My life is frustrating, what is God doing about it?

My life is frustrating… what is God doing about it? Everyone has that moment in life when we wonder, what is God doing? Why is life such a struggle? Why is my marriage/career/dream going nowhere? We feel like nothing is happening and God is doing nothing on our behalf. We feel frustrated. Tired. Defeated. If we aren’t careful, we begin to complain. We become negative. We blame people around us for our misery. If it wasn’t for my husband or wife, I would be happy. If it wasn’t for my boss or my job, I’d be happy. If it wasn’t my church or my pastor, I’d be happy. If it wasn’t for what they did to me, I’d be happy. Truth is, your happiness is up to you. Your job and spouse can influence you but you happiness is up to you.

We ask the wrong question. When? When will it all work out? Our desire to trust God is smothered by our desire to do life our way.

Here is the principle I want to share with you today. Life is about God and what He is up to. Life is not about us and what we want. And, until we understand that, life will be very frustrating. God said, “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out – plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” GOD’s Decree. MSG Jeremiah 29:11-14

I want to walk you through Abraham’s struggle to understand this. Our story begins when Abraham is 75 years old and he has no children. At this point in the story his name is Abram and later his name is changed to Abraham. 1 GOD told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you. 2 I’ll make you a great nation and bless you. I’ll make you famous; you’ll be a blessing.” MSG Genesis 12:1-2

About 10 years later, Abraham is around 85 years old. 1 Sarai, Abram’s wife, hadn’t yet produced a child. She had an Egyptian maid named Hagar. 2 Sarai said to Abram, “GOD has not seen fit to let me have a child. Sleep with my maid. Maybe I can get a family from her.” Abram agreed to do what Sarai said. 3 So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took her Egyptian maid Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. Abram had been living ten years in Canaan when this took place. 4 He slept with Hagar and she got pregnant. When she learned she was pregnant, she looked down on her mistress. 5 Sarai told Abram, “It’s all your fault that I’m suffering this abuse. I put my maid in bed with you and the minute she knows she’s pregnant, she treats me like I’m nothing. May GOD decide which of us is right.” 6 “You decide,” said Abram. “Your maid is your business.” Sarai was abusive to Hagar and she ran away. MSG Genesis 16:1-6

One word. Drama! A Jerry Springer moment. This is better than any reality show you could ever create. What do we learn from this? Men, if you wife asks you to sleep with another women, don’t do it. Abram and his wife are in that moment of life where they wonder, what is God doing? He said I would be great but I’m stuck. Nothing is happening. It’s frustrating. I’m not going to live forever. When will something happen? We have to make something happen. I trust God but we have to talk ownership of this one. So Abram sleeps with Hagar and creates Ishmael.

What is the result? Drama between his wife and Hagar. Sarai blames Abram for the hurt she now has. Abram refuses to take any ownership of the problem. Finally, Hagar runs away. Pure drama. Fast forward a few hundred years, Israel is at war with their enemies and we read the following.

1 O God, don’t sit idly by, silent and inactive! 2 Don’t you hear the tumult of your enemies? Don’t you see what your arrogant enemies are doing? 3 They devise crafty schemes against your people, laying plans against your precious ones. 4 “Come,” they say, “let us wipe out Israel as a nation. We will destroy the very memory of its existence.” 5 This was their unanimous decision. They signed a treaty as allies against you – 6 these Edomites and Ishmaelites, Moabites and Hagrites… NLT Psalms 83:1-6

Who is at war with the descendants of Abraham years later? Ishmaelites and Hagrites. Where did they come from? From Abram when he took matters into his own hands. Where do many of our problems come from? When we take matters into our own hands. We think God’s not doing anything. I am so frustrated. I have to do something now. I have to be a success today. I have to be married today. I need to have sex today, everyone else is doing it. People need to know how awesome I am today. I need to buy it today. I am jealous because it seems to working out for others not me. When? When? When will it all work out? I am so miserable. We produce Ishmaels and wonder why we live in drama. We end up complaining about how miserable our lives are. It should be miserable because we aren’t trusting in God.

God said, “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out – plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” GOD’s Decree. MSG Jeremiah 29:11-14

In those moments where it seems like nothing is working, nothing is happening, here is what is going on. God isn’t killing you. God isn’t killing your dreams or passions. God is allowing life to kill your pride. Pride is that war horse inside us that says, “Let’s run faster than God could imagine, let’s get things done.” It is our absolute refusal to do life God’s way. Remember; Life is about God and what He is up to. Life is not about us and what we want. Our pride turns us away from God and says, “I will do it my way and it will be better.”

What does God say? I know what I am doing, call on me, search for me, get serious about me and you won’t be disappointed. I one word: wait.

When Abraham was 100 years old, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. 25 years after the promise! How do you live? Are you waiting for your God given Isaac or are you rushing to create an Ishmael?

This series is about what it means to discover the mind of Christ. How to think like God thinks.

Here is the problem we have with waiting. It feels so ordinary. Saving money, paying off debt is so ordinary because everyone else is enjoying life. Doing your homework well is so ordinary because you could be on instagram. Being a dependable father or mother is so ordinary because other people your age are having fun. Being a leader who helps others get ahead feels ordinary because you aren’t being validated as someone who is great.

Here is what we don’t see. It is our act of worship to wait. It is how we put God first in our lives, we pursue Him. It is when God anoints people.

I need to clarify something before I close. Waiting on God does not mean you don’t go to work and wait for the Holy Spirit to mail you paycheck. It does not mean you do nothing and wait for the Holy Spirit to mow your grass, that’s lazy. It does not mean you don’t read books and wait for the Holy Spirit to magically place ideas into you head. Some people think that. They thank waiting on God is the super holy experience and it’s an excuse to be lazy, do the least possible and never grow and develop.

Waiting on God simply means, God is first place in your life and as life unfolds, you relax and walk through life with Him.

What is your life like? Busy trying to help God? Taking control and creating an Ishmael? Busy trying to make things happen or are you waiting, waiting, waiting for your God given Isaac?