“I don’t want this! I don’t want this!!”, she shouted as she waved her arms frantically in the air as if the waving could erase the impending doom from occurring.
Her favorite cartoon character was about to fall off her bike. She pleaded for us to turn off the TV because she had seen this trauma unfold before and the anticipated horror was too much to bear.
Her sweet innocent face is an accurate description of her heart. I thought her brother was tenderhearted but this girl is so empathetic, she doesn’t even want to watch a cartoon character experience pain. Even when it’s nothing more than a bee sting, falling down or getting covered in mud.
She’s watched half episodes of many favorite shows because just as they reach the conflict scene, she screams “CUT” and no resolution or happy ending ever unfolds.
“I DON’T WANT THIS!”
Can you relate? I sure can. Maybe not with episodes of Peppa Pig or Octonauts but I have definitely felt like shouting and flailing my arms in protest to the bad that was occurring in my life. I have fallen on my face in prayer and screamed “I don’t want this!” more than a time or two. But unlike the cartoons, there’s no off button. I don’t get to choose which episodes are played and I don’t have the option to participate in only the happy parts. The story of life continues to play on through the stings, when we fall down and even when we’re covered in mud.
I don’t want this. But God…
Through the darkest valleys, I’ve learned, though I don’t want this, God is up to something. He is still working all things together for my good. This thing is not good and no one is asking you to look at your “I don’t want this” as good, but God can and will weave good into or out of anything He allows.
This failure. This hurt. This lack. This pain. This uncertainty. I don’t want this. But God.
In scripture, we see Him time and time again come in just as the conflict unfolds. He is there. He is present. He is not surprised. He is not shaken.
What the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good.
In Matthew 8:24-25 the disciples are shouting their “we don’t want this!” as a storm threatens to toss their boat and take their lives. But in verse 26 Jesus calmly quiets the storm.
What if they hadn’t cried out to him or looked to him for help? What if they had turned away, like my Anna turning off the TV? What if they became desperate, jumped out of the boat and started trying to swim back to shore? They never would have seen the next part of the story where Jesus calms the storm and reveals His glory. They would have missed the good He intended for them; the promise of his everlasting Peace.
What if the very next verse of your story is where God is about to show up and show off? If you turn if off when trouble hits, you’ll never see the end of the story and you’ll miss the good He intends for you in this.
I’m not saying every hard place we walk through gets tied up with a happy ending. Sometimes things are left undone and questions hang thick in the air around us. But more often than not, we miss the glory moments because we aren’t looking for them. We’ve already shut down and turned it off because we didn’t want this.
In our next “I don’t want this” moment, what if we press in instead of pressing off? I wonder what verse may be ready to unfold and be told!
#atthecross #pathtoProvidence