Why isn’t God Doing What He Promised?

Ever wondered this before? Even if you’ve never verbalized the ultra scandalous question, I believe it is a real frustration that we’ve all felt internally at one time or another. If you’ve ever had to wait for something you believed God promised He would give you, then you know.

When this happens, from our perspective it may look like God is not doing what He told us He would do. I imagine this is how things must have seemed to the Israelites after God freed them from slavery in Egypt, promising them a land of their own that would be “flowing with milk and honey”… yet let them walk around in the desert for 40 years before ever taking them there.

To both the Israelites and to us, this kind of waiting might look like a torturous detour by a God Who is just not keeping His word.

In the Israelites’ case, the majority of their their prolonged entrance into the promised land actually occurred because they kept choosing not to believe God’s word and, instead, put their faith in idols. While doing so, they spent decades wandering around in the wilderness when, originally, their journey through it was only supposed to take about 11 days. Living in disobedience to God and refusing to turn to Him can certainly steer us away from the things we desire.

However, what about in cases where we are trying to obey and live surrendered to Jesus, yet still don’t seem to be experiencing the blessings God has promised us? How do we explain and grapple with that scenario?

While at times it may feel like God is cruelly withholding the very things He promised us, the truth is that the Lord’s focus is much different than our own. Our objective is usually getting the things we want in life. God’s objective is getting our trust, and providing us with true freedom that will extend beyond this life.

This is why He took the Israelites through the longer and non-ideal path to the promise land in the first place. If God’s primary goal was to get them to the land of Canaan, He could have simply taken them the quick route with no wilderness involved. The Lord could have easily strengthened them against the people already living in Canaan, so that the Israelites would reach their destination safely and right away. He had the power to do that. Instead, God had a much higher and more beneficial goal in mind: to earn the Israelites’ trust. He planned to prove to them that they could depend on Him to lead and provide for them — even when it meant walking through the wilderness. God wanted to use their difficult, slightly longer-than-desired journey to help the Israelites learn that even when things didn’t seem to be going their way, their God was in charge and was performing a good work within their hearts.

Similarly, when we go through obstacles and unanticipated trials in our own walks with Jesus, God desires for us to trust Him through them. He wants us to know that He has allowed our trials not as a way to torture us, but so that He can bring about some important, eternal growth within us. Indeed, that is what we are promised about our problems and trials: “…We know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment…” (Romans 5:3-5).

What about the freedom the Israelites hoped to reach in Canaan, then? Would that have been true freedom and if not, what does “true freedom” look like?

True freedom does not necessarily mean having the things we want. Rather, true freedom means that our happiness does not depend on whether we receive our desired outcome. It means we’re able to have joy and peace in our hearts, regardless of whether the circumstances around us match what we want. This kind of freedom comes only when, despite the trials we are facing, we choose to place all of our hope and trust in the Lord. It comes only from believing that because God’s character is good He must be doing something good, even when what we’re experiencing looks bad.

This was the primary purpose Yahweh had in mind when leading the Israelites out of Egypt. In His infinite love and wisdom, He knew that His desires for them would be worth far more than what they had been hoping to receive.

Ephesians 3:20 tells us, “God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” We can see that He, indeed, desired to do so with His people.

They expected the land of Canaan — an Earthly gift that would not have lasted forever and that would have only sustained them temporarily. We know this because the health of any physical land and the societal power that may be attached to owning that land, can all rapidly change and decline within just a matter of years. How many times have we witnessed it happen even in recent history? On the other hand, the blessings God had in mind for the Israelites — things like patience, obedience, character development, and above all, faithful trust in Him — would benefit them through all of life’s ups and downs. Not only that — they would also lead the Israelites to train up their children in the ways of the Lord and thus, leave behind a sustaining legacy for generations and generations to come.

We can see, therefore, that God’s plan for the Israelites not only included what they wanted, but so, so much more. He wants us to trust that His plans for us will, too, even when they look to be way off-course from our own wishes.

While we’re praying to receive good, Earthly gifts — financial breakthrough, success in ministry, physical healing, change in the behavior of our loved ones — let us willingly accept the greater, Heavenly gifts that God is trying to deliver to us through our current circumstances. Let’s ask Him to help us embrace what He says is exceedingly better for us now, even when it means having to go a while without the things we deeply want. Though waiting for God to deliver on His promises often includes trials and a waiting period like it did for the Israelites, it is through walking this seemingly-long, unpleasant path that our Lord delivers gifts to us that will far outlast any temporary, Earthly gift we may desire.

Will you join me in this prayer, as we wait and faithfully trust God through our own desert roads?

Lord,

Please grant us patience, serenity, and gratitude as we serve and follow You. Even when Your will plays out much different than my preferred methods and timeline, give me eyes to see that Your way is immeasurably better. Help me to hold fast to Jesus and learn from all that Your Word teaches us. Help me to trust that You are good, and that Your plans, ways, and timing for Your promises in my life surely are, too.

In Jesus’s name,

Amen.