What If God Doesn't Meet Your Desperate Need (via www.JeanWilund.com with Callie Daruk and MercyMe's song Even If)

Help! 

When I heard Bobby’s desperate scream from his room, fear shot through my heart. I couldn’t get to him fast enough.

My ten-year-old son had fallen on top of a folding chair, which then collapsed onto his right thumb and held it in a crushing vise grip.

The paralyzing pain made it impossible for Bobby to lift himself off the chair and free himself from the pain.

I rushed to Bobby, snatched him up, and gasped.

What once was a thumb now appeared to be a short, flat, bleeding spatula.

His thumbnail split down the middle and gushed blood. His flesh pushed up through the crack in his nail.

Don’t faint, Jean. And certainly not onto Bobby. 

I staggered to the phone and called my good friend and pediatrician Lynn.

She decoded my plea for help and said, “Jean, you need to calm down. And you need to squeeze his thumb to stop the bleeding.”

Squeeze Bobby’s crushed, bleeding, pain-inflicted thumb? Seriously?

I took a deep breath and followed her orders. And I prayed a desperate prayer.

“Lord, do you see my son? He needs You. Now! Help him, please.”

The bleeding stopped. The pain didn’t. But eventually, Bobby’s thumb healed, and life moved on.

But that’s not always the case.

When Our Desperate Needs Won’t Go Away

My friend Callie texted me one morning with a plea of desperation.

“Please pray for Elijah. He is in terrible pain this morning. Moaning and crying. My heart is breaking.”

I cried for my dear friend and her 10-year-old son.

Elijah had been experiencing debilitating pain. For over 30 excruciating days. And the doctors didn’t know why.

“Lord, do You see Callie’s son? Do you see Elijah?”

History and God’s Word proves God sees, and He cares. Our present circumstances sometimes seem to challenge the Truth, but the Truth remains. 

Even if God doesn’t remove our desperate need the moment we pray, He sees, and He cares. We can trust Him. He knows what He’s doing.

God Delivers Them From All Their Troubles

Sometimes we read the Psalmist’s words and question them:

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
— Psalm 34 :17

Really? God delivers them from ALL their troubles?

Our rescue doesn’t always come when and how we want. But it comes. God never fails.

As humans, we can’t help but be short-sighted. We can’t see the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46 :10). We can’t see all the moving—and immovable—parts.

All we see is the small picture in front of us and what we’ve learned. And what screams at us. 

As Bobby screamed, I couldn’t see anything but his pain and my plea. I couldn’t see the Lord’s help in the moment.

What we can’t see with our physical eyes, we have to trust with our spiritual eyes. Our help and hope are secure, not in who we are, but in who God is.

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
— Psalm 121:2

And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.
— Psalm 39:7

Stand on God’s Character

When it seems God isn’t meeting your desperate need, remember who He is. Don’t lose sight of God or His unchanging character.

We’ll never understand all His ways or thoughts in this life. But we can always trust them (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Don’t walk away from God in your desperate need. You may be hurt and angry. He knows, and He’s okay with raw emotion. Run to Him with it.

You can trust Him. You can trust His character.

This single unchangeable Truth has held me up when my circumstances threatened to crush me down. It will hold you, too. Don’t let go.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
— Psalm 34 :18

Because we can trust God, we can say as Jesus did as He faced the cross:

Not my will but Yours be done.
— Luke 22 :42

Even if God doesn’t remove our circumstance in the fires of our pain and fear, we can trust in Him.

We can hold on. He will deliver us.

I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the LORD.

— Psalm 27 :13-14

Callie didn’t despair. She cried out in heartbreak. But she didn’t despair. Neither did young Elijah. Today, he’s healthy and free of pain.

They still don’t know what caused Elijah’s pain, but they know without question the faithfulness of God. They trusted in it even when Elijah wasn’t healed. And God held them through it all.


MercyMe’s Song of Hope “Even If”

In their song Even If, the band MercyMe shares a powerful message of hope we all need to hear and remember.

Even if we must wait on the Lord, we never wait in vain. 

When our hope is in God, our help is on the way. It will be well with our soul. Amen.

For a list of the character traits of God, Click Here or on the image below. I’ll continue to add more to the list, so check back.

The Never-Ending, Ever-Growing List of the Character Traits of God via www.JeanWilund.com