09/05/2026
There are times in life when we pray with a pretty clear idea of how we think God should answer. We know what door we want opened, what problem we want fixed, what relationship we want restored, or what opportunity we hope comes through. Sometimes, without even realizing it, we can start praying less like we are asking God for help and more like we are handing Him the plan we have already written.
Then God does something completely different.
Ephesians 3:20 says that God “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” That does not mean God is promising to give us everything we want or make every situation turn out exactly the way we hope. What it does mean is that God is not limited by what we can see, imagine, or understand.
That is important because our perspective is small. We see the immediate problem, the closed door, the delay, the disappointment, or the change we did not ask for. God sees the whole picture. We are looking at one chapter while He already knows the entire story.
Joseph is a great example of that. As a young man, I doubt he imagined that the path God would use in his life would include betrayal by his brothers, being sold into slavery, being falsely accused, and ending up in prison. None of that looked like progress. In fact, from Joseph’s perspective, it probably looked like his life was moving farther and farther away from anything good.
Yet years later, when Joseph finally stood in a position of authority, he was able to look back and say to his brothers in Genesis 50:20, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.” Joseph did not pretend that what happened to him was okay. His brothers had sinned against him, and he really did suffer. What he recognized was that God was still able to work through what had happened and accomplish something Joseph could never have planned for himself.
Sometimes God surprises us by opening a door we never expected. Sometimes He surprises us by closing one we were sure was right for us. Sometimes He answers the prayer exactly the way we hoped, and other times we look back years later and realize we are grateful He did not.
That can be difficult when you are still in the middle of it. We tend to assume that if God is working, we should be able to see clear evidence of it. We want movement. We want answers. We want the pieces to start fitting together.
But Scripture is full of people who had no idea what God was doing while He was doing it.
Ruth was simply trying to survive. She went into a field to gather leftover grain so she and Naomi could have food. She probably did not wake up that morning thinking her entire future was about to change. She was simply doing what she could with what was in front of her.
Then she ended up in the field of Boaz.
What looked like an ordinary day became part of something much bigger. God used that season not only to provide for Ruth but to weave her into a story that would eventually lead to King David and, generations later, to Jesus.
That is one of the things I love about the way God works. He does not always need dramatic moments to accomplish meaningful things. Sometimes His surprises come through ordinary conversations, unexpected people, a change in plans, a delay, a job you did not think you wanted, or a season you would have never chosen for yourself.
Most of the time, we recognize those things better looking backward than we do while we are living through them.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” That verse speaks directly to this because our understanding is limited. God’s is not.
That does not mean we should stop planning or stop making wise decisions. Scripture does not teach us to live carelessly. We should pray, seek counsel, prepare, and use wisdom. But we should also remember that our plans are not the final word.
Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.”
There are things in life that may not make sense when they happen. Something falls apart. A door closes. A relationship changes. A plan you thought was solid suddenly disappears. You pray, and the answer does not come the way you expected.
It is okay to be disappointed. Faith does not require us to pretend that disappointment does not hurt. The Psalms are full of people honestly telling God when they were confused, afraid, frustrated, or brokenhearted.
But disappointment does not mean God has abandoned the story.
There is a big difference between saying, “I do not understand what God is doing,” and saying, “God is not doing anything.” Most of the time, the truth is simply that we cannot see enough yet.
The disciples experienced that at the cross. From their perspective, everything had fallen apart. Jesus had been crucified. Their hopes seemed dead with Him. In Luke 24, some of them said, “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.”
You can hear the disappointment in those words. They had hoped for one outcome, and now they believed the story was over.
But it was not over.
The resurrection showed them that God had been accomplishing something far greater than they understood, even through the event that looked like total defeat.
That does not mean every disappointment in our lives will suddenly turn into some dramatic success story. We should be careful not to turn Christianity into the idea that every setback guarantees a better job, more money, or the exact happy ending we want. Our hope is deeper than that.
Romans 8:28 tells us that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” It does not say that all things are good. It says God is able to work through all things according to His purpose.
That is where trust comes in.
Maybe you are in a season right now where something does not make sense. Maybe a plan did not work. Maybe a door closed. Maybe you are still waiting on something you have prayed about for a long time.
You may not know what God is doing yet, but that does not mean He is absent.
Sometimes the answer looks different than the prayer. Sometimes the blessing takes a route you never would have chosen. Sometimes God protects you through something you originally thought was a disappointment. Sometimes He gives you exactly what you asked for, and sometimes, in His wisdom, He gives you something you never would have thought to ask for.
So make your plans. Pray boldly. Ask God for what is on your heart. But hold your expectations with open hands.
Leave room for God to surprise you.
You do not have to understand every turn in the road to trust the One who sees the whole journey.
And even when the story looks nothing like what you expected, God is still God, and He is still faithful.
