When Our Reality Doesn’t Match God’s Promises

Often our reality does not match God’s promises. I think of Abraham. God promised him a son. But as Abraham got older and older and the same with Sarah, it just didn’t look like that was going to happen. I mean, how could it? Abraham was old, but more importantly, Sarah was in her nineties. That just doesn’t bode well for having a kid. They waited and waited. Now faith is believing in things unseen. God promised them a son. Where was this promised child? Sarah couldn’t wait any longer. She took matters into her own hands and told Abraham to father a son with her handmaiden. There. Now Abraham get’s a son. But that’s not how God works. He promised Abraham a son, which would be with his wife, Sarah. Not an illegitimate son with Hagar. So often our reality does not seem to match God’s promises. But we need to wait. We need to have faith, because God ALWAYS keeps His promises. ALWAYS. No exceptions.

My sister’s son graduates this year, from high school. He’s a football player, and they wanted him to play football in college. Well colleges did want him to play for their teams, they came calling. In my sister’s mind, she thought of Azusa Pacific University. It’s a Christian college with a football team. She really wanted him to go to a Christian college. Well they contacted the University. They didn’t hear anything right away.

Right around this time, my husband is going to a Bible study at our church. This is a men’s study of about 250 men. The men are broken into groups of about 15 men for each group. The groups started in September. Right around December this big strapping dude shows up to my husband’s Bible study. He’d been signed up for the group, but hadn’t showed up yet because he was…wait for it…coaching football for…wait for it…Azusa Pacific University…wait for it…the offensive line team. The same team that my nephew plays. My nephew is a 6’5″, 285 pound offensive lineman. Now this coach just so happens to be in my husband’s group, and just so happens to plop right next to my husband, and just so happens to talk to my husband about what he does for a living. My husband hears “Azusa,” and his ears perk up. My husband brings up our nephew who is interested in playing football for Azusa. The coach has heard of my nephew. The coach is excited about my nephew. The coach, unfortunately, does not make the decision to have him play or not. But he really hopes they grab my nephew. The coach gives my husband his phone number and email address and says to my husband to have my nephew call him. They need to get in contact with each other.

Now in God’s economy there are no coincidences. God is always working behind the scenes. It wasn’t a coincidence that the linemen coach for Azusa just happened to be in my husband’s Bible study group. It wasn’t a coincidence, that this big guy plopped next to my husband so they could chat. There are 250 men grouped into at least 16 different groups and by coincidence my husband lands in the same group as the linemen coach for Azusa? Nope. That’s not a coincidence, that’s God working.

But here’s where our reality often does not match God’s promises in our life. Time goes trudging ahead, like it always does, without checking with us first. Now it’s February, time for signing up for football for college teams. My nephew hasn’t heard from Azusa. Despite all those “coincidences,” he’s heard zip from them. Other schools have declared their love for my nephew. A Christian school in Chicago really wants him. My nephew doesn’t know anyone there. He isn’t feeling it. But they have said they wanted him and been in contact with him. The day comes, and my nephew is going to sign with this team from Chicago. It’s a big event, newspapers are there. My nephew is handed a pen, he stretches out his arm and puts the pen to paper, when his cell phone goes off in his pocket. Whoever is calling wants to talk to my nephew badly. They keep calling him. Once my nephew signs the paper, he answers the phone and sees that Azusa has been calling him non stop. They decided on him. They want him badly. Please come to our school they say. My nephew wants to go, but they have already said yes to this other school. My sister calls them and reminds them, that Azusa never called them. They never acted interested. They apologize. They are very sorry they acted cold and indifferent. They really want the boy. Now my sister is in a pickle. She doesn’t know what to do. So she decides to call me. But this is Wednesday morning. I’m never home on Wednesday morning, I am at Bible study. I never miss. I’ve served there for eight years and been sick only one time. So this is a bad time for my sister to call me. I shouldn’t be home.

But I am home this morning. Because for only the second time in eight years I got sick, just before I headed out the door. I couldn’t leave the bathroom. So I texted my senior leader from the bathroom, that I wasn’t going to make it. And just as quickly as it came, an hour or so later, I felt much better. An hour after that, my sister called me. She wanted to know what to do. I reminded her, that whole incident of my husband meeting the Azusa coach wasn’t a coincidence. God was telling her where he should go. She just needed to believe it wasn’t a coincidence and trust God. But that’s where our realities often don’t match God’s promises. Like Abraham, she almost signed my nephew up with the wrong team, EVEN though God had told her it was going to be Azusa. She needed me to remind her. God made me stay home, which I never do, to tell her that. When I reminded her that none of this was a coincidence, she was convinced. She kept saying, but Azusa didn’t say anything. But I reminded her that God did at the very beginning. He told her awhile back. She couldn’t trust her reality, she had to trust in God. Just like Abraham, she almost went with another school. But she didn’t. And why did I have to stay home from Bible study that morning? Well she needed to make a decision and she had to call the other school by 11am. (She lives in Hawaii, so there’s a huge time difference between there and everywhere else). She would have gone with the OTHER school, if she didn’t talk to me.

We have to remember that our reality, like Abraham, often doesn’t match God’s promises. And we have to remember, God ALWAYS keeps His promises. ALWAYS, no exceptions. AND in God’s economy there are no coincidences.