Each of us, at some point in our lives, has experienced deep disappointments when things just didn’t work out as we had hoped or expected, and perhaps we were tempted to wonder what went wrong or why our prayers seemed to go unanswered. There may have been times when we were committed to something that we were personally convinced was God’s will and trusted that He would bless our efforts. We prayed sincerely for His guidance and support, but then for some reason, our plans failed, and things just didn’t work out as we had hoped.
Even when we can see the obvious reasons and adverse circumstances that explain why something didn’t work out, as Christians the question this can give rise to is, “But, Lord, I thought this was Your will! So why didn’t You intervene miraculously and make everything work out anyway? Why did this fail when I committed it to You in prayer?” It’s easy at such times to become discouraged or to second-guess ourselves or even to question God.
Such feelings of disappointment and discouragement are very real, and it can be difficult to understand why things happened and what went wrong. Why did God allow it to fail? The answer for those who have put their trust in the Lord and His Word is that God never fails. If things go awry or don’t turn out as we had hoped, we have to trust that either we missed the mark in some way or God has a different plan. But even if this is the case, as we continue to follow and obey the Lord, we can trust that all things will still work together for good for us (Romans 8:28).
Good purposes and projects sometimes fail—even when we are doing them for the right motives and are committing them to God and seeking His will and guidance. At times when it seems like the Lord isn’t answering our prayers, it’s important to remember that God knows what will ultimately bring about the best results in our lives and those of others. His Word says: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9).
Even when everything seems to be going according to plan and leading toward what we had been praying for, we still have to walk by faith and be faithful to do out part and trust Him for the outcome. This is often the case when sharing the good news of the gospel with others. The Lord may bring a person our way who is searching for God and place a strong compulsion in our heart to speak to them about Jesus. But it is in our court to be faithful to act so that we can give them the opportunity to know Him, and then trust in God to work in that person’s life.
An example of the importance of faithfulness to do our part to accomplish God’s will is found in the New Testament in the book of Acts. Philip the evangelist had been preaching God’s Word in Samaria (Northern Israel) when “an angel of the Lord said to him, ‘Rise, and go toward the south, to the highway that goes from Jerusalem to the desert country of Gaza’” (Acts 8:26). God was planning to do something of tremendous importance, and His plan was to use Philip to do it. The Bible says Philip responded in obedience. “And he arose and went.”
When he arrived at the highway, there was “a man of great authority, the chief treasurer of Queen Candace of Ethiopia” (Acts 8:27). This Ethiopian dignitary believed in God, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was now returning to Ethiopia. As he rode in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah 53, the prophetic chapter written 500 years before Jesus was born, which predicted His life and death with amazing accuracy. This was God’s perfect setup, but Philip had a role to play in the fulfillment of God’s plan.
“Then the Holy Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over and join his chariot!’” (Acts 8:29). Philip could have responded by saying, “Wait a minute, I’d better think this over. He’s an important foreign official, and look at all those armed guards around him. If I go up to the official’s chariot, I could get in real trouble. I might even get killed!” But instead, the Bible says, “So Philip ran to him.” He ran straight up to the chariot and asked the chief treasurer, “Do you understand what you are reading” (Acts 8:30)?
The Ethiopian confessed that he didn’t, and asked Philip to explain it to him, which Philip gladly did. As a result, he was converted and became a Christian (Acts 8:35–39). And because he was a man of great authority and influence, he was instrumental in converting the nation of Ethiopia to Christianity, all of which was made possible by Philip’s faithfulness to follow God’s plan.
At times when our prayers don’t seem to be answered or things seemingly fail, it can be a test of our faith to trust in God and that He is working in the situation. That’s when the “God factor” comes into play. When making plans, we have to remember that God is sovereign, and His plans and purposes will be fulfilled. He is able to work in seemingly impossible situations and make things happen that are far beyond our abilities. That’s the God factor in the equation.
We may believe that God is going to do something and follow the general direction that He leads us, but when it comes down to the crunch, we have to trust in Him. If we walk by faith, the Bible says that all things are possible with God (Matthew 19:26), and He can act on our behalf in answer to our prayers to accomplish His will and plan. But without faith, we can’t accomplish His good purposes, because “without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
Of course, sometimes circumstances may not appear to be “just right.”—New factors may have entered the equation, and the outlook for accomplishing what we had hoped to achieve may look uncertain. At such times, our faith can get tested, and in the process we learn to trust that “God is faithful” (1 Corinthians 10:13), and He will guide us to His good, acceptable and perfect will (Romans 12:2). We learn to pray as Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
No matter how things look in the present, we know that God never fails. He is with us and He is the one who “works in us to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13 NIV). He is the one who has promised to work all things together for good in the lives of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). For God has “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).
If you have not yet experienced God’s love and faithfulness in your life, you can begin now by praying this simple prayer:
Dear Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God and that You died for me. Thank You! Please come into my heart, forgive my sins, and give me eternal life. Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I want to learn to trust You and know that You are faithful and will cause all things to work together for good for me because I love You. In Your Name I pray. Amen.