When Life Doesn’t Turn Out As Planned

During this fast she was hoping to increase her fitness and reduce her waist line.

Psalm 43:1-5

Reference: Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. (Psalm 43:5 NIV)

Explore: A good friend of mine recently did a February fast. Over the month of February she committed to attending her cross-fit class regularly and limited her diet.

Her daily food intake was similar to that of the paleo diet with minimal alcohol. During this fast she was hoping to increase her fitness and reduce her waist line.

I caught up with her half way through February and was interested to hear her progress. While she had found the diet very challenging, she had stuck with it.

Unfortunately, there had been no change on the scales. To be honest, if I had sacrificed that much and not seen any result, I would have thrown in the towel.

But not my mate. She was disappointed but determined to keep going. She knew that the exercise and diet were doing her good and she didn’t want to let herself down by giving up.

I was so impressed. Her commitment motivated me to go the extra mile with my own health regime.

Application: So often we only proceed with things if we are getting a direct result. As soon as people’s weight loss plateaus, they give up their gym membership.

When someone’s job is no longer satisfying, they give up and look for a new employer. Likewise, when people stop feeling a closeness to God, they give up and find a new spiritual experience.

But I don’t believe that church, or even God for that matter, is there to serve us so that we’re always feeling at the peak of our spirituality. That’s where our faith kicks in.

Faith means that we are committed even when life gets busy or we don’t get the answer we were expecting. The psalmist was committed to praising God even when his heart was downcast. He didn’t wait until everything was perfect, he worshiped regardless.

Let’s not be the type of Christian who only praises God when everything is going our way. Let’s put our faith first and praise God because He is always worthy.

Prayer: Lord God, we praise You for You are indeed great. You have given us breath, and with it we will honour You today. Amen.

What can you praise God for today?

diet, exercise, faith, fast, feelings, praise, Psalm