When disappointments come its best to keep asking questions so they aren’t repeated. We are learning to align with His Will not our own. The question isn’t “Why, Lord?” It’s “What, How, Where”: What did I miss? How can I not miss it again? Where can I find you when it happens again? What can I be doing to know you better? How can I grow from this point? Where do you want me to go from here? It’s never Why? Because ‘why’ is a prideful response that implies you thought you knew better than God.
In the Garden, God set the standard for asking questions. After Eve & Adam “got it wrong” he asked first, “Where are you?” So start there. Where are you in your disappointment? Perhaps you’re hiding from His response because you’re afraid of it. But remember, God is good, so even when we miss it he is willing to come after us and restore us to joy. He does this latter part by asking US the question ‘Why?’ “Why did you do that? What were you thinking?
Our disappointments often stem from our pursuit of our own desires, rather than God’s. In this veering from the Divine path of His Will we can easily justify our thoughts and actions as being His thoughts. But in reality, we never paused to ask Him ‘Where are you God? What is He thinking, I want to think that too.’ We only waited to hear what we wanted to hear. Our response in the future might instead be more like Mary’s, completely without motive even when we don’t understand “How can this be?” Then we can still respond to God in all sincerity “Let it be done.”
God is not a Magic 8-Ball.
He does not delight in men who seem to use Him as such and yet sometimes it appears as though he allows it. This is just an illusion. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. God’s ways are always more thought out than our own. And the truly remarkable truth about it all is that we CAN know Him. We can know His thoughts but first we must be willing to humbly let go of our own.
The “Epiphany” of the Wise Men is an echo of the revelation of Adam & Eve. If we want to walk with God we must be willing to go wherever He leads. Like Joseph and Mary, we must have trust in His ways and who he says he is, even if he leads us into Egypt, even should he lead us to a cross. Epiphany in the end is not a single day that comes upon us but rather a lifetime of journeying into the mind of God.
On this day of celebration of the Feast of Epiphany, may Epiphany happen in our hearts as we learn to walk out daily the answer to the question: WHAT is the Hope of Glory?
If you don’t know the answer, perhaps it’s time to ask “Where can I find the answer?” Try beginning in the Scriptures, and from there, walk it out.
