Monday, April 12: Disappointments

My nephew went into rehab for substance abuse and it was a special day for my family, which had been praying hard for him to hear the voice of the Lord. I still treasure the day of my sister Julee’s wedding when we met as a family to pray for him. That shows the hand of the Father in all of our lives, for in a matter of a few years, God called almost everyone in my family from different lives and sins to serve Him. The Lord restored the years the swarming locust has eaten, as it says in the Book of Joel. During the time, we all were grieving for one lost soul, who had once known the Lord, but had fallen into Satan’s web of deceit.


Sadly, only 11 days later, he left rehab, disgruntled with all the problems he felt were associated with the ministry. Rather than look at the sin in his own life and the relationship work that the Lord had in store for him, he was looking for the sins in the lives of others.  When I was speaking to him on the phone, a verse came to my mind that I never had applied in this way:


5 “When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.
Deuteronomy 24:5


We as Christians are brides of Christ. When we come to the Lord, that first year is a special one. Jesus desires for us to strongly emphasize our relationship with Him. As I reminded my nephew, do you think the Lord would ask us to go into a heavy battle in that first year? Less than two weeks after giving his life to the Lord, my nephew was calling attention to all the things wrong in the ministry, where the Lord had placed him. Though he told me that in those few weeks, a few men had given their lives to the Lord. This is the old adage of not being able to see the forest through the trees, as he wanted to shut down a ministry where men were being saved because it didn't do everything his way.  We all struggle with pride.


So, now he’s back in the city where all of his drug connections exist. Am I disappointed? The answer would be a resounding YES, but I also know that the God I serve is bigger than I ever can grasp or imagine. This didn’t surprise God! The Lord can take our worst decisions and turn them around. Sometimes, the hardest step for us to take is to walk by faith and trust God. Ironically, the man who began the ministry that my nephew had so many difficulties with was the leader of the trip I took to Israel. Pastor Gerry Brown was a great example to me in my Christian walk. One night, we bumped into each other in front of our large hotel in Jerusalem. He was heading to Ben Yehuda Street and said that because the Lord had placed us both there at the same time, He must want us to go together. Gerry was good at taking whatever the Lord placed in front of him and working with that.


My nephew has changed the plan. It wasn’t my plan, but one that seemed to be in effect. Instead of feeling that huge pang of disappointment deep in my belly, I should be excited for what the Lord is going to do next. Though it might not be what I expect, it will certainly be better than anything I could imagine. Do you think that anyone ever imagined that the Lord would take Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the world, from having it all to eating grass like a bovine for seven years? God has unlimited resources, all the time in the world and the heart to bring us to the end of ourselves. I know that He can handle my nephew’s pride, his problems and his bad decisions just fine.


Isn’t it amazing that our God is never disappointed? The only way to be disappointed is if something you expect doesn’t happen. God knows the end of every situation!  So, in the meantime, I will do what the Lord has called me to do, pray for my nephew and trust that the Lord can handle it without any of my creative ideas.