A Quick Fix or The Real Deal?

Do you know anyone who is angry with God? Disillusioned with him because he didn’t answer their prayers? My heart sinks when I meet such a person because it’s such a tough situation to be in—with no guarantees of a satisfactory outcome unless the person is willing to look beyond their confusion and disappointment and check out God’s view of the situation.

The best way I can explain what I mean is with this illustration:

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A man takes his car to his mechanic and asks him to change the brake pads. An hour later, the mechanic calls him back and says that his brake pads are fine, but he needs . . . . The owner of the car angrily asks him what he was doing poking around in his car instead of doing what he asked him to do. Then he demands that he install new brake pads.

The story could end in one of two ways. The mechanic could politely refuse, saying that’s not what the car needed. The owner would then complain to everyone at his office that the mechanic had the nerve to refuse to work on his car.

Or, the mechanic could have gone ahead and installed brake pads. When the owner drove off in his car and experienced the same problems, he would call the mechanic up, accusing him of putting in defective pads. When the mechanic said they were perfectly fine brake pads but they weren’t what the car needed, the owner could petulantly say that he wasn’t much of a mechanic if he couldn’t give him what he wanted and make it work for him.

How about it? Will we be angry when he doesn’t go along with our desire for a quick fix? Or—when our ways fail—will we get back on the road with him and see where he leads us?

There is a way that appears to be right,
but in the end it leads to death (Prov. 14:12 NIV).
 
The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day (Prov. 4:18 NIV).