomes more actively involved in the life-sustaining process, no longer commanding others, but himself taking the initiative against death and overcoming death’s challenges.”

So what indeed has God done for you/us lately?

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