39 years ago, in late December of 1980, Wally Nelson awoke to find the body of a 19-year-old girl named Jean Hilliard frozen “solid as a log” on his doorstep. Her car had skidded off an icy road into a ditch, so she got out of the car and started walking to a friend’s house. She almost made it, having passed out on Wally’s porch, where she sat for six full hours in temperatures which reached 22 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). Wally brought her to the hospital, where, to everyone's disbelief she was revived, with no more damage than a few blistered toes.
Hilliard became an instant celebrity. She toured local churches. Talk shows flew her to New York City to tell her story as the miracle girl from Lengby, Minnesota. She was even on the “Today Show” where Tom Brokaw interviewed her. But once the attention died down, Hilliard said the experience didn't really change the trajectory of her life. Almost everyone she knew told her she was saved by a miracle. So she said she kept waiting for something dramatic to happen. But her life's been normal.
She got married, had kids, and moved to a mid-sized town in central Minnesota where she works at Walmart. Things might have turned out differently, Hilliard said last year (2018), if she remembered the six hours she spent frozen in Nelson's yard, if she'd seen anything dramatic. “It's like I fell asleep and woke up in the hospital,” she said. “I didn't see the light or anything like that. It was kind of disappointing. So many people talk about that, and I didn't get anything.” (John Enger, “Frozen. Thawed. Not dead: Jean Hilliard's amazing Minnesota story”, Lengby, Minn., MPR News, January 25, 2018, www.mprnews.org/story/ 2018/01/25/jean-hilliard-northern-minnesota-frozen-survived; www.Preaching Today.com)
Hilliard experienced a miracle but became disappointed with her ordinary life. I think that describes a lot of people especially at Christmastime. They celebrate the miracle of Christmas; and yet, there is so much disappointment. Life hasn’t turned out like they expected, but that’s the story of the world!
For thousands of years, the world anticipated the arrival of a Deliverer, a Champion, a King, who would overcome all our problems and defeat all our enemies. But when He came, Mark Buchanan says, “He came to a man and a woman who were first migrants and then refugees. His first cries would have ricocheted off a stonewall in the back of a cave and startled dumb beasts. It wasn't the Advent we were expecting (Mark Buchanan, www. PreachingToday.com).
It was a disappointment to so many – so ordinary, so obscure. In fact, that’s why the Jews rejected their Messiah when He came. However, Jesus was so much more than anybody expected – He was the virgin-born, Son of God, who ends up saving people from their sins! That’s the miracle!
So how do you deal with the disappointment? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 2 Samuel 7, 2 Samuel 7, where the promise of Messiah comes in the context of disappointment.
2 Samuel 7:1-2 Now when the king lived in his house and the LORD had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” (ESV)
David didn’t think it was right to live in a palace, while His own Lord lived in a tent. He wanted to honor God by building Him a great temple! So…
2 Samuel 7:3 Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.” (ESV)
David wants to build a house for God, but look at how God responds.
2 Samuel 7:4-5 But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to dwell in? (ESV)
Answer: No.
2 Samuel 7:6-11 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” ’ Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. (ESV)
David wants to build a house for God, but God won’t let him. Why? Because God wants to build a house for David. And look at that house! It is not a house of cedar. It is a kingdom! An everlasting kingdom!
2 Samuel 7:12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. (ESV)
God is talking about David’s son, Solomon, here.
2 Samuel 7:13-15 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. (ESV)
God says to David, “If your son or any of his descendants on the throne sin, then I will discipline him, but I will not depart from him. I will not remove him from being king, as I did your predecessor, Saul. David, you’re going to have a offspring on the throne forever!
Now, of course, Jesus is the One who will ultimately fulfill this promise. Jesus is THE Offspring of David, and He is THE Son of God. In fact, God even disciplined Jesus on the cross, but not for His own sins. God disciplined Jesus for our sins!
About 300 years later, Isaiah the prophet, was going to write about the coming Messiah that “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).
After Jesus came, the New Testament commentary says of Him, “For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 12:21).
God disciplined Jesus for our sins, so He could treat those who trust Him as righteous people. After that, Jesus rose from the grave, ascended into heaven, and is now at the right hand of God, the Father, in the place of all authority.
Jesus, the Offspring (or seed) of David, is King forever! He reigns from heaven right now. He is coming again to rule and reign on this earth from David’s throne in Jerusalem, and He will reign forever from the New Jerusalem in the New Heavens and the New Earth after God destroys the old ones in judgment.
2 Samuel 7:16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. (ESV)
Many dynasties die out, but David’s never will!
2 Samuel 7:17 In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. (ESV)
David wants to build a house for God, but God won’t let Him. Why? Because God wants to build a house for David. God wants to build David a whole Kingdom, an everlasting Kingdom! God turned David’s disappointment into something far beyond anything he wanted or expected. And that’s what God wants to do for you. So in the midst of your disappointment...
REALIZE THAT GOD HAS A BETTER PLAN.
Understand that God wants to accomplish something far greater than you could ever imagine.
David Smallbone felt God leading him to promote Christian concerts in his homeland, Australia, where only 5 percent of the people believed in Christ. But when too few fans filled his seats during one major tour, David went $250,000 in debt.
Creditors repossessed his home, and the father of six looked for work elsewhere. A top artist offered him a job in Nashville, so the Smallbones sold their furniture and other possessions and purchased tickets to the United States.
A few weeks after they arrived, however, this artist informed David that his position was "no longer available." David literally could not get out of bed for several days. When he and his wife explained to their children what happened, they all got on their knees and asked God to help them.
Interesting things began to happen. God provided bags of groceries, a minivan, and odd jobs. Then the biggest surprise of all—a recording contract for David's oldest daughter, Rebecca, age 15. She recorded her first album using an old family name, St. James.
Later, David promoted his own daughter's sold-out concerts, and Rebecca St. James became one of the hottest Christian artists in America. She won a Grammy award for Best Rock Gospel Album in 2000 and several Dove awards after that. Today, she sometimes joins her brothers, Joel and Luke Smallbone, in their band For King and Country (Luis Palau, Christian Reader, January/February, 2002, pp.13-14; www.PreachingToday.com)
You talk about “abundantly beyond.” Look for it when you pray. When you don’t get what you expect, expect the unexpected.
F.B. Meyer once said, “The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer; it is un-offered prayer.”
That’s because God chooses to work when we pray. And even if he doesn’t give us what we expect, it is not to disappoint us. It is to delight us. It is to give us something much better!
Think about the cross. It was Jesus’ followers’ greatest disappointment, but it became their greatest joy after His resurrection when they realized the cross had paid the penalty for their sins.
So in the midst of YOUR disappointment, realize that God has a better plan, and...
REJOICE IN THAT PLAN.
Be glad and thank the Lord for working His will in your life. Gratefully praise Him.
Praise Him (1st of all) for His grace. That’s what David does.
2 Samuel 7:18-20 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord GOD. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord GOD! And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord GOD! (ESV)
You know I am nothing.
2 Samuel 7:21 Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. (ESV)
David says, “It’s not because of anything that I did. It’s not because of anything that I am that You have done this. It’s only because of your word and your heart. It’s only because you made a promise and because you love me that you have blessed me with an everlasting kingdom! David praises God for His grace, and so should we.
J. Wilbur Chapman, an American evangelist in the late 19th Century, used to tell the story of a man who got off the train at a Pennsylvania depot poor and homeless. For a year, he begged on the streets so he could eat.
Then one day he touched a man on the shoulder and said, “Hey mister, can you give me a dime?” The man turned around and the beggar was shocked to see that it was his own father, whom he had not seed for 18 years. The beggar cried, “Father, Father, do you know me?”
The father recognized his son, threw his arms around him; and with tears in his eyes said, “Oh my son, at last I’ve found you! I’ve found you! You want a dime? Everything I have is yours.”
Imagine begging your own father for ten cents when for 18 years he has been looking to give you all that he had! (J. Wilbur Chapman, Bible Illustrator #1445, 9/1988.22)
Yet, isn’t that what we do with our Heavenly Father sometimes. We beg Him for some little trinket when He wants to give us so much more! We don’t deserve it; but because of His word and His heart, we find ourselves on the receiving end of His gracious generosity.
So in the midst of your disappointment, praise God for His grace; and then praise God for His greatness. Praise God for His impressive distinction like David does.
2 Samuel 7:22-24 Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O LORD, became their God. (ESV)
There is no one like God and His people. He is uniquely great in that He redeemed a nation of slaves, gave them a land flowing with milk and honey, and became their God forever.
That’s what God did for Israel; and through the seed of Abraham and David, that’s what God wants to do for you, as well. He wants to redeem you from your slavery to sin, give you the wealth of heaven, and be your God forever.
1 Peter 2 says to all who put their trust in Christ, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Through Jesus, we get in on the promises God made to Israel, and we become that chosen race, that royal priesthood, and that holy nation – God’s own people. All we need to do is trust in David’s Seed, Jesus Christ, who died for us and rose again.
Thirty-one-year-old Jermaine Wilson grew up in Leavenworth, Kansas, selling drugs out of his childhood apartment. He started using drugs at age 11 and was in juvenile detention by 15. By 21, he was in the maximum-security wing at the Lansing Correctional Facility in Leavenworth County right here in Kansas.
There, Jermaine realized that if he didn’t change, he would spend the rest of his life in prison or end up dead in a casket. Well, by the grace of God, on January 8th of this year (2019) he was sworn in as the new mayor of Leavenworth! He credits his transformation to God, education, and volunteer work. After prison, he started serving his community and got his felony record expunged, paving the way for a political run last year.
Now, the school district that once expelled him now welcomes him back with open arms. He also works for a non-profit that helps ex-cons find and keep good jobs. And of course, he has his duties as mayor. It's all made possible, he said, by “the gift of incarceration.”
“That's why I'm here,” he said, “because if [I wouldn’t have gone to prison], I would have never had the time to think. I would have never had an opportunity to build a relationship with God. I don't suggest prison. But one thing I tell you, we all go through a time in our life when we hit rock bottom. When you're at rock bottom there's only one other place to go, and that's up. (Steve Hartman, “Man who was once in prison's maximum-security wing is now a mayor,” CBS News, 1-25-19; www.PreachingToday.com)
God redeemed Jermaine from a wasted life, and God can do the same for you even in the midst of your greatest disappointment. Just trust Him with your life and let Him do it for you. For there is no other God like Him! Praise Him for His grace. Praise Him for His greatness.
In the midst of your disappointment, 1st, realize that God has a better plan; 2nd rejoice in that plan; and third...
REQUEST THAT GOD ACCOMPLISH HIS PLAN.
Ask God to do His perfect will in your life. Pray that God does what He said He would do. That’s what David does.
2 Samuel 7:25-29 And now, O LORD God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘The LORD of hosts is God over Israel,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord GOD, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord GOD, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.” (ESV)
David prays a very bold prayer, but only because God made a big promise. David boldly says, “Go ahead, Lord. Do what you said you would do. Accomplish your perfect plan in my life.”
It reminds me of our Lord’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane when He faced the cross. There, He prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). There is no better way to pray than that.
Like David, like Jesus, in the midst of your disappointment ask God to accomplish His will in your life.
Grandpa was going by his little granddaughter’s room one night when he saw her kneeling beside her bed. Her head was bowed, her hands were folded, and she was repeating the alphabet.
“What are you doing?” he asked her.
She explained, “I’m saying my prayers, but I couldn’t think of what to say, so I’m just saying all the letters, and God can put them together however He thinks best.” (Bible Illustrator #2816-2841, 2/1994.6)
In the midst of your disappointment, realize that God has a better plan; rejoice in that plan; and request that God accomplish that plan in your life. Ask God to put together the letters however He thinks best.
Clarence Jones had a dream to reach Venezuela with the Gospel through local radio broadcasts there. He prayed about it, raise the money to go and went, but God shut the door. The Venezuelan government flatly refused to let him start radio broadcasts in their country.
The only place open to him in Central America was in a country where there were only 13 radios at the time. Furthermore, it was high up in the mountains and close to the equator, where the experts told him radio transmission would be next to impossible.
Clarence Jones built his radio station anyway in the mountains of Quito, Ecuador. On Christmas day, 1931, HCJB broadcast the world’s first missionary radio program from a 250-watt transmitter located in a sheep shed. All 13 radios in the country were tuned in.
In 1940, a 10,000-watt transmitter was added, and letters began pouring in from New Zealand, Japan, India, Germany, and Russia. It was unbelievable! The experts were scratching their heads. They studied the situation again and determined that the equator was not the worst location to have a radio station, but “the very finest location for north-south broadcasting.” The equal distance from the magnetic poles makes it “the one place in the world freest from atmospheric disturbance.”
Later, HCJB upgraded to half a million watts of power, overcoming the jamming efforts of hostile nations, and they were able to broadcast the gospel to the whole world! (Ruth Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, pp.372-377)
God said “no” to a Venezuelan ministry in order to give Clarence Jones a world-wide ministry.
Has God said “no” to you recently? Don’t be discouraged. When He closes a door, He often opens a much bigger door of opportunity. Trust Him to do it for you, for He loves “to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think!” (Ephesians 3:20)
