Part 1 of 2
It takes a lot of faith to do nothing (Abraham basically waited 24 years for a child)[1]. It takes a lot of faith to obey God and serve well (Timothy). And it takes a lot of faith to leave an unresolved problem to God and trust that He will solve it eventually.
Juan and Rosita had some chemistry going. Lots of hot dates. Marriage and then junior was due to arrive in nine months. Rosita loved being a mother and spent a lot of time with their son, but Juan was feeling left out—like he had suddenly become just a paycheck to support her comfortable life at home. As tensions increased, she withdrew further into her son. Divorce. Joint, court-ordered custody.
Juan had been casual in his spiritual life, even though urged by his parents to seek the Lord. When Rosita refused to honor the court-ordered, unsupervised visits, Juan wondered where God was. “When will He do something?!” As months went by, Juan struggled.
His godly parents saw God’s fingerprints all over the situation and urged him come to a faith perspective: “Son, God is talking to you. You’ve ignored Him for years, but He has your attention now. His goal is that you have the values and attitudes of the Lord Jesus. He’s at work. Once your attitude is right, He will solve your custody battle.”
Juan floated between anger and sullenly recognizing God was correcting him. The situation called for a vertical leap in patience, maturity, and taking responsibility. Things he had avoided were coming back to haunt him. Could he muster the faith to leave his unresolved battle to God?
By the time I started caring for a World War II veteran he was 98 years of age. “I was born one year too soon,” he said. The fourth time he said that to me in as many days, I asked him to explain what he meant. He said, “If I had been born one year later, I would not have been drafted to fight in World War II, I would not have been shot. By the time I healed—three years—I was past my prime and my window of opportunity in professional sports had closed.”
For seven decades this veteran had looked over his shoulder, wishing something was not true that was a reality. He needed the faith to give this unresolved disappointment to God.
We met Joyce in about 2004. A glowing, positive, delightful senior. It was not until 2016 that I learned her story. Visiting her in the hospital, she shared about her life. I had no idea what had transformed her into such a delightful saint. But she shared it with me. Her husband had been killed by a drunk driver, a violent woman who ran with bad company. So Joyce was alone in life through no fault of her own, yet she was radiant with God’s grace because she had enough faith to trust God about her personal mystery.[2]
Juan eventually responded in faith, seeing God’s refining hand. He re-married, and had a little girl with his new wife. Now, he sees his son on a regular basis and he is in a comfortable friendship with Maria. His son loves his baby half-sister. All of this took about six years to unfold.[3]
My World War II friend never rallied to trust God about his unresolved disappointment. He felt cheated out of the life of a professional athlete. Sad.
But Joyce was promoted into God’s presence in 2018, going peacefully into eternity to rejoin her husband.[4] Oh, that we all had the faith to entrust unresolved problems to God!
In Part 2, we look at Jeremiah’s courageous step away from an unresolved problem.
Keith Kaynor
March, 2008
[1] The total time was 25 years, but he received three very solid assurance from God that the child was on the way (Genesis 17:16, 21, 18:10) after just 24 years. It is also true, that Abraham was definitely unwise in chapters 12 (vs. 10-20, lied about his wife); 16 (took Hagar as a second wife (vs. 2-6); and 20 (vs. 2-7; again spoke of Sarah as his sister). But compared to 24 years of waiting, all three situations combined took less than one year. Twenty-four years is a long time to wait on any emotional frontier without anything to do about it. Hurry up and wait!
[2] Romans 12:19 and following.
[3] God does not seem to be in a hurry.
[4] According to Matthew 22:30, there is no marriage in Heaven. But Joyce and her husband can live
next door to each other.
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