Lies Women Believe About God, Part 5

Series: Lies Women Believe About God

Leslie Basham: God parted the Red Sea and turned water into wine. If he can do all that, shouldn't He fix all my problems, too?

It's Friday, November 2, and you're listening to Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

The Bible is filled with accounts of miraculous healings, supernatural provision and divine intervention on behalf of God's people. Because we know what the Lord can do, we often feel like He owes it to us to step in and fix those things in our lives that are causing us difficulty. In our culture of comfort, we often believe the lie that God should fix all our problems. Nancy Leigh DeMoss will confront that lie today as she speaks in front of a small group of women.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: I talked with a woman recently who had just confessed to the Lord and to a number of other godly women a particular sin issue in her life. It was a major stronghold and something that has had her in bondage for a long time. I was following up on the phone and asked her how it was going. And she talked about what God was doing in her life, and then she said, "Is this something that God will give me victory over soon, or do you think it's something I'm going to have to wrestle with for a long time?"

I think of another woman I talked with recently who is in the middle of a very difficult marriage. I had given her some counsel--really the Lord had given her some counsel before she ever talked to me--and I had just encouraged her to take the counsel that the Lord had given her from His Word. And she had taken some steps of obedience, and again I was calling back to follow up with her to see how she was doing. She had taken some of those steps, but then she said, "My husband hasn't changed yet."

Many of us today have the sense that God should solve all of our problems and that it should happen quickly--that we want to have quick victory over sin issues in our lives. And when we take steps of obedience, we want the results to be good ones and to happen immediately. This leads us to another lie about God. We've been looking at lies that women believe about God, and that's the lie that God should fix my problems.

That lie is really deceptive in at least a couple of different ways. First of all, it makes God out to be some kind of cosmic genie. You know, you rub the bottle; and the genie comes out and he says, "What wishes do you have?" He is somebody who exists to serve us, to please us. It makes God kind of like a hired servant who comes running every time we ring the bell. And when we have this view of God, it sets us up, inevitably, for disappointment--for disillusionment.

Now, another problem with this lie that God should fix my problems is that it suggests that the goal in life (at least in the Christian life) is to be free from all problems, to get rid of everything that is unpleasant or difficult. We don't want to have to struggle with sin or with our flesh; we want to obey God and quickly have our problems resolved.

Actually, we think this way because in our society we're conditioned to think that we should not have to live with problems. Every problem has to have a quick solution. You know, on TV every problem gets solved in 29 or 58 minutes. And we've become conditioned to think that that's the way life should be.

So you have a headache, you take Tylenol. You don't like your boss, you get a new job. You don't like your pastor's style of preaching, you find another church. You can't afford a newer car, what do you do? You borrow. There's always got to be a fix, a solution, a quick solution to this problem.

What about a woman whose husband is insensitive, he's addicted to sports, he doesn't romance her like he did when they were dating? What does she do? Find another man--a man at church or at work, in the community--who cares, who's willing to take time to listen. You see, the supreme objective of men and women in our culture, in our day, is to feel good. And so for many of us as Christians, our view of Christianity is that it's just another way to get our problems solved.

So you just pray, you believe God, and what will happen? You'll have money in the bank. You'll be happy and healthy. Your friend will be cured of cancer. God will send you a husband, you won't be lonely anymore. Or if you are married, in a difficult marriage, your marriage will be salvaged. Your children will get right with God, and you'll get instant victory over sin. You won't have to struggle with bad habits anymore.

Now, wouldn't that be wonderful? But that's not the way that it works, and we all know that's true. And I think that's why so many of us as believers end up disappointed with God. It explains why a lot of us as Christian women, some of us in this room perhaps, are angry and bitter and frustrated with life and with God; because we thought that if we accepted Jesus and tried to live right, that we wouldn't have all these problems. We've been deceived. And if we've been deceived in this way, we're going to end up bitter and frustrated.

Now, I will say this: Living an obedient life, walking with God does spare us from many problems that would be the natural consequence of a life lived apart from God and His ways. But that doesn't mean that those who follow Christ will always be exempt from problems. The truth is that life is hard and becoming a Christian doesn't change that.

Now, it does give us a whole new dimension of redeemed life, but we still as redeemed children of God live in a fallen world. And even as Christians, we live in earthly bodies and we still have our flesh to contend with.

We know it's true, I see some heads nodding in here. As long as you've known the Lord, as mature as you may be in Christ, your flesh--like mine--battles against the spirit of God within us. So we have to deal in this world, in this body, in this flesh, with the realities of temptation, sin, both our own and others'. We have to deal with disease and lust and pain and even death. Becoming a Christian and walking with God does not wrap us up in some kind of heavenly cocoon where we are immune to pain.

We know from God's Word that not until eternity when God brings about a new heaven and a new earth will we be free from the ravages of sin. Only then will we have no more tears, no more pain, no more sorrow, no more pressures, no more problems and no more death. But there is good news for those of us who live in this fallen world as children of God. That is this: that God is not removed or detached from our problems.

In fact, the Psalms tell us that He's a very present help in trouble. Now, that's something you can bank on, that's something you can be sure of; that even in the midst of trouble, which you will have, that God will be present. Now, ultimately true joy is not the absence of pressures or problems, it's the presence of Christ walking with you through the midst of those problems. So God is there.

Now, that doesn't mean that He will wave a magic wand and make all our problems disappear. It does mean that He will use those pressures and problems to mold us, to shape our lives and make us like Jesus. And you know what was true of Jesus? Hebrews tells us even Jesus learned obedience. How? Through the things that you suffer.

Do we think we can become obedient children of God conformed to the image of Christ without walking through suffering ourselves? We want God to fix all our problems. And God says instead "I have a purpose for your problems. I want to use your problems to change you and to reveal my grace and my power to the world."

Think about what it is that's pressing in on your life today, at this season of your life, and for each of us it's probably something different. What is the responsibility, what is the task, what is the challenge, what is the disappointment, the thing you'd really like to see God change?

Maybe you've prayed about it and you have asked God, "Please change that husband. Please change this area of temptation in my life, take it away."

And God says, "I have something better for you. It's called grace. And in your weakness, you will come to experience my power." God is saying, "I have a purpose, an eternal purpose that I am fulfilling in your life in the midst of that problem."

You see, God is more concerned about glorifying Himself and changing me into the likeness of Christ than He is about changing, fixing our problems. God wants to use my problems as a part of His sanctifying purpose in my life. And the truth is, no matter what problem I'm facing, no matter what the issue, no matter how painful, no matter how long it lasts, God's grace is sufficient for me. God's grace is sufficient for you, it's sufficient for me in every single one of those matters.

Leslie Basham: That's Nancy Leigh DeMoss exhorting us to faithfully trust God even in painful situations. Nancy will be back in just a minute to lead us in a final prayer.

All this week Nancy's been confronting lies women believe about God. You can explore the subject deeper by getting a copy of Nancy's book Lies Women Believe and The Truth That Sets Them Free. In it, Nancy points out lies we tend to believe about God, plus lies about topics such as sin, marriage and emotions. We have this book available in our resource center, and it can be yours for a suggested donation of $17. Call us to order, 1-800-569-5959.  Or you can visit our Web site, ReviveOurHearts.com.

Today's program is the last in a series called "Lies Women Believe About God." If you missed any of it, why don't you call and get a copy? The whole series is available on one cassette for a suggested donation of $5. And when you call, ask how you can get our new Quiet Rest Wall Calendar for free.

Perhaps you're experiencing one of those difficult situations that Nancy described today. If you write or call, we'll pray for you and do all we can to encourage you.

Well, what's eating at you lately? Is it your employer's so-called ignorance in passing you by for a promotion, or was it that flippant remark your husband made that has you seething? Regardless of what it is that's been keeping you in knots, listen Monday to hear about the power of forgiveness. To conclude our time, here's Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Father, I want to thank you that you haven't fixed all my problems, you haven't made them all go away. Thank you for areas of my life where I'm so weak and I'm kept in a place of dependence upon You. And I just want to say, "I trust you. I know that you have purposes that I cannot see, and I know that you're working through those problems and pressures and struggles to conform me to the image of Christ. May I not resent or resist or run from those problems, but embrace the cross and let You have your way in my life. Thank you that in the midst of every problem, every pressure, the truth is that your grace is sufficient for me, and that's enough. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.  

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss is a ministry partnership of Life Action Ministries.

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