WHEN GOD TURNS HIS BACK ON YOU

HAVE YOU EVER PRAYED TO GOD WHEN YOUR NEED WAS DESPERATE AND FOUND THE DOOR SLAMMED IN YOUR FACE? I HAVE!

BELOW IS AN EXCERPT FROM MY BOOK DESCRIBING A TIME GOD TURNED HIS BACK ON ME … OR DID HE?

I have been told by many that my book is one of the most helpful they’ve ever read, because it is brutally honest. My non-profit org sells it at a loss. Consider giving it to someone who needs to be reminded they are not alone or forgotten, and that God will deliver them in His way and time.

BELOW IS THE EXCERPT:

We kept praying that Bryson would make a dramatic recovery. Countless people from churches throughout our area prayed for him. He was now in therapy every day, but not making much progress. At three years old, he still couldn’t sit for more than a few seconds before falling over. He drooled profusely, and he still couldn’t speak. Where was this dramatic recovery that we could all praise God for? …

As reality continued its relentless assault it seemed God had left for a long vacation, neglecting to leave a forwarding address. C.S. Lewis shared a similar view after his wife died of cancer:

“Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him… you will be – or so it feels – welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become.” C.S. Lewis – A Grief Observed

It’s a good thing that the Bible tells us to walk by faith and not by sight. The stress and exhaustion wore us down again and again, and it remained difficult to see or feel a whole lot to be positive about. My faith often resembled Peter’s experience as He took His eyes off the Lord and began to sink into the waves. As the raging storm intensified, the waves captivated my focus, and my attention.

WHEN TROUBLES MULTIPLY

I used to believe the myth that God never gives us more than we can handle. The enemy has done a good job passing this deception along in American Christian culture. Too often we seek a “faith” geared toward success in life through our own effort, without God.

God’s definition of success is quite different. Knowing and loving God, trusting and obeying Him, these are the values of success Scripture exhorts us toward as followers of Christ. These values are fostered through the study of God’s Word, and by persevering through tests and trials the Lord brings our way in order to bring us to the point of total dependence upon Him.

When this story began, I was a young, hot shot real estate executive. I was living the Christian life the best I knew how, but with a great deal of ignorance about God’s methods and ways. As I write this book, I can assure you that I still have a long way to go in my Christian walk. But having tasted that the Lord is good, and that His ways are right, I wouldn’t ever turn back to ignorance. The lessons have been extremely painful, but Scripture couldn’t be clearer that this is the way the Lord told us it would be.

“The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests hearts.” Proverbs 17:3

“Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” Is. 48:10

As those “tests” ensued in my life, God seemed to be responding to my prayers, not with the solutions I sought, but by giving us even more problems to deal with. It was almost as if God were saying, “Now let’s see. The Milazzo’s are struggling pretty badly now. Perhaps I’ll overwhelm them with a few more problems. That’s it! I’ll hit them while they’re down.” Don’t tell me you haven’t felt this way. The fact that most of you (at least the honest ones) have felt this way is the reason I’ve written this book. C.H. Spurgeon expressed this same sentiment with more eloquence than I just did:

“When troubles multiply, and discouragements follow each other in long succession, like Job’s messengers, then too, amid the perturbation of soul occasioned by evil tidings, despondency despoils the heart of all its peace. Constant dripping wears away stones, and the bravest minds feel the fret of repeated afflictions… Accumulated distresses increase each other’s weight; they play into each other’s hands, and like bands of robbers, ruthlessly destroy our comfort. Wave upon wave is severe work for the strongest swimmer. The place where two seas meet strains the most seaworthy keel. If there were regulated pauses between the buffetings of adversity, the spirit would stand prepared; but when they come suddenly and heavily, like the battering of great hailstones, the pilgrim may well be amazed. The last ounce is laid upon us, what wonder if we for awhile are ready to give up the ghost!”

Over time, who among us has not felt “ready to give up the ghost,” especially when we are hit by new waves of suffering before we’ve been able to get up from the last that swept our legs out? This is real life for Christian and non-Christian alike. If we Christians have no answer for this other than to smile and pretend we are always “fine,” why should the world listen to us? Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. We don’t need to be glum sad sacks, always down in the mouth about something. But Like Lewis and Spurgeon, we do need to be honest about our pain when we are crushed by life’s sorrows. And in our honesty, we need to remember something about God’s honesty, and His ultimate provision for all who dare to trust Him.

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” JESUS – John 16:33

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.” Psalm 34:18-19