Teague Bible Church

I Never Got Over That                                                                                                  2/19/2021

My wife was telling me something about dairy products today. Without letting our minds drift to that great song by Devo called, “Whip It,” she said it is amazing what happens to whipping cream. She was making a spiritual application. Well, in my wildest imaginations I could not start to track where this was going.

We were speaking about things we feel like we could not get over. We concluded that God can get you over anything, and use anything to fulfill His will in us. And that means the maximum fulfillment for our lives.

So back to heavy whipping cream. She said that if you whip it enough you get butter; but if you whip it too long you get buttermilk. They might as well call it “Bitter-milk.” If you have acquired a taste for buttermilk it means you must be a serial killer. Lol. Yesterday, at Brookshire’s, there was no milk, eggs, or bread; but all the buttermilk you could want!

So my wife said, “When we ruminate( keep whipping it up) over past disappointments, especially the ones where we were disappoint in God, it turns to bitterness. (See what see did there? Lol.) Must be why she tells me to really pay attention before she makes her next statements to me.

Think of this as expressed in Ephesians 3: 20 ; a great verse! “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.” We pray for one thing and God answers in a fuller way than we expected. We miss that a lot because we focus on how we want it answered, with little regard for what He wants to do in our lives. A true knowledge of God realizes that much more can be accomplished His way, than our own way.

J.B. Phillips “You God Is Too Small.” Chapter 10, “Perennial Grievance.”

“ To some people the mental image of God is a kind of blur of disappointment. “Here” they say resentfully and usually with more than a trace of self-pity, “is One whom I trusted, but He let me down.” The rest of their lives is consequently shadowed by this letdown.”

“,,, Some, of course, rather enjoy this never-failing well of grievance. The years by no means dim the tragic details of the prayer that was unanswered or the disaster that was undeserved. To recall God’s unfaithfulness appears to give them the same ghoulish pleasure that others find in recounting the grisly details of their “operation.”

Others find, of course, that a God who has Himself failed is the best possible excuse for those who do not wish to be involved in any moral effort or moral responsibility. Any suggestion of obeying of following God can be more than countered by another glance at the perennial grievance.

Such a God is, of course, in the highest degree inadequate. It is impossible for people who have persuaded themselves that God has failed, to worship or serve Him in any but a grudging and perfunctory spirit. What has usually happened to such people is that they have set up in their minds what they think God ought and ought not do, and when He apparently fails to toe their particular line they feel a sense of grievance. Yet it is surely more sensible, as well as more fitting, for us human beings to find out, as far as we can, the ways in which God works. We have to discover, as far as we can, the limits He has set for Himself for the purposes of this great experiment that we call life, and then do our best to align ourselves with the principles and co-operation with the purposes that we have certainly had no say in deciding, but which nevertheless in our highest moments we know are good.

God will inevitably appear to disappoint the man who is attempting to use Him as a convenience, a prop, or a comfort, for his own plans. God has never been known to disappoint the man who is sincerely wanting to cooperate with HIS own purposes.”

This covers only 1/3 of what Phillips had to say about this. I suggest you get this short book and be very enlightened by it.

His final statement on the subject is instructive: “ You cannot worship a disappointment.”

Those who say, “ I can never get over that” never seem to realize that this is not the only life we have! Do you think it cruel what God allowed to happen to Job? Only if you are thinking of this life. What has Job been doing for the past 3500 years or more? I can tell you; enjoying an ecstasy which cannot be put into words. Think of the great suffering of the apostle Paul listed in so many places in the N.T. In his own words He said,” For I consider the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Romans 8: 18.

What has the apostle Paul been enjoying for about 2000 years? I can tell you that also; enjoying an ecstasy unimaginable to us now in this fallen life, in which God used this hardship to perfect us.

Let me get this straight; about 70 plus years “here,” and eternity “there.” And the older you get the more you realize you are approaching the end of this adventure, this experiment, at blinding speed! And when it is all over “here,” we will understand “here” by looking through the lens “there” and back to “here.” The first thing we willingly forget in hard times is to view things “here” and “there” at the same time.

If you really want to help yourself learn to have the peace that comes during disappointing times, just really get a grip on II Corinthians chapter 4 and 5. If there was ever a great couple of chapters to memorize it would be these. It will help rescue you from despair in the middle of a disappointment.

I am not disappointed in God. I am disappointed in me. But the beauty of it is,  that I am not even disappointed in me for long, because when I want to give up I pray for God to help my unbelief. He comes in with a flood of joy and raises me onto higher ground.

He will never leave me or forsake me, even though in my mind He should. It is just not in Him to give up on me, or you, or anybody who will lay down their limited view; lay down they basket of woes; lay down their disappointment in Him.

The God who allowed Himself to be murdered to save me can surely be trusted during the hard times down here. What if I don’t understand what He may be doing at any particular time? I trust what He did on the cross to save me. I know from that event alone what He is like.

I know He is for me and not against me.

This is how it really is: disappointment in God gets shallowed up in the promises of God. JWP