When Things Are Going Badly - God Is Still Good

All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen… —2 Corinthians 1:20

“When it is a question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say, “I can’t.” Never allow the limitation of your own natural ability to enter into the matter. If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be exhibited in us.  Never forget that our capacity and capability in spiritual matters is measured by, and based on, the promises of God.” - My Utmost For His Highest

When something doesn’t go your way ... something bad happens, some might say that it was because you didn’t have enough faith or maybe it was some sin you committed.  (like Job’s friends) Did you know that all of the disciples, with the exception of John) were martyred?  Do you suppose that happened to them because of their lack of faith or perhaps the consequence of some sin they failed to confess? I think not.  People have been trying to figure out the balance between our new life in Christ and the events that happen or fail to happen in our earthly life.  We tend to put good things on the “God’s Blessings” side and bad things on the “What have I done wrong or why me side”. The fact of the matter is that bad things happen to good people. 

The Bible is like an apple tree … Christians tend to pick the apples that are attractive to them and leave the ones that are not.  The fact is that all of the “apples” are for our consumption.  Our challenge, frankly, is to trust God even when life goes south … someone gets sick or dies … you experience financial loss .. get fired or laid off from work … a relationship with someone you care about is broken, apparently beyond repair … the list is pretty long …

Let me share a challenge Martie and I faced some time ago.  Martie had what turned out to be a gallstone.  We thought it was a heart attack.  Well, we had just left work with the Air Force, surrendered our health benefits and moved to Texas.  Without insurance, we were in transition to Medicare.  We had part A – hospitalization – but were waiting on documentation so we could get Part B – Outpatient.  I rushed her to the emergency room.  The people were really professional and caring.  I asked if Part A would cover the visit and was told “Yes”.  I later found out that I had asked the wrong person – that answer was actually “No”.  They treated her for a heart attack – which it wasn’t.  They did some imaging … thought it was a gallstone but saw a shadow on her kidney which they thought might be cancer .. they did some more testing .. finally, the radiologist told them that it was a cyst which is not uncommon .. not cancer … can you say, “emotional roller coaster”? We left relieved … after a few days, the pain stopped .. apparently, the stone had passed into her intestine.  Then the other shoe dropped .. Medicare notified us that the claim for almost $35,000 was denied. What!!!  I mean, hey, we are missionaries Lord!  We have laid our lives down for others … come on!  Lord are You going to let them take our money?  (Just being honest)  

Martie came to me crying .. she just had been praying that God would intervene and now it looked like we would lose a big chunk of our life’s savings. But as Paul Harvey used to say “And now for the rest of the story”  I took all of the bill notices back to the emergency room to get some answers .. like “Why did you say Part A was OK”  I talked to the Director.  During the course of our conversation, she said that I was only the second Elgin she had ever met.  The other was her first boyfriend.  I thought "Uh-oh … this may not be good!"  Then she said that her maiden name was “Charles” and she was getting goose bumps.  (Elgin Charles - Charles Elgin - get it?) I told her it was the Spirit of God and then she told me she was a Christian.  When I shared about Haiti she told me that her grandfather was from Haiti and so I said something in Creole (Bondye Bon – God is Good) and we conversed briefly in Creole … the RN sitting at the desk was looking on in amazement.  The Director told me to go to the main hospital and speak with accounting … that we would not be charged the full amount … I did and they told me that the hospital portion had been reduced to  $3,000.  But we would have to pay the two Doctors separately – another $3500.  Turns out that the accounting representative was also a Christian and so we had church in the waiting room … got a lot of stares from the people sitting there.  

My point … Martie and I had to be reminded that God is in control and even if we had to pay all of the money … God is faithful and would walk with us through it.  We are not on mission so we can derive some financial benefit from it … we are on mission because God has called us to it and we knew that we are right where He wanted us to be .. in spite of the storms that were raging around us.  He might ask any of us to give something up that we thought was "safe".  That we depended upon. And if He does ... we must trust Him to be faithful.  What challenges are you facing today?

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone