>>> The great composer Wagner had just listened to a performance of his composition “The Ring” when a friend entered the room. Wagner was sitting alone in front of a writing table and thinking. Seeing his friend, Wagner rose and spoke of the performance with discouragement: “No, that isn’t what I imagined. It falls far short of what I intended.” The friend, thinking Wagner was criticizing the orchestra, defended their work. Wagner answered, “It’s nothing to do with that. I know the people are doing their best; but what I have written is not what lived in my imagination.” (adapted from The Book of Musical Anecdotes)
It certainly is a major understatement to say that life does not usually turn out the way we expect. Thankfully, sometimes we can say that as a positive thing: a job or a relationship or a move to another city turns out better than we expect.
But inevitably throughout our life there are going to be times (probably a lot of times) when things don’t turn out the way we expect in a negative way. Times when we look at what has become of our life and we say, as Wagner did concerning that piece of music he had written,
“No, that isn’t what I imagined. It falls far short of what I intended.”
We look around and we realize: things have not turned out the way we expected, events have not progressed in the manner we’d hoped, the situation we are in is not the one we had anticipated.
I want to focus this morning on those times when we have such feelings about our relationship with God. Although the specific words we choose might vary from person to person, the sentiment we feel can be summarized in two words:
“I’m finished.”
Things have not turned out the way we intended and as we look at the way they have turned out, there’s no doubt that we’re finished. As I think of that feeling that “I’m finished” coming into our relationship with God, I think in particular this morning of two groups of people that I want to talk to.
The first group of people feel like they’re finished because they’re “too far along.”
It’s been (it could be just about any number) 10, 20, 25, 30, 50 years since they originally made their commitment to the Lord. As they came to that altar and prayed to receive Jesus into their hearts, they were filled with excitement and a sense of anticipation about what all God was going to do in their lives.
But, now, well, it’s been so long or it seems like it’s been so long, and as they look back over that time, they don’t see what they had originally hoped for.
Maybe they originally thought they were really going to make a difference in people’s lives, but it turned out that they just never seemed to find the time to get to make an impact in others’ lives the way they’d hoped.
Maybe they originally envisioned themselves becoming people whose total faith and trust was in the Lord, someone totally sold out to God, but it turned out that the daily worries and stresses of life undercut that dream of complete devotion to God and today they find that their faith wavers more often than they care to admit publicly.
Maybe they originally wanted to become a deep person of prayer like those stories they had heard about of other Christians who were so close to God and could make miracles happen through their humble prayers. But it turned out that the effort to start a daily prayer time died off after two weeks and then the second attempt lasted a month. Today (far from being a powerhouse of prayer) their prayer life is sporadic and of little visible impact.
They started out with such excitement and such a sense
of anticipation at what God was going to do, but now the years have sped past since that day (whether it’s 50 or 20 or 10 years - the number is unimportant). As they look back and see that things did not at all turn out the way they intended, there is that sense that: “I’m finished. I’m too far along to change anything now.”
The second group say the same thing (“I’m finished”), but for them it’s not the feeling that they’re “too far along”, but rather that they’re “too far gone.”
Probably the simplest way to understand the way this group feels is to think of taking a glass bowl and dropping it to the ground. It shatters into hundreds of pieces that cannot be put back together. The damage cannot be undone.
This group of people feel like they’re “too far gone,”
that the mistakes they’ve made and the sins they’ve committed have done damage that cannot be undone.
With both of these groups in mind (both those who feel they’re “too far along” and those who feel they’re “too far gone”), we want to look at our text for this morning and the simple but profound truth that we gain from it.
Here we have the story of Anna, who was a prophetess.
She had lived a hard life: she had only been married seven years when her husband died.
In that culture an unmarried woman had a much harder time of it than they do in our culture in terms of their legal rights and their opportunities to support themselves.
The 84 years in v. 37 could either refer to her age or to how long she’d been a widow. If it’s her age, she’d been a widow probably for about 64 years.
She’s had a hard life.
So here she is: she’s been a widow for over 60 years, struggling to support herself, dealing with the loneliness and financial difficulties of being alone. You could certainly understand if she had been praying to the Lord, “Father, I’m ready to come home. I’m ready to leave this world.”
But the Lord had something else for her and that something was nothing less than to see the Messiah.
She got to see the baby Jesus and, it’s no surprise, v. 38 tells us that she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke about this baby all over Jerusalem.
Here is the simple but profound truth that we learn from Anna:
God’s best is still in front of you!
Anna may have thought she was just biding time, but God’s best was still in front of her and that’s true in our lives as well.
God’s best for my life is still in front of me! God’s best for your life is still in front of you!
Now, you may be thinking, “That might be true of Anna, but I don’t think it’s true of me.” Well, it may be true that someone is not going to walk in the room with the baby Jesus in their arms, but the fact that God’s best is still in front of you is just as true of you as it was of Anna.
The Bible is very clear about the continuing work of God in our lives:
Philippians 1:6 -
“. . . being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
1 Timothy 4:16 -
“Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.”
Ephesians 3:19 -
“[may you know God’s love] that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Listen to those words: completion, progress, fullness.
For all of us, wherever we are in our lives, God’s best is still in front of us.
God desires that we would know Him more deeply through prayer. God desires that we would know Him more fully through the Word. God desires that we would be more like Him in our personality. God desires that we would have more peace and humility in our souls.
God has not quit on any of us. God has not given up on any of us.
He wants to take us deeper. He wants to take us farther. He wants to teach us more. He wants to make us more like Jesus.
God’s best is still in front of us if we will take it.
Now, what does that truth mean for those two groups we talked about earlier?
For those who think they’re “too far along,” they need to realize that’s it’s not too late.
I think of two of the biggest names in the New Testament:
Peter: after three years of walking with Jesus, he should have been ready to make an impact, but instead he denied Jesus in Jesus’ moment on need. He could have easily thought, “This is not where I intended to be after these years I’ve spent with Jesus. I’m done for.” But Jesus restored Peter and it is a huge understatement to say that God’s best was still in front of Peter as you think of the dynamic and lasting impact he had for the Kingdom of God.
Paul: after working night and day to oppress the church, when Jesus appeared to Paul it would have been easy for him to think, “I can’t change now after all these years I’ve spent working against Jesus. It’s too late.” But, again, it is a huge understatement to say that God’s best was still in front of Paul as you think of all the churches he started and that over half of the books of the N.T. were written by him.
Even if you feel like you’re “too far along,” God’s best is still in front of you.
>>> Consider the story of Grandma Moses. “Ann Mary Moses left home at 13, bore 10 children and worked hard to raise the 5 who survived. Struggling to make a living on poor farms, she managed to provide a bit of beauty for herself by embroidering on canvas. At 78, her fingers became too stiff to hold a needle. Rather than give in to debility, she went out to the barn and began to paint. On Masonite panels she created brilliantly colored, precisely detailed scenes of country life. For the first two years, these were either given away or sold for a pittance. But at the
age of 79, she was "discovered" by the art world-and the rest is history. She went on to produce more than 2,000 paintings, and her book illustrations for “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” were completed in her
100th year!” (from one of the “Chicken Soup” books)
Now, I don’t know about outward success being in your future like it was in Grandma Moses (maybe it is and maybe it isn’t), but I do know that inward success in terms of spiritual growth and the maturing of your soul are in your future if you’re open to what God has for you.
You are not too far along.
For those who think they are “too far gone,” they need to realize they’re not finished either. I think of the woman at the well in John 4 who had been married and divorced 5 times and was living with another man. Because of that, she was considered an outcast in her town, but Jesus didn’t in the least think that she was too far gone. Instead He ended up using her to tell everyone in her town the Good News about Himself.
We spoke of the shattered glass bowl earlier and the idea that many have that their lives are shattered beyond repair and therefore they are “too far gone.”
But we have the wrong image when we think that way.
In Is. 64:8, God doesn’t speak of shattered bowls, He speaks of clay:
“We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.”
A shattered glass bowl may be “too far gone,” but a piece of clay is not. If the clay is misshaped or misformed, the Potter is able to continue to work with His hands to mold and shape the clay into the form He wants it to take.
We see His transforming work in the clay of the lives around us.
>>> John Dilulio, a tenured professor at Princeton, works in the field of criminology. He notes youth who have done prison time are 66% less likely to be rearrested within a year of their release if they attended Prison Fellowship Bible studies. (Tim Stafford, “The criminologist who discovered the church,” Christianity Today, June 14, 1999)
That amazing 66% figure tells me that even after their major mistakes, God is not through with them. If God can work in such an amazing way in lives that have gone through such obvious difficulties, can there be any doubt that He can also work mightily in ours as well?
When I think of this idea that God’s best is still in front of us, I think of a book by Richard Foster that I’ve been reading in recent weeks. Richard Foster is a writer I admire when it comes to teaching how to walk with Christ in the practical day-to-day stuff.
He tells a story. . .
>>> “A friend of mine was listening to a well-dressed woman share in rapid-fire monologue a sad tale of emotional illnesses, psychiatric treatment, and mental hospitals. All the time there was rising within him the counsel, ‘Tell her her sins are forgiven her.’ But she never seemed to stop long enough even to catch her breath. Finally, he said, ‘Lady, your sins are forgiven you.’ She kept right on with her story of this illness and that hospital stay. Again he said, ‘Lady, your sins are forgiven you,’ and again, she kept right on with her monologue. Finally he held her by the shoulders and looked her directly in the eye and said, ‘Look at me. I’m trying to tell you that
your sins are forgiven you!’
“The woman stopped midsentence as if her breath had been taken away. ‘What did you say?’ she asked.
“He said, ‘Your sins are forgiven you.’
“Tears came to her eyes. ‘They are?’
My friend answered simply and lovingly, ‘Yes, they are.’
The dam broke, and the flood gushed forth from her eyes. She turned to her husband and announced through her tears, ‘My sins are forgiven me!’ It was the breakthrough that was needed and the key to substantial healing.” (Richard Foster, Prayer)
Now, that kind of stuff rarely happens in my life today - God speaking to me in such a direct way so that I can be of greater help to those around me. But when I read things like that, it reminds me: God’s best is still in front of me.
The deeper Christian life can be mine - it’s not just for a few super-Christians. It’s exciting to think of all that God may still have in store for me and you if we are open to what He’s trying to do.
>>> Elizabeth Cody Newenhuyse writes, “My husband and I like to play ‘what if?’ We sit and toss out ideas: What if we moved out of state? What if we enclosed our porch? What if we got a dog? Some of the what ifs come to fruition; others don’t. But we’ve found that the very process airs out our marriage, opens doors and windows of possibility, draws us closer. It’s not an idle exercise: to dream, to crack open that door, starts things happening.” (Marriage Partnership magazine, vol. 7, no. 3)
That’s one of the problems for people who think they’re “too far along” or “too far gone.” They become so focused on where they are that they lose any sight of where they could be.
Stop for a second this morning and ask some “what if’s” for your spiritual life:
What if you really believed that God wasn’t finished with you yet?
What if it really was true that you could have a deep prayer life?
What if God really did want to make you more like Jesus in practical, everyday ways that would profoundly change your life?
What if through God’s power and mercy you really were able to overcome that sin that has especially haunted you for so long?
What if? What if?
What if you aren’t “too far along?”
What if you aren’t “too far gone?”
What if God’s best is still in front of you?
