First Point: God’s Word describes God’s character. Knowing God’s character or His nature can ensure you aren’t disappointed when things don’t go your way.
Character - the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.
Nature - the basic or inherent features of something, especially when seen as characteristic of it.
As Christians, we are familiar with Romans 8:28
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
And Jeremiah 29:11
11 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.
These are promises that God the Father has for us, His children. But who is it that is making these promises? Is He trustworthy? What is His personality like? Who does He say He is? In our minds, we all have a definition of what a good father looks like even if we’ve never had a good one. When we speak of what a Father is, there are a few definitions.
Father - 1. a man who has begotten a child. Pretty self-explanatory.
2. one that originates or institutes
But I think the definition most of us think about when we hear the word Father is:
3. to assume as one's own; take the responsibility of. Paternal protector or provider.
Rightly or wrongly, that is what many of us set as the expectations for our earthly fathers and have judged them accordingly to how they have protected us, provided for us and claimed us as their own. But that’s not it. It’s possible to have a distant Father who claims us, takes responsibility for us, protects us and provides for us and yet not know who he is. Maybe you had such a father. One who for whatever reason didn’t make it a priority to connect with you. To reveal himself to you. And since there was distance… since there was a disconnect, it was totally possible for you to second guess his love for you. To be disappointed in him. It is so much easier to know a person’s motives when you spend time with them and get to know them. In spending time with someone, their character is revealed. Their nature. Who they are.
One of the ways that God reveals who He is, is by the various names He has in the bible. God literally has 100’s and 100’s of names. And why is that important? Why has God shared His names with us? It’s because names denote nature. It’s not like nowadays, where some of us have names that are totally random or arbitrary. Words meant something back then. God wanted us to be able to know Him. And He communicates who He is by His names. In order to know something, you must be able to name it.
So often in our culture, we hate being labeled. We hate when people label us a certain way. And why is that? Well one reason, we don’t like being labeled incorrectly. We don’t like being told we are one way, when we feel we are another. I believe another reason we don’t like being labeled is because if we are labeled, we have to embrace the behavior that goes along with that label. And depending on what label it is, we don’t want to be responsible for it. I’ll give you an example. If you are driving and someone cuts you off, what do you do? You could lay on your horn. You could speed up and cut the other person off, maybe using a hand gesture in the process. You could speed up and roll down your window and give them an earful. How many of us have done that? Now dear people, think of that same scenario with a Jesus fish on your car or a “Jesus is Lord” bumper sticker on your car. How has your options changed? Would you consider any of those a valid option? That label on your car gave you a responsibility to live up to. Didn’t it? That’s partially why we don’t like labels. Because we don’t want to feel like a hypocrite when we don’t live up to them. But here’s the great thing about God… He does want you to label Him. In fact, He gives you hundreds and hundreds of labels that give you an idea of how this God you serve, this Heavenly Father you have, is supposed to act. And He isn’t afraid of letting you down because He can’t help but live up to each and every name He has given Himself. Let me read you a few of the many names of our Lord.
JEHOVAH JIREH:"The Lord Will Provide" (Genesis 22:14) – the name memorialized by Abraham when God provided the ram to be sacrificed in place of Isaac.
JEHOVAH-RAPHA: "The Lord Who Heals" (Exodus 15:26) – “I am Jehovah who heals you” both in body and soul. In body, by preserving from and curing diseases, and in soul, by pardoning iniquities.
JEHOVAH-NISSI: "The Lord Our Banner" (Exodus 17:15), where banner is understood to be a rallying place. This name commemorates the desert victory over the Amalekites in Exodus 17.
JEHOVAH-M'KADDESH: "The Lord Who Sanctifies, Makes Holy" (Leviticus 20:8; Ezekiel 37:28) – God makes it clear that He alone, not the law, can cleanse His people and make them holy.
JEHOVAH-SHALOM: "The Lord Our Peace" (Judges 6:24) – the name given by Gideon to the altar he built after the Angel of the Lord assured him he would not die as he thought he would after seeing Him.
JEHOVAH-ELOHIM: "LORD God" (Genesis 2:4; Psalm 59:5) – a combination of God’s unique name YHWH and the generic “Lord,” signifying that He is the Lord of Lords.
JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU: "The Lord Our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 33:16) – As with YHWH-M’Kaddesh, it is God alone who provides righteousness to man, ultimately in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, who became sin for us “that we might become the Righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
JEHOVAH-ROHI: "The Lord Our Shepherd" (Psalm 23:1) – After David pondered his relationship as a shepherd to his sheep, he realized that was exactly the relationship God had with him, and so he declares, “Yahweh-Rohi is my Shepherd. I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1).
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH: "The Lord Is There” (Ezekiel 48:35) – the name ascribed to Jerusalem and the Temple there, indicating that the once-departed glory of the Lord (Ezekiel 8—11) had returned (Ezekiel 44:1-4).
JEHOVAH-SABAOTH: "The Lord of Hosts" (Isaiah 1:24; Psalm 46:7) – Hosts means “hordes,” both of angels and of men. He is Lord of the host of heaven and of the inhabitants of the earth, of Jews and Gentiles, of rich and poor, master and slave. The name is expressive of the majesty, power, and authority of God and shows that He is able to accomplish what He determines to do.
This is why worshipping a God who cannot be known doesn’t make any sense. If God can’t be known or if He doesn’t have any names, then He has no responsibility to you. And guess what? You don’t have any responsibility to Him. If God can’t be known… if your heavenly Father cannot be known… How would you know what kind of son or daughter you are? God reveals Himself to us and in so doing, reveals who we are to Him. We find out who we are when we find out who He is. And when you know who God is, it’s a lot easier to believe that He works out everything for the good of those who are called according to His purpose or that He has plans for us, for a hope and future. When you know God, it’s easy to believe that He is just the kind of God who would work out everything for us. That’s the difference between having a Father you know and one you don’t.
Second point: If you know God's character, if you know His nature, you know that if You haven't received something He's promised, it's because He's giving you something better.
Sometimes God can break our hearts with what He asks of us.
Genesis 22:1-2
22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
Genesis 22:9-14
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Hebrews 11:17-19
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
Abraham was familiar with God. He knew God. He knew that God was trustworthy and had come through on all the promises that He had made to Abraham in the past. He obeyed God even though it was breaking His heart. And what did God do? He spared Isaac’s life.
John 11:1-43
11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
How do you think Martha and Mary felt when Jesus didn’t show up to heal Lazarus especially after Jesus said that he wouldn’t die? Even though Martha was devastated by God not healing Lazarus, she still had faith. Martha was familiar with Jesus. She believed He was the Messiah and that God would give Jesus anything He asked. Even in their hour of mourning, there was hope that Jesus could raise the dead. Now Jesus could have showed up and healed Lazarus before He died. Martha and Mary had seen Jesus heal before. But Jesus instead chose to do something that they had never seen before. He chose to raise Lazarus from the dead. God wanted to do something greater than either Martha or Mary knew. And why?
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
It comes down to God’s glory. Which leads me to my last point.
Third Point: God does things for His glory, not according to our desires.
You ever felt like God lied to you? Or that He didn’t come through for you?
Look at the Jews in Jesus’ time. They believed the Messiah was going to bring an earthly Kingdom through them and that they were going to rule and reign with Him. To the Jews, Jesus was a huge disappointment. But God had it in mind to glorify Himself in a greater measure than just having an earthly Kingdom. He didn’t want to be Lord and Savior to one people group, but to all people groups. His vision was greater than the Jews. God’s vision is greater and more magnificent than our vision.
Isaiah 55:9
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
John 9
9 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
We seek fault with others and ourselves when God disappoints us. But no matter what our circumstances look like, we can be confident that God will answer us in a manner that gives Him the most glory.
“but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
My son Kai Rey is two and a half weeks old right now. I am a proud papa. When Alaina was around 7 months pregnant we had an ultrasound. Now in this ultrasound they found out that Kai Rey had a pretty big tumor on his arm. This is what the doctor actually said. "We have no idea what is on your son's arm. I've never seen anything like it in any other baby. In fact, when he's born, can you call us and let us know what exactly it is that is on his arm." I got to say, when doctors tell you that they don't know what the huge mass that is growing on your son's arm is, it can be a little disturbing. Along with all the other feelings that go into having your first child, adding unknown tumor into the mix isn't the best feeling.
Alaina and I left the hospital and we both looked at each other and said, "I believe he's going to be healed." That's what we felt like God was saying to us. We felt like our son was going to be fine. So we went home and had a peace about it. I didn't even look up on the internet what it possibly could be because I didn't want to give into any fear. I told several people that I believed that God was going to heal our son and that his arm would be perfectly fine. Alaina and I put our faith out there. We trusted God that the tumor would be gone by the time he was born.
Fast forward to the delivery room. Alaina gave one more push and our beautiful son, Kai Rey, comes into this world And then in the midst of our joy, we see his arm.
Obviously, Alaina and I were crestfallen when we saw his arm. We were disappointed that, in a moment where overwhelming joy should be the only feeling, we had a tinge of sadness that God didn't come through the way we thought He would.
Had we heard from God correctly? Had our faith not been enough.? Was God displeased with us or worse yet, not as powerful as we thought? Did He not care about us or our son enough?
These are the questions that could have gone through our heads. But what did go through our head and what we couldn't shake was the knowledge of who God is and what He's done in the past for us. We remembered.
We remembered that God can be trusted. He’s been trustworthy in our lives over and over again. We know what God’s character is and how He’s interacted with us in the past. I don’t know why Kai Rey’s arm is like this. But I know God is going to be glorified in it and that His ways are higher than my ways. I know that He loves Kai Rey more than I do even though that sounds impossible since I love him so much.
And here's the thing... what God told us was that Kai Rey’s arm would be fine. Even in the moments after his birth, the doctors and nurses around us couldn't tell us what it was. It wasn't until the next day when we saw the Pediatrician that he alleviated our fears and told us what this mystery tumor was. it is a Hemangioma. A Hemangioma is basically a benign tumor of tangled blood vessels that will go away on its own, usually by the time they are 5 years of age. It doesn't hurt my son. It's not in the muscle or the bone, it's just under the skin. He is perfectly fine and it will eventually go away on its own. That's a great report! God told us He would be fine and He will be, Praise God! It just didn't quite happen like we thought.
God knows what He’s doing. And He knows what will bring Him the most glory. I’m excited and expectant to see what God is going to do through my son. There's a reason it all happened this way and I can rest in the fact that God has a plan. There's peace in that.
2 Corinthians 1
20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
Since we can know God's character we can trust Him when things don't go as planned.
If you don't know God's character… if you don’t know his nature… you will be disappointed all the time.
And as God does things for His glory, so should we focus our lives around giving God glory. And how do we do that? Giving glory to God is tied in with the knowledge of God (revelation of God), and knowing God personally (response to God). That means we know everything we can about God… and we know Him personally. The combination of those two will bring God the most glory. And the more God is revealed to us and the more we interact with God, the easier it will be to trust God and believe that He is working out everything for the good of those who love him, and who have been called according to His purpose.
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