Whether you’ve been a Christian your entire life or you’re a new believer, your heart is likely filled with questions for God: “Why?” “When?” “How?”
We question the Lord’s ways when bad things happen to good people, when the wicked prosper, or when we think our prayers have gone unanswered. How do we trust God when we don’t always understand His ways? How do we engage our faith when His plans sometimes contradict what we hoped for? It’s tempting to demand answers, but we must remember His words in Isaiah 55:8:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
As a husband, father, and business owner, I’ve spent many hours on my knees seeking the Lord’s wisdom and discernment in various areas of life. I’m a work in progress, but in life and business, God is teaching me this: when things in life don’t go our way, there’s a higher reason.
We serve a sovereign God. He is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. Some of the events that unfold in our lives won’t make sense to our human minds because we lack an eternal perspective. And the tough reality is this: not everything is about you all the time (or me). It’s about you and me and our colleagues and our clients and the clerk at the grocery store. Life’s interconnected complexities are far beyond the realm of our understanding and it all rests in the capable, perfect hands of the Creator of the World.
In trying to comprehend God’s ways with our earthly minds, we won’t find many answers. But as Isaiah 55:8 points out, His ways are not merely different from ours, they’re better. He parted the Red Sea because He had a plan for Israel. He caused the moon and the sun to stand still so that Joshua’s army could continue fighting and defeat their enemies. The Bible includes countless examples of God using people, events, and circumstances to fulfill His higher purposes.
We can’t make sense of some events with our natural minds, but time and time again, God reveals His sovereignty and faithfulness. I’m learning that we should hold this truth close to our hearts because inevitably, those nagging “‘Why?’ ‘When?’ ‘How?’” questions for God will creep in again when our prayers aren’t answered the way we expected.
I didn’t fully give my heart to Christ until I was already an adult with a business to run, employees to manage, and a lot to learn about how to reconcile God’s plans with my plans. I joined C12, a group of Christian business owners and executives who meet monthly to discuss faith, business, and how to connect the two together.
Once a year, each member prepares a presentation to talk about their business, its challenges, and opportunities. Advice is given, which in my case, was that I needed to hire a Vice President of Operations to help us grow. After praying about it, I heeded the words of my advisors and proceeded to conduct a nationwide search for the right candidate. The process was considerable and thorough, and I included God every step of the way.
Finally, we hired who we believed was the right person for the job and expected big results. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. Not only did this individual not meet expectations, but he nearly destroyed my business. A series of bad hiring decisions, poor financial management, and a lack of integrity threatened to rip apart a business I spent years building. I was mad because I thought God was directing our steps and had brought this person to us. I fully believed He said “yes” to my prayers.
As I prayed through this tough season, the Lord revealed something to me. I didn’t “miss it” when I felt Him confirming this individual was the right person to hire. God did say “yes” to the hire. But what I missed was this: He said “no” to the results I wanted. When I was finished sulking about my disappointment, in my spirit I heard God say, “I sent him here for him, not for you.”
In other words, once again I learned that it’s not all about me and my desires. God sees the bigger picture and He’s working on something good for everyone involved. Trust Him, even when it doesn’t make sense today.
Throughout the Bible, we see that sometimes God says “yes” and sometimes He says “no.”
Mark 5 details the aftermath of Jesus freeing a possessed man from a legion of demons. In the passage, there are three petitions made of Christ during this miracle of healing. First, the evil spirits ask to be permitted to go into the swine – Jesus obliges. Next, caring more for their swine than their Savior, the men of the country beg the Lord to go away – again, He obliges. Finally, the healed man asks Jesus if he can go with Him – Jesus says no.
Two of the requests were granted and one was refused. The one that was refused is the one that we might have expected to receive a yes. But Jesus had another plan in mind – a better one. Jesus tells the man to stay and spread the news of his experience. Rather than travel with Jesus, this plan allows the man to spread the good news of Christ to a different audience than the one Jesus will be seeing in the near future.
The Lord’s ways are not our ways. Whether in our personal lives or in business, things are not always going to play out the way we want them to, but God is always faithful. Sometimes we have to let go of our expectations and wait for Him to reveal the superior plan.
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Peter Demos is the author of “On the Duty of Christian Civil Disobedience.” A Christian business leader from Tennessee, Demos uses his biblical perspective and insight gained from his own struggles to lead others to truth and authenticity in a broken world. To learn more, visit peterdemos.org.