April 27, 2023
Each one of us, at some point in our lives, has experienced deep disappointment when things just didn’t work out as we had hoped or expected, and we have perhaps wondered if God has failed us. There have been times when we have been committed to something that we were personally convinced was God’s will, and therefore felt that He would bless our efforts. We prayed sincerely for God to help us, but then for some reason, our plans failed, and things didn’t work out as we had hoped.
Even when we can see the obvious natural reasons and adverse circumstances that explain why something didn’t work out, as Christians, the question that we can often face is, “But Lord, I thought this was Your will! So why didn’t You intervene miraculously and make it work out anyway? Why did this fail? Did You fail me, Lord?” It’s so easy at times like that to just throw up our hands in despair and to blame or second-guess ourselves or even to question God! And if we allow ourselves to hold it against God, we can nourish a little bitterness against Him in a corner of our heart.
Such feelings of disappointment and discouragement are very real at such times, but the question we must ask ourselves is: What went wrong? Did God fail? The answer for those who have put their trust in the Lord and His Word and strive to live in obedience to it is that God never fails, and if things go wrong or don’t turn out as we had hoped or expected, we must accept the fact that either we failed in some way somewhere along the line, or God has a different plan that He intends to work together for our good (Romans 8:28).
Even good purposes and projects sometimes fail when we are not doing them for the right motives, or we are not committing them to God and seeking His will and guidance. Another important reason why it may sometimes seem like the Lord isn’t answering our prayers and allows things to seemingly fail or not turn out as we had hoped—even good things that are within His will—is that God knows best what will bring about the best results in our lives and those of others. His Word says: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9).
Everything can seem to be going according to His plan and be leading toward just what we have been praying for, but we still have to walk by faith and trust Him and believe Him and follow Him no matter what the outcome. God often sets up a situation just perfectly in answer to our prayers, but we still have to do our part and trust Him and commit to following Him and His will in the situation.
If He creates a golden opportunity and then tells us, “Do it now!” it is in our court to trust and follow Him and do our part. This is so often true when witnessing to others and sharing the good news. The Lord will bring some searching, desperate soul our way and will put a strong compulsion in our heart to talk to them about Jesus. But if we fail to do our part and don’t seize that golden opportunity, then His purpose won’t be accomplished. But if we follow through with what He shows us to do, we can trust that His will can be accomplished through us, no matter what the obstacles or difficulties.
An example of the importance of our faithfulness to accomplish God’s will is found in the Bible in Acts 8:26–38. Philip the evangelist had been preaching God’s Word in Samaria (Northern Israel) when “an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, arise, and go toward the south, to the highway that goes from Jerusalem to the desert country of Gaza.” God was planning to do something of tremendous importance, and His plan was to use Philip to do it. The Bible says Philip responded in obedience. “And he arose and went.”
When he arrived at the highway, there was “a man of great authority, the chief treasurer of Queen Candace of Ethiopia.” This Ethiopian dignitary believed in God, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was now returning to Ethiopia. And as he rode in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah chapter 53, one of the most amazing prophecies in the entire Bible! Five hundred years before Jesus was born, this chapter had predicted Jesus’ life and death with amazing accuracy. This was God’s perfect setup, but Philip had to do his part to fulfill God’s plan.
“Then the Holy Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go up to his chariot!’” Philip could have responded by saying, “Wait a minute, I’d better think this one over. He’s an important foreign official, and look at all those armed guards around him. If I go up to the official’s chariot, I could get in real trouble. I might even get killed!” But instead, the Bible says, “So Philip ran straight to him.” He ran straight up to the chariot and asked the chief treasurer, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
The Ethiopian confessed that he didn’t, and asked Philip to explain it to him, which Philip gladly did. As a result, the Ethiopian was converted and became a Christian. And because he was a man of great authority and influence, when he returned to his country, he was instrumental in converting the entire nation of Ethiopia to Christianity, all of which was made possible by Philip’s obedience to follow God’s plan. It showed that Philip truly had great faith in God.
Sometimes when our prayers don’t seem to be answered, it can be because of our lack of faith and trust in His Word. We may not be fully convinced that God is really with us, and that He is going to perform what He has promised according to His good will and purposes (Philippians 2:13). We may tentatively believe that God is going to do something and follow the general direction that He leads us, but when it comes down to the crunch, we have to follow through and do our part, trusting that God is with us regardless of the outcome.
We can’t just cautiously go forward, not really committing ourselves until we’re “sure” something is going to work out or succeed. You have to believe that God is with you, and as you commit your ways to Him, He is going to protect and bless you in your endeavor. When He asks you to put your faith into action, you have to intentionally put aside any reservations or doubts that could cause you to hesitate or you can risk God’s golden opportunity passing you by!
If we fail to put our faith into believing action in that golden opportunity, that moment of decision, then it is we who have failed to do our part, and not God. If we walk by faith, all things are possible with God, and He can do miracles to accomplish His will and plan. But without faith, we can’t accomplish His good purposes, for “without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
Of course, sometimes the circumstances may not appear to be “just right.” New factors may have entered the equation, and the outlook for accomplishing what you had hoped to achieve or the goal you had hoped to reach may look uncertain. At such times, our faith can get tested, and in the process we learn to trust that God is with us and is going to answer our prayers, even when conditions seem to indicate the contrary.
When Abraham was 100 years old, and his wife Sarah was 90 years old, the Lord told them that she was going to bear a son. Romans 4:19–22 says, “He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was ‘counted to him as righteousness.’” And Hebrews 11:11 says of Sarah, “she was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.”
No matter how things look in the present, or whether things turn out as we had hoped or expected, or even if all our hopes and dreams appear to have failed, we know that God never fails. He is with us and He is the one who “works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). He is the one who has promised to work all things together for good in the lives of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).
From an article in Treasures, published by the Family International in 1987. Adapted and republished April 2023. Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso.
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