When God Does Not Do What We Want

Let’s turn to the book of John, chapter 13, and I would like to begin by asking a question: Have you ever, at some point in your life, experienced things in a way you would not have expected, or perhaps would not have wanted or preferred, and God had some surprises for you?

Today we are going to talk about that, because the Christian life is a life full of surprises, and some are lovely surprises, while others are surprises we would not have asked for, but in the end they are good surprises. So we are going to read John 13, but first I want to share a very brief testimony.

When I graduated from college many years ago, I was looking for a job. How many of you have had to look for work? And I prayed and fasted and asked God to provide the job He had chosen for me. After all that, a door opened for me to teach at a residential school, and I knew it was from God. I felt the confirmation of the Holy Spirit. So I took that job. Now guess how that job went for me. It was awful; it was the worst job of my life. It was terrible; it was absolute torture. This morning I said it was like going to the dentist without being given any pain medication, only every day for a year, because I had committed myself to being there.

And I asked, “Lord, I don’t understand. I prayed, asked for Your counsel, asked for Your wisdom, and fasted for many days in a row. I felt that this was from You. Why is this job so difficult?” I had questions for God and did not understand what was happening, until one day I went to a Bible study and read this passage from John 13, where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. I had read this passage many times before, but that day the Lord spoke to me in a special way, and I want to talk a little about that.

Let’s begin with verse 2: “...So, while Jesus was having supper with His disciples, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and took off His robe, and taking a towel, He wrapped it around Himself. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel wrapped around Him.”

So Jesus is now dressed as a slave, going from person to person and washing their dirty feet. Then He comes to Peter, and look at how Peter responds in verse 6:

“...Then He came to Simon Peter, and Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, are You washing my feet? This cannot be—are You washing my feet?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will understand afterward.’”

When I read that passage, I felt the Lord speak directly to me: “Gregory, right now you do not understand what I am doing in your life. You do not understand why or how, or what My reasoning is in this, but afterward you will understand.” It took me ten years, but afterward I came to understand all of God’s purposes in it. I felt that the Lord wanted us to know that we are often like Peter. Jesus comes to do something that seems scandalous to us, something that simply is not done, something we would never have expected, and we say, “What? No, this cannot be.” And Jesus says, “Right now you do not understand what I am doing, but afterward you will understand that I know what I am doing, and I have a purpose in this season of your life.”

And then Peter, as we know, says, “...No,” and Jesus says, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

“If you do not let Me do this scandalous thing in your life, you can have nothing to do with Me. I know it does not make sense. I know it is uncomfortable for you to let Me do it to you, but if you do not let Me do it, you have nothing to do with Me.” And Peter responds, impetuous as always—he has his highs and his lows—and he says:

“...Not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well...”

He dives right in. So today we are going to talk about those moments in life when we do not understand what is happening, when it seems as though God has gone crazy and is doing everything backward. And God has His plan for us.

Father, I ask You for a special anointing of Your Holy Spirit. You know that life is not easy at all. Lord, everyone is going through a lesson in their life right now. I do not know what it is, but You know; You know every detail. And I ask that it be Your Holy Spirit speaking to us, Lord, and that it be rich bread, wholesome bread for Your people. I ask You this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s talk about a particular case that I want to give as an example, found in the book of Genesis at the beginning of the Bible—Genesis 48. So we are going to talk about an experience in the life of a servant of God named Joseph. Joseph was a figure in the Old Testament. We are not talking about Joseph, Mary’s husband; this is a different Joseph, from much earlier. He was Jacob’s son, and he was a man who had a dream for his life, visions from God for his future.

How many of you here have had dreams about what God wants for your lives? You have a vision of great things God wants you to do. How many of you have had that? Joseph had dreams about his own destiny to do great things, but he never could have imagined how he would reach his destiny, his success. He had to go through slavery; he had to go through a muddy pit and all of that; he had to go through prison in Egypt; he had to go through many things. But in the end, God brought good out of all those things. And he became the foremost leader in Egypt next to Pharaoh himself, and he was a man of God who had learned through the fire what it means to trust in a powerful God. But he still had one more dream for his life.

You see, he had two boys, two sons: an older one named Manasseh and a younger, smaller one named Ephraim. Now, in those days, they always wanted their children to have God’s blessing upon their lives and to receive it from their grandparents. How many Puerto Ricans do we have here in the house? Any Puerto Ricans? No? The Puerto Ricans are here—very good, thank God.

When I was in Puerto Rico visiting families in their homes—and perhaps they do this in other countries too, I don’t know—the young people would come in and say to their parents or grandparents, “Blessing,” or something like that. And what do the parents or grandparents say? “Amen.” I said this morning that I wish we gringos did that, because it is a beautiful tradition. The Hebrews did something similar. They asked—they always asked—the grandfather to lay his hands on the children, on the young people, to impart a blessing, and the principal blessing always went to the eldest son, the firstborn. So they always placed the young man, the eldest son, next to which hand, do you think, for the principal blessing? Which hand? The right hand, upon the eldest son, so that he would receive the principal blessing. And they placed the younger sons next to the left hand so that they would also receive a blessing, but not the same blessing given to the firstborn. So we are going to see that God had some surprises for Joseph, because he dreamed of that blessing. To illustrate it, I would like to know whether the patriarch Jacob might just happen to be visiting us today and could help us demonstrate what happened that day.

Ah, Jacob is here, thank God. How wonderful; we have the patriarch in the house. He has not gone crazy—we talked about that before. So for this I am going to need two volunteers to help me. I do not know whether they are here, and this was not planned, so I really am looking for volunteers. Manasseh and Ephraim. So we have the son Manasseh—does anyone here want to volunteer? Anyone... Manasseh. Amen, thank God. We need Ephraim. Ah, I see Ephraim, thank God. So let’s imagine that I am Joseph and that I want Ephraim and Manasseh to be blessed.

Now, Manasseh is the firstborn; he is the older one. He is the little one, the younger brother, Ephraim, so I also want him to be blessed, but I want Manasseh to receive the principal blessing. So I want to position Manasseh very carefully in front of which of my father’s—the grandfather’s—hands? The right hand, which would be on that side. Ephraim, all right, come here; I’ll place you here... Now stay there.

Now let’s read the passage, and they are going to show us what happened. In Genesis 48, let’s see what happens. Verse 12 says:

“Joseph brought them out from between his knees—so I don’t know whether having them there hurt his knees; I think they were much smaller in this passage, but he brought them out from his knees—...and bowed with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left—Israel is also Jacob—and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them near him. Then Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, deliberately positioning his hands that way...—which I imagine means crossed, reversed—...although Manasseh was the firstborn.”

Let’s skip ahead now. How do you think Joseph is going to respond to this? How will he respond when he sees it? Verse 17:

“...But when Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him, and he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. And Joseph said to his father, ‘Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.’ But his father refused and said, ‘I know, my son, I know. He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great; but his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations...’”

So Joseph does this: he comes over and says, “Father, no. Take Your hand from here and put it here.” But he would not do it. He would not. Joseph wanted to move his hands, because he wanted the principal blessing to go to Manasseh. But despite Joseph’s protests, his father remained like this, with his arms like this, reversed from the way Joseph would have wanted them.

I say this—and I am making my brothers here suffer—because I want to show you this image, which has been very special in my life: the image of God with His hands reversed, switched from what I would have expected. Because many times I want things to be one way, and God says, “No, I have another plan that you do not understand,” and He crosses His hands. And even though I believe in God and want what is best, it does not seem right to me, and I want to change what He is doing. And I say, “No, no, no; let it be this way,” and He resists. He resists because He says, “My son, I know. I understand your confusion, but I have a plan that you do not understand; afterward, however, you will understand.” So let’s keep this image in mind, and now they can sit down and relax. Thank you. Very good.

We know that our God is a powerful God. We often use the name Lion of Judah, Lion of Judah. Our God is not a tame kitten; He is a wild lion. How many of you have read about that in The Chronicles of Narnia? Those are books and a movie about a lion who represents Jesus, and the question is asked, “Is that lion dangerous?” And they answer, “Yes, he is definitely dangerous. He is not a tame lion; he is not a lion trained like a pet in the home.” He is an animal who does whatever he wants to do, because He is in control and we are not.

How many of us know that our God is an expert in surprises, in changing things from the way we would have thought they should be? And sometimes we do not want this. The apostle Paul himself suffered from a thorn in the flesh. We do not know what it was, but it was something bad—a thorn in the flesh. And the Bible says that he asked, even pleaded with the Lord three times, for the thorn in his flesh to be taken away—three times. How did God answer him? Does anyone remember? “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in your weakness.”

I think it was good that he asked for it to be changed, but afterward one recognizes, “God has a plan that I do not understand.” We are going to talk about that. God is a God of scandal, brothers and sisters—of scandal. We often associate negative connotations with this word; when we think of scandal, we imagine bad things. God does nothing wrong, but He does do things in the reverse of what we would have thought was right, and He scandalizes us. And, brother, if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, you will be scandalized by the Lord at some point. He is going to surprise you. He is going to scandalize you. He will even upset you from time to time, and how we respond will determine our spiritual future. Because this is the path of discipleship.

We are going to talk about the ways God scandalizes us. First, sometimes God asks you to do things you would not have wanted to do. When I came to know Christ, I gave him my heart; I was 16 years old and away from home for the summer. I went back home, and the friend who had evangelized me said, “Thank God, now you’re a Christian,” and I said, “Yes, I’m a Christian, but I don’t know if I want to be as famous as you are in high school for being a Christian. So I’m a Christian, and if someone asks me, I say yes, I know Jesus, but I am not going to preach the way you preach.” Here I am 22 years later, preaching, but he prayed, “Lord, don’t let him hide; don’t allow it.” And I said, “I’ll do anything, but I won’t preach.” He prayed, “Lord, don’t allow it.” On the first day of school they were asking me, “So, Gregory, what happened to you this summer? You’re different; you talk differently. What happened?” And I said, “Well, I don’t know; I went to a church.” “And what happened at church? What do you believe now?” Since they would not let me hide, I had to preach. Everyone was asking me. Even though I had said, “I will never do that,” God compels you; God puts you in situations where you have to do even what you least want to do.

Some people come and say, “I’ll go to your church with all those crazy people—Hallelujah! I believe in the Lord, but I am not going to raise my hand, because I think that is fanaticism, and I won’t do it.” “Just watch.” There are different styles of worshiping the Lord; there is nothing wrong with a quieter style, don’t misunderstand me. But some people say no, never, and it is more an act of rebellion that says, “No, anything but that. I won’t do that.” How many here were like that at first? And then comes that first moment when you say, “Okay, I feel like a crazy person; I’m going to raise that hand...” and you do it... ah, and wow, what a blessing. There is freedom, and it is not that someone is doing something magical; it is not that we have to do what everyone else does. It is simply that when we let ourselves go, when we submit to what God wants for us, there is joy, there is freedom when we do it. How many of us know the story of Naaman in the Bible? Naaman—are there any Bible experts here who know about Naaman? He was a general in his country, a proud and powerful man, but beneath his shirt he had leprosy; he had leprosy. And a Hebrew servant girl of his said, “Look, why don’t you go to Israel so they can pray for you and perhaps you will be healed?” So he went to Israel, presented himself before the king, and was welcomed with great ceremony. The king said, “Look, I am not God; I cannot do it. Go to the prophet.” He goes to the prophet, expecting the prophet to come out and do something religious for him. The prophet does not even come out of his house. He sends his assistant to speak to Naaman. How many of us know that generals of countries can sometimes be a little proud? So he sends the assistant to speak to him, and he says, “Look, this is what the prophet says: You have to immerse yourself in the Jordan River, and you will be healed.” He says, “Why the Jordan River? I have better rivers in my country to bathe in.

This reminds me of what I was saying this morning about people you tell, “Look, why don’t you go swim at the beaches of Cape Cod?” And they answer, “Well, the beaches in my country are much better than this. Why would I get into that water?”

Naaman did not want to; he refused to do it. And they said to him, “Look, if you had been asked to do something great, you would have done it. Why not do this?” Finally he said, “Okay, I submit; I’m going to do it.” He goes into that dirty river and comes out of the water with clean skin, completely healed. Look, when we submit, when we say, “Lord, even though I don’t understand why I have to do this, I will do it in your name anyway,” we are blessed. And I say this, brothers and sisters, because God is going to call us to serve him, and sometimes he is going to have you do things you would neither have expected nor wanted to do. But if you obey, there will be a great blessing in your life.

Sometimes God scandalizes us because his judgments sometimes seem very harsh to us. His rules and his holiness sometimes scandalize us because it seems very harsh to say that certain things are sins and other things are not. For some of us, especially in our time, when there is so much relativism, when people believe that everything is fine depending on what works for you, being in a church that says certain things are sins and other things are not can seem bad, even offensive.

God’s holiness often scandalizes us a little. In the Old Testament, David was bringing the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem one day. He placed the ark on a cart with oxen, and they were entering Jerusalem with celebration and joy. Then the cart hits a hole in the road, there is trouble, and the ark begins to wobble. A man who is there watching over the ark, named Uzzah, reaches out his hand to steady it. What happens? He dies on the spot for touching the ark of the Lord. The Bible says that David was angry that night; he was furious and frustrated. With whom? With God. God had scandalized him, but God wanted to teach him, “David, although you are the king of Israel, I am the King of kings and the King of the universe, and things are done my way.” It was hard; it was a difficult moment.

Sometimes there are punishments that seem extreme to us, things that make us say, “God, how can you be so severe and so harsh?” But God says, “Look, you have to trust in my holiness and in my wisdom, because I know what is best for you.”

David was scandalized; God showed himself to be the God of the universe and not a domesticated pet. God is in control of things, but sometimes—and I would say most of the time—God scandalizes us not by being too harsh, but by being too merciful to people.

How many of us have had the experience of meeting someone, perhaps even in church, a person serving in the church, and you ask yourself, “But this guy? This guy serving here as my small-group leader, as my usher, as my whatever?” And we think, “No, how can that be?” Perhaps because of someone’s past, or the way they are, or whatever it may be, we judge them.

I like the parable of the prodigal son. The son leaves his father’s house and lives a wild life, and when he later returns home after living a terrible, sinful life, how does the father receive the prodigal son when he comes home? What does the father do? What does the father do to him? Does he punish him? Does he yell at him? He hugs him and welcomes him with a great feast. But do you know what? There is another son in the story. There is an older son, a son who never left home, a good and well-behaved son. When his little brother comes home and is given a great feast, how does that son respond? Does anyone remember how he responds when he sees the celebration? He was jealous and angry. “But here I am, working like a slave all these years. I have always obeyed your word, and this guy comes home and you give him a great feast.” And he becomes angry with the father, because how can the father be so generous, so forgiving, so merciful? He should be harsher and punish that young man, the older son thought.

We are often like that in the church too. You know, I have often seen this with people who are new to the church: the turning point for them, determining whether they will remain in the church or leave the church and perhaps even the Lord, is the first time they have an encounter with a brother or sister who may not be completely sanctified. Someone they dislike, someone who bothers them, someone who, I don’t know, does not live up to their expectations. That is a moment... well, that has never happened, has it? This has happened to everyone.

If you have never had to forgive anyone in church, you are not in the church. Truly. The church is a family, and in families we annoy each other; we pull each other’s hair a little. That is normal for families, so if someone is in the church, there will be moments when we have to forgive a little—oh, not just a little, but a lot. Yet it is a decisive moment: whether we are going to let ourselves be scandalized or whether we are going to say, “Lord, even if they bother me, even if I don’t like them, here I am. I am your servant, and how can I leave the church? This is the house of God; it is my family.” You can choose your friends, but you cannot choose your spiritual family. These are the people you get; you are with them.

I remember a conversation once between two Christians. Someone was talking about another brother and said, “Look, that brother is a Christian, but he is a bit pigheaded; he is sort of a...” In English it was, “He was a little bit of a jerk.” I don’t know how to translate that. I don’t know.” The other Christian said, “Well, what a shame that you will have to spend eternity with that jerk, isn’t it? What a shame.”

It scandalizes us, doesn’t it? And so sometimes God also scandalizes us simply by doing strange things, by doing things in an unexpected way. This morning we were talking about a miracle in which Jesus healed a blind man. A person came to Jesus and was blind. Now, I would expect Jesus to touch this person’s eyes and say, “My little child, open these eyes, for you will see the light of day.” Right? That is what I would want him to do, and he did do it that way a few times. But on one occasion Jesus decided to do things differently. He looks at the blind man, and what did he do? Does anyone remember? He spat; he spat on the ground like a baseball player, made mud, took the mud, put it on the blind man’s eyes, and told him to go wash. But why did he do this?

If you were someone who advised Jesus, as the disciples were always trying to do, you would say, “Lord, couldn’t you find a more elegant way to heal a blind man than this? Does it have to involve spit and mud and...? I don’t understand.” But Jesus does not consult us; he does not ask my advice about how I think he should do things. He simply does it, and then it is up to me to decide whether I am going to submit or be scandalized by what he does.

How many of us know that the greatest scandal we often face in life is the trials that come upon us, trials we sometimes cannot explain, which seem to make no sense? And don’t misunderstand me: there is an enemy in this world; we are in a spiritual war against Satan. Not everything that happens is God’s will—don’t misunderstand me. But sometimes we have trials we do not understand, and we pray about the thorn in the flesh and ask for it to be removed, and God says, “My grace is sufficient for you, because my power is made perfect in your weakness.”

The story of our friend who has an entire book of suffering in the Bible—what is that man’s name? Our friend Job. How many identify with Job? There are some who, I think, could write another book of Job all over again and add a few chapters. Job suffered. How many of us know what happened? He lost his family, lost his children, his house, everything he had, his health; everything went wrong for him. What did his friends tell Job? Does anyone remember? “It must be because you are in sin; you are in sin.” Imagine: he has already suffered, and someone comes along and tells you, “Oh, well, God is punishing you because you are in sin.” What a friend, right? We know from the Word of God that this was not so. He was not in sin; he was a normal human being, but he loved God, he was upright, and it was not a punishment. And Job speaks—Job defends himself and says, “No, I am not in sin”—but Job is also mistaken in the way he interprets the matter. He says, “God, you are not just because of what you are allowing me to suffer.” He accused God. He did not curse him, but he did accuse him a little; he accused him a little. He went around complaining and saying, “Lord, you are not just.” At the end of the book, I would like God to pull back the curtain and say, “Oh, well, Job, I am going to explain every reason why you have suffered.” I would like answers.

Do you know what? The Bible does not provide all the answers concerning the suffering he endured. What God does say is, “Job, who made all these stars? Who made the sea you are looking at? Who made all these trees? Who made everything you can imagine in this universe? You have to trust that I know what I am doing, that I am in control of your life, and although it is hard, I promise you that I am with you in this.” And so, in the end, Job says, “I spoke of things I did not understand. Before, I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you.”

That is a scandal for many people: the struggles we face. Struggles we cannot explain, struggles that have no apparent reason. But in the end we have to say, “God, I know that you are with me. I know that you can do all things and that no one can resist your will, and I know that I am your son, I am your daughter, and that you know what you are doing with me. Even though it does not make sense now, I know that I will understand later. Perhaps not later in this life, but afterward, someday, I will see your glory in everything I am experiencing, because I know in whom I have believed, and I know that my Redeemer lives, and that I will see the glory of the Lord at the end of it all.”

God commands us to be willing, when we see things crossed around and reversed, to let God change our way of thinking. And what are you like when it comes to that? When we do not get what we want, when we want it, in the way we want it, how do we respond?

There is a man in the Bible who responded very well when he had to change. His name was Nathanael. People came to Nathanael in the time of Jesus and told him, “We have found the Messiah, and he comes from Nazareth.” Nathanael answered, “But can anything good come out of Nazareth? There is nothing good there; it cannot be so.” They told him, “Come and see.” So he came to Jesus, and Jesus said to him, “Here is an Israelite in whose spirit there is no deceit.” And Nathanael said, “Are you truly the Messiah, the King of Israel?” And Jesus said, “You believe because of that? That was easy; it was easy for you to change. You are going to see greater things than that.”

But how many of us know that not everyone is that easy? Some of us take longer to become convinced that God is in control. How many here know what happens to a child who resists discipline? What do you have to do if you are a mother and have a child who, after a good correction, is still at it? You have to give more correction, always with love and affection—never abuse, never violence. Amen. Thank God. But the child who keeps going his own way is asking for trouble, isn’t he? That is how we are with God.

If we allow ourselves to be taught, if we allow ourselves to be molded, if we stop fighting against the crossed arms, there is blessing for us. You know what? The most successful Christians in this world are the Christians who have gone through the Lord’s discipline and have been softened, humbled, and changed by it. Those whose pride remains intact do not get anywhere.

And I want to close with a story—I invite the musicians—but with the story of Abraham. We all know the story of Abraham, don’t we? It is in the book of Genesis. God called him to be the father of a new nation, and Abraham was an old man with an old wife, and she was also barren; she could not have children. And God tells Abraham, ‘You will have children, and you will be the father of a great nation.’ And Abraham—what did Abraham do to fulfill this promise? What did he do? Does anyone remember? He trusted God, yes, but he also put his faith into action in an inappropriate way: he sought out the household servant, his own wife gave her to him, and he had a son with her.

Brothers and sisters, this is not the way to fulfill God’s will in our lives. Amen. So he had a son named Ishmael, and later Ishmael grew up, and God came and said, ‘Abraham, you will have a blessed son.’ And Abraham said, ‘Yes, here is Ishmael; here he is for you.’ Let us wait just a moment. ‘Here I have Ishmael for you; let him receive your blessing.’ And God said, ‘Look, Ishmael is very nice, and I am going to bless him, and thank you for your help, but I have another plan, Abraham: you will have a son.’ And Abraham and his nearly one-hundred-year-old wife miraculously had a son. That son was named Isaac, which means laughter—who would have thought it? God does everything in a way we would not have expected, but later God came, when Isaac was already fairly grown, and said, ‘Abraham, now I want you to give that boy to me; I want you to sacrifice him to me.’ The son of the promise—and now Abraham was at a decisive point in his life.

How was he going to respond to God’s call? God came and said to him, ‘Are you going to trust me, trust my madness, or are you going to follow your own understanding again?’ We all know the story. Abraham had learned something. Abraham had learned that he served a God who calls things that are not as though they were, a God who can raise the dead and give them life, a God who can cause a baby to be born to a hundred-year-old couple who were barren as well. Abraham believed and had already come to believe that God could raise someone from the dead, and he said, ‘I am going to trust him. I am going to trust him even if it is madness, even if I do not understand; I am going to trust him.’

And Abraham went to make the sacrifice, and we all know the story: he did not have to do it, and God did the work in his life. And Abraham became the father of faith—our father, if we have the faith of Abraham.

Brothers and sisters, those who believe that God does things his way are the ones who soar in the Spirit, the ones who do not follow their own understanding. You know, I have come to have great respect for ministers—and one in particular whom we all know, who even made a video promo here—who have gone through the Lord’s dealings and have come to know that God knows what he is doing, and that if we obey him, he can help us, in my life and in my ministry.

Brothers and sisters, I do not know what madness you are going through in your life, and now we can... I do not know how the Lord’s arms are crossed in your life, what situation you are facing or have faced, but I do know that my God knows what he is doing and that it is up to us to respond like Peter did when all the other disciples were leaving Jesus because of his hard word, and Jesus asked the disciples, ‘Are you leaving too?’ They said, ‘To whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.’

I cannot explain why these things are happening. It makes no sense to me, but to whom shall I go? You are my God, and you have always known how to bring good things even out of the suffering in my life, and in this too I am going to trust you. And I know that I will see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living. I know that you are the God who can do all things. Who can understand your understanding? For your ways are not my ways, and your thoughts are not my thoughts.

Brothers and sisters, I invite you to stand, and we are going to end this time with a prayer, and we are going to stand before the Lord. I invite you to close your eyes, and I thank you, God, because you truly know what you are doing, Lord. Thank you that in my life and in the lives of so many brothers and sisters I know, even when it seemed that you were doing things backward from what we would have expected, upside down, you, Lord, had your purpose, and you brought good out of evil; that is how you deal with us in our lives. Lord, I ask you, Lord, in the name of Jesus, that we may all, Lord, submit our hearts before you and say, ‘Lord, I know that you are in control.’

I want you to think about the situation before you and to know this: the Lord says, ‘My thoughts, my son, my daughter, are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, said Jehovah. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.’

Lord, I ask you, Lord, that joy may be born in the hearts of your servants—a joy in knowing, Lord, that you have everything under control, that you know what you are doing, and if you command me to step out of the boat, I will walk on the water. Even if it makes no sense, Lord, I know that you rule in my life. Thank you, Lord. I ask you, Lord, to release that peace which only you can give in the lives of those who have stopped fighting against you, of those who have stopped resisting—that peace which says, ‘Lord, thank you, Lord, that you rule in my life. I submit myself to you.’ I ask you to release that peace, Lord—that joy of a child who trusts a father who is in control of everything, Lord.

I ask you to release a new power among your people, Lord—the power of people who believe that the impossible is possible because you are a God of impossibilities. You are the God of the unexpected, and we have come to believe it. Thank you, Lord, that you are God and we are not, because you, Lord, can do all things. In the name of Jesus. Amen.