Being Content

Unrealized Blessings

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Years ago, Garth Brooks released a song called “Unanswered Prayers.” The title was a misnomer as the song wasn’t actually about unanswered prayers – it was about prayers that were answered differently than the petitioner wanted. It struck a chord with many as a powerful reminder that when things don’t go as we initially desire, there may be something better – something we couldn’t have anticipated – that comes along instead. Believers especially should have this confidence as they know that God is working all things for their good and His glory (Rom. 8:28). God is not arbitrary in how He dispenses good gifts – He has a purpose that He is working to accomplish.

Yet, it is often difficult to remember this when our hope goes unfulfilled. Despite all evidence to the contrary, we still behave in such a manner as if we would know what would be best for our lives. When God doesn’t give us something that we want, we are quick to think that something must be wrong with Him  – or His plan, rather than trusting that the One who holds our future in His hands has a better understanding of what we need in this moment in than our temporal perspective allows. We are quick to acknowledge what is lacking in our lives in terms of not having what we desire, but slow to recognize our own insufficiency when it comes to determining whether what we desire is actually what is best.

A.W. Tozer recognized this when he wrote: “Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now.” We are sentient creatures and we are able to more easily recognize the good that we have experience than we are to appreciate the blessings of which we may never be aware. However our lack of understanding for how God is providing shouldn’t stop us from praising the fact that He is.

It’s important to express gratitude for the good things that God has given us – to acknowledge the many gifts that He has placed in our lives. We would do well to also state our appreciation for the unrealized blessings – and to praise our Father for working in ways that we are unaware.

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Hope

Faithfulness Revealed

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There are many people who love looking at the clouds. Seeing their metamorphosis and witnessing their slow movement across the sky can be a sight to behold. Observing their shifts in color and how they signify changes in the weather can be a wonderful reminder of the intricacies of God’s seasonal design. Often they simply confirm to us the bigness of God, and our smallness in comparison.

The truly memorizing images of clouds are often the ones that obscure the light of the sun. These are the sunsets and the sunrises that capture our attention. They are the pictures posted on Instagram and fitted for postcards. The combination of clouds and light paint a picture that otherwise we would not see. Although covering the face of the sun, the resulting image often renews our appreciation of its light.

The same can be true in our Christian life. When God seems the most hidden, when the color of the clouds portend a storm up ahead, these are often the times where in retrospect we are most appreciative of the light of His Word (Ps. 119:105). His power pierces through the darkness to create beauty that we otherwise would not see. Just like the shifting clouds eventually move to reveal the brightness of the sun, so our own troubles pass and reveal the goodness of God’s purpose for us (See Rom. 8:28).

This can be hard in the moment. When the clouds appear on our horizon, when they seem to keep us hidden from God’s view, it can be difficult to remember that it is not our ability to see God that determines whether He is at work. The clouds may temporally conceal His majesty and goodness from our immediate view, but He is still the same God as when all seems right with our world. His light will break through the clouds, and His grace will sustain His children until that time as His purpose is revealed.

Or as Charles Spurgeon wrote:

O thou poor, distressed soul, who once lived in the sunshine of God’s face, but art now in darkness, remember that He has not really forsaken thee. God in the clouds is as much our God as when He shines forth in all the lustre of His grace.

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