Not What I Expected
The ground was so parched and dry that it had hardened like a rock. The plants that had already made their way from the darkness of the warm, dry earth seemed to have wrapped their leaves around their stems as if to say “I’m dying of thirst down here.” We needed a rain.
For the past week my favorite weather man said it was going to shower. Because he said it, I expected it. I like him and most of the time he is accurate. Good ole Mike Pass. It seemed that every day the sky would darken with the promise of rain. Every day I would stand in hopes of enough to give life to my crops. Mr. Dink (my neighbor) would tell me, “Those weather men don’t know nuthing. It’s gonna rain when God gets ready fer it to.” He’s been farming for a long time and he knows who is in control.
For three or four days the clouds would come over us and a few sprinkles would fall. Just enough fell to moisten the grass and increase the humidity, but things were wilting more every day.
Yesterday, when I got home I decided to plant the last three rows of beans I needed. I had put it off because it was so dry. Again, Mr. Dink told me I needed to wait for the rain or they wouldn’t come up. The weather forecast predicted a one inch rain. Hallelujah! So, I thought, so what if we just get a quarter of an inch. That will be enough. But it wasn’t what I expected. The rain came… and came… and kept on coming. The leaves opened their throats and the trees raised their arms in worthy praise toward heaven in thanksgiving for the refreshment they found in the rain.
This morning I walked out to look at the garden. Everything looked so grateful… except the three rows of beans. They looked washed away. We got rain all right. But who expected three and one half inches that quickly. It wasn’t what I expected.
I had asked God for rain. I suppose I must have forgotten to tell Him how much I wanted. Even so, God made this earth and He knows how much rain it needed to keep it going. It just wasn’t what I expected.
Isn’t that what often happens? We ask God for something; “Lord, will you please give us things to help our faith grow?” All of a sudden storms come blowing into our lives and “wham…” we wonder what hit us. It wasn’t what we expected. We ask for growth and get what looks to us like something else. Rarely is it what we expect.
You see, God is not like some computer. Just punch the button you want and out comes the response you expect. God is all knowing. He knows what each of us really needs more that we ourselves know. God knows how to give “good and perfect gifts” to His children.
An ungrateful farmer would gripe and complain about the amount of rain last night. Those who know God knows that His purpose is higher. He knows more about our needs than we will ever understand.
When God deals in our lives, it will often be in ways that we do not expect. His ways may slip up on us a bit, but a grateful heart will always take His workings as the best for our lives. If adversity comes upon us a grateful heart will say, “Thy will be done…”
What’s going on in your life right now? Is it what you expected? Do you really expect God to work inside your limitations?