When God Hasn’t Shown Up In The Area We Want

When we hear about God keeping promises, and we feel like He hasn’t shown up for us in the area we’ve been asking or that He’s spoken over, sometimes, if we are honest, it can make us want to roll our eyes. We can begin to question that statement. Like, does He really keep promises? Because I’ve been asking Him to bless this area or to show up in this area for so long and He hasn’t budged on it. It can make us feel discouraged, doubtful, angry, and annoyed. I’ve been there. In some moments as of late, I’ve felt like I’m right back there. When the thing you’ve been wanting most, God doesn’t seem to be showing up there.
But when I step back and think, aside from that area or maybe even a few areas I may be experiencing disappointment, I cannot deny the fact that God has been there for me. I cannot say that because He didn’t show up in that specific area, He isn’t good and has never shown up or been there with me or blessed me in some way. When I look around, He’s still been walking me through and showing up in other areas. It just may not be in that area I’ve been longing for. And that hurts. That thought alone can cause a lot of hurt, pain, confusion, and doubt. But one thing He does promise is that when we come to Him, He will give us peace. So I take my hurt, pain, confusion, and doubt straight to Him and I ask Him all my questions. I let Him know how I genuinely feel without holding anything back. I tell Him how I may be doubting Him and feeling like Him not showing up in that area is hurting me. I let Him know of any offense I have in my heart and how it may be hindering my relationship with Him. And even if He doesn’t give me answers at that moment, I cannot deny that every single time I’ve come to Him honestly, He’s given me peace, which is a promise of His being fulfilled.
Sometimes He doesn’t show up the exact way we wanted Him to. And it’s hard. But Him taking His time on fulfilling or not fulfilling a desire of ours does not mean that He doesn’t keep promises. It doesn’t mean He doesn’t care. He does care. He wants to sit with us in our disappointment, anger, frustration, and brokenness and He wants to give us peace. He wants to love on us through all of it. And those are promises fulfilled. So we can trust in that. He may not do exactly what we want Him to do, but that doesn’t take away the fact that He is a promise keeper. He never says that life will be easy and go exactly how we want and plan, but He does promise us that He will be with us, that He’s an ever-present help, that He loves us through anything, and that He is fighting for us so we never are fighting alone.
We can live in the knowing/hoping that He is going to come through in an area, while still experiencing the hurt and pain of our situation. Just because we are expecting Him to come through, doesn’t make our current circumstances hurt any less. So I encourage you not to fake or feel pressured to “just be happy and have faith” because you know God is good and that He’s going to come through, but to allow yourself to feel everything. The hurt and pain, the doubt and confusion, the frustration in not getting an answer when we want. Feel it all. Cry. Acknowledge the disappointment you feel about your situation and vent to Him. And then embrace the peace that comes. Receive the love He’s been waiting to pour out onto you. He can’t heal that area unless we are honest, so I encourage you to be completely open, honest, and broken in front of God. That’s when He can come in, renew our faith, and begin putting us back together. I love you all. I am praying 2023 will be the year our relationships with God grow deeper, more intimate, and more authentic because we come to Him honestly. Happy New Year (: