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I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

It has been a long weekend.  Besides the usual responsibilities of preaching on Sunday, I had the wedding of a couple from my former church to perform.  In the midst of all that, we were in negotiations for the sale of our house.  After bartering back and forth over the price, on Saturday we came to a verbal agreement.  Late in the morning Monday, my wife phoned the buyers to ask them if they had talked to their lawyer yet.  At that point they informed her that they had bought another house.  They hadn't even bothered to phone us and let us know.  Then last night, at 2:30 a.m. my brother-in-law went in to emergency with pneumonia.

Now I am not telling you all this so you can pour pity on our family.  I am rehearsing this because I want to state without a shadow of reservation that I believe I am still where God wants me to be.  Often when we are faced with adversity in life, we begin to question whether God is displeased with us or whether we have somehow misread the will of God for our lives.  After all, we are living in an age in evangelicalism where the preaching of health, wealth and prosperity are at an all-time high.  Even those who are less overt in this message still proclaim that "God has a wonderful plan for your life."

Well, I do believe that God has a wonderful plan for my life, but it probably is not wonderful in the way that most of us expect.  The wonderful part is the salvation He has granted me and the eternal life He has promised me.  Here and now - not so much.  Jesus didn't candy-coat his depictions of life for Christians in this world.  He said there would be trouble (Matt. 5:11-12; John 15:20-25).  Things have been quiet for Christians for so long here in North America that we have forgotten that we are the exception not the rule.  Trouble is the norm - quiet is the exception. 

Furthermore, we still live in a world cursed by the effects of sin.  As long as there is sin present in this world there will be trials and difficulties.  Becoming a Christian does not give one a get out of jail free card.  We too bear the consequences of the sin in our world.  We get sick.  We have troubles.  We die.

And guess what.  All of these "bad" things can happen to us and we can still be absolutely and securely in the centre of the will of God.  In fact, our God's will is so great and powerful that He even turns those "bad" things for good in our lives.  Am I discouraged? - you bet.  Am I frustrated? - absolutely.  Am I questioning God's will for my life? Not in the slightest.  My God is sufficient to make even these frustrations good for his children.

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