What do you do when you realize that God's plan is everything you don't want in life?

Questioning Brother

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How do you go on when you realize God's plan is for you to go through EVERY situation you have prayed for decades to avoid? I have lost trust in Him. I don't want his plan. I have literally begged Him for decades to prevent all the problems he has put in my life. (Health issues for my wife, monetary issues, job issues, etc). I don't care what the reward is, it isn't enough. My deepest heart's desire is for all of the problems to be fixed/not happen. I can't bring myself to trust Him again. I also don't care what he has done for others (Job, Joseph, etc). So what do you do?
 

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Some say that these issues, trials, etc. do not come from God. Some say that God, while all powerful, does not act in our lives on a normal course of action. These events are merely happenstance of life, of diseases doing what they do, people acting bad (or good) to us, our own choices bearing fruit, etc. Personally I am in this camp, I do not feel that God is causing nor healing us from the normal life course and actions, they are just life - fair or not.
 
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crossnote

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I then remember...

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
(Rom 8:28-30)
 
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Halbhh

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How do you go on when you realize God's plan is for you to go through EVERY situation you have prayed for decades to avoid? I have lost trust in Him. I don't want his plan. I have literally begged Him for decades to prevent all the problems he has put in my life. (Health issues for my wife, monetary issues, job issues, etc). I don't care what the reward is, it isn't enough. My deepest heart's desire is for all of the problems to be fixed/not happen. I can't bring myself to trust Him again. I also don't care what he has done for others (Job, Joseph, etc). So what do you do?

Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground--because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return."

And we can hardly wait for what is better.

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who i have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8 NIV
(this whole chapter is so good to reread)
 
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Rescued One

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I say that we stop complaining and taking selfish desires to God and start praying the Lord's Prayer.

Hebrews 12 NIV
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
 
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anna ~ grace

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How do you go on when you realize God's plan is for you to go through EVERY situation you have prayed for decades to avoid? I have lost trust in Him. I don't want his plan. I have literally begged Him for decades to prevent all the problems he has put in my life. (Health issues for my wife, monetary issues, job issues, etc). I don't care what the reward is, it isn't enough. My deepest heart's desire is for all of the problems to be fixed/not happen. I can't bring myself to trust Him again. I also don't care what he has done for others (Job, Joseph, etc). So what do you do?
Love and follow Christ anyway.
 
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RaymondG

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After I've done all i can.....spent all my money on physician, to no avail.....worried myself out. I give up....surrender all.... Then I touch the hem.....I stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.

Some times God is waiting for us to turn to Him and then He will run out to meet us. Sometimes we are standing in front of the beam of light, wondering why we can only see darkness.......But if we were to get out of the way....the light will be "a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path"
 
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Sketcher

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How do you go on when you realize God's plan is for you to go through EVERY situation you have prayed for decades to avoid? I have lost trust in Him. I don't want his plan. I have literally begged Him for decades to prevent all the problems he has put in my life. (Health issues for my wife, monetary issues, job issues, etc). I don't care what the reward is, it isn't enough. My deepest heart's desire is for all of the problems to be fixed/not happen. I can't bring myself to trust Him again. I also don't care what he has done for others (Job, Joseph, etc). So what do you do?
I can't say how much of that is actually God's plan for your life vs. other circumstances. But to answer your question, the best thing to do is roll with it. If his plan that you must obey is that bad, his punishment for rebelling against it would be immeasurably worse, in this life or the next.
 
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NothingIsImpossible

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How do you go on when you realize God's plan is for you to go through EVERY situation you have prayed for decades to avoid? I have lost trust in Him. I don't want his plan. I have literally begged Him for decades to prevent all the problems he has put in my life. (Health issues for my wife, monetary issues, job issues, etc). I don't care what the reward is, it isn't enough. My deepest heart's desire is for all of the problems to be fixed/not happen. I can't bring myself to trust Him again. I also don't care what he has done for others (Job, Joseph, etc). So what do you do?
Having eternal life where I can never get sick, never die, never feel depressed...etc sounds like a great reward to me. Now remember when you pray that the answer isn't always yes. Sometimes it's maybe, sometimes its no and sometimes its "Wait".

I find people often confuse what life is supposed to be vs what life is. God does not sit there saying "Ok, Bob over here will be in an accident today." and "Jenny over there will lose her job." Sin exists and this disease, problems and so on exist. Becoming a christian doesn't change our lives into perfection. Now am I saying it's impossible for things to be fixed. No. There are miracles. What I am saying is we have to finish the race and deal with the cards we are dealt. God isn't sitting up there excited to see your wife has health issues or that you are having money issues.

If someone becomes a christian in hopes of all future problems being prevented then they didn't understand what salvation is and what it means to be a christian. And on top of that what is faith? Faith is about trusting in the Lord even though we cannot see Him (for lack of better words, you get my drift). So if someone got saved and every christian had perfect lives where every prayer was answered with a yes, then it wouldn't defeat the point of faith. Faith wouldn't need to exist since it would be obvious He is real by the fact our lives are perfect.

In other words our lives will be hard, but we have to have faith and hope in the Lord in all things. Even when it feels like we are defeated and giving up. Is it easy? No. Do you want to give up at times? Yes. But it is what it is.

I can tell you that over when I came here LOOOOONG ago I was a mess. I hated God, I swore at Him, I said all sorts of evil things about Him. Mind you I was saved at the time. I thought He was a joke and that I'd be better off without some evil creator. Then upon coming here, after many months, I realized there was nothing wrong with God. It was me. I was so deep down in my pit of anger, bitterness, despair...etc that I had blamed God for everything. I didn't realize the blessings I had.

I was alive. I had some money (despite being poor). I had a roof over my head. I had a friend. I had the internet. I had a tv. I had clothes on my back and food in my belly. Yes some of this is trivial. But point is we have SO much but are so used to having certain things that we take them for granted. In my wifes country "street kids" are common place. That is kids with no parents who roam around the streets trying to survive. One time I seen a mother in her underwear and a tank top, her child totally naked. She was laying out a very dirty cardboard box to sleep on with her kid. And yet before that I would complain about how hard my life was. >.<

The minute I changed my life around and starting trying to go to church more, started tithing again, started praying from my heart (not just saying it to say it), started trusting/having faith/hope again the Lord.... my life turned around. No I was not cured of my health issues. No I did not become rich. But I felt good inside. I felt happy. I felt Gods love more than ever. It was amazing.

And ironically God put someone in my life not long after that. And God even provided money to fly to her country to meet and marry her. Money I would have thought impossible to get before. So have faith and hope. Just trust Him. Maybe you will never understand His plan. But as long as you hold out until the end, the reward is worth the suffering these bodies go through. A relationship with Jesus is a relationship in which we may give up on Him at times, but He never gives up on us.
 
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icxn

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A certain stanza from a Greek poem comes to mind, a play on the word φέρω:

Εἰ τό φέρον σέ φέρει,
φέρε καί φέρου˙
εἰ δ’ ἀγανακτεῖς,
καί σαυτόν λυπεῖς
καί τό φέρον σέ φέρει!

Translation:

If what comes about sweeps you away,
bear and be borne along;
If you resist and are vexed,
you bring sorrow upon yourself
and what comes about still sweeps you away!
 
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Reborn1977

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How do you go on when you realize God's plan is for you to go through EVERY situation you have prayed for decades to avoid? I have lost trust in Him. I don't want his plan. I have literally begged Him for decades to prevent all the problems he has put in my life. (Health issues for my wife, monetary issues, job issues, etc). I don't care what the reward is, it isn't enough. My deepest heart's desire is for all of the problems to be fixed/not happen. I can't bring myself to trust Him again. I also don't care what he has done for others (Job, Joseph, etc). So what do you do?

You do still care or you would not be asking the question to begin with, yet, understandably you are frustrated and weary.

I have been around long enough to know (42 years with Jesus, 25 years in fulltime ministry) that quoting Scripture at you is not the answer. I will ask you try to hold on to one Truth, His love for you never fails, if you can do nothing else try to just say to Him, I trust your love...even if I hate my circumstances.
 
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Halbhh

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You do still care or you would not be asking the question to begin with, yet, understandably you are frustrated and weary.

I have been around long enough to know (42 years with Jesus, 25 years in fulltime ministry) that quoting Scripture at you is not the answer. I will ask you try to hold on to one Truth, His love for you never fails, if you can do nothing else try to just say to Him, I trust your love...even if I hate my circumstances.
That's useful, and very convincing to see in scripture, as we see just above at the end of Romans 8 worded better than any of us normally can word it. :)
 
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com7fy8

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If his plan that you must obey is that bad,
Jesus on the cross had what people could call a bad plan, and this because He obeyed God. But, like ones say, we can have trouble because of how we have not obeyed God.

But on the cross, Jesus also had the best He could have > love. He was loving our Father and caring for us. Things were not going His way, but He was loving the right way.
 
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DennisTate

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How do you go on when you realize God's plan is for you to go through EVERY situation you have prayed for decades to avoid? I have lost trust in Him. I don't want his plan. I have literally begged Him for decades to prevent all the problems he has put in my life. (Health issues for my wife, monetary issues, job issues, etc). I don't care what the reward is, it isn't enough. My deepest heart's desire is for all of the problems to be fixed/not happen. I can't bring myself to trust Him again. I also don't care what he has done for others (Job, Joseph, etc). So what do you do?

Sometimes positive literature can encourage us.......
this may help you...... it helped me:


 
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Andrew77

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How do you go on when you realize God's plan is for you to go through EVERY situation you have prayed for decades to avoid? I have lost trust in Him. I don't want his plan. I have literally begged Him for decades to prevent all the problems he has put in my life. (Health issues for my wife, monetary issues, job issues, etc). I don't care what the reward is, it isn't enough. My deepest heart's desire is for all of the problems to be fixed/not happen. I can't bring myself to trust Him again. I also don't care what he has done for others (Job, Joseph, etc). So what do you do?

I never assumed G-d was there to be my magic wishing genie to begin with.

This is life. Life sucks. We live in a sin cursed world.

Even Jesus said "Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?" Luke 13:4

His point was, those people were not worse people than any others, and yet terrible things happened to them.

You remember those Coptic Christians who had their heads cut off by ISIS. Were they worse people than any others? No.

This is simply how life is. Life sucks.

So you asked how do I go on? Heaven has got to be better. It's that simple. It's got to be better.

And there is one other thing.... what is your alternative? You think living without G-d is going to be better? You say you can't trust G-d. Ok, then who do you trust? Yourself? The Devil? Buddha?

Which other belief system, has endless utopia for it's followers? Where is that religion?

Christianity is the only religion that says... this is a sin cursed world, and life is painful. If anything, this is one of the reasons I know Christianity is correct, because it is so honest that..... this place is messed up.

Go read Ecclesiastes. Not a long book. But it's dead on right about this world.
 
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Pavel Mosko

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How do you go on when you realize God's plan is for you to go through EVERY situation you have prayed for decades to avoid? I have lost trust in Him. I don't want his plan. I have literally begged Him for decades to prevent all the problems he has put in my life. (Health issues for my wife, monetary issues, job issues, etc). I don't care what the reward is, it isn't enough. My deepest heart's desire is for all of the problems to be fixed/not happen. I can't bring myself to trust Him again. I also don't care what he has done for others (Job, Joseph, etc). So what do you do?


I have dealt with this sort of problem especially concerning career and making a living. I will list some messages that have helped me in the last few years.

Probably the best piece of advice I can give is to accept those things that are water over the bridge and can't be changed and move on. I also try to see the things that have happened to me, as giving me some kind of cause or ministry for life. I try to help others with the things I have experienced. I try to see my unique challenges through the lens of Faith. These things have equipped me with knowledge, experience and compassion to help others who experience the same general life issues.


Failure | Reasonable Faith





 
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joymercy

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broken by every burden one can imagine, over and over again, I too felt like Job,and like you.

until the complete brokenness brought humility and broke my pride and ego

and He could go in to my soul and renew and remake me

I had to die to myself

He has remade me and He will continue to do so

I have learned to offer up my sufferings for others who have died

and now see a rhyme and a reason for all of the glorious sufferings!

I trust in Him now, and pray to Him for ongoing trust, mercy and submission to His ways

My life is completely different

He can do all of these things-restore, renew and regenerate your spirit

you need to die to self, and open your heart and soul to Him

to do this, you must accept and submit to Him!
 
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