When life does not go our Way

Read Isaiah 55.

How disappointing and disillusioning it is when life does not go the way we wanted.  The sense of confusion causes some to put their spiritual lives on hold.  Some blame God for their hurt and never come to a place of healing.  Others use such hurt and confusion as an excuse to reject that there is a God.  Certainly, there is not one who cares about them.

One of primary concepts about the God of the Bible is found in verses 8 and 9.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

We have our plans.  God has His.  We have our thoughts on how things should be.  God has His.  So, the question is, "Whose thoughts and plans are correct?  Whose thoughts and plans lead to a life of complete fulfillment-our ways or God's?"  Do we possess such arrogance to think for moment that we know better than the One who made us and knows every detail of our lives?

Isaiah 53:6 describes the problem: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one-to his own way."  That going our own way, wanting our plans instead of the LORD's, is the definition of sin in that chapter and is what put Jesus on the cross.

How can we experience a truly fulfilled life?
1. Come to the LORD. (vv.1-5)
Every person has a spiritual thirst, a lack of satisfaction, inside them.  We naturally try to fill that void with other things, or people, or activity.  In John 4, Jesus met a Samaritan woman who was thirsty, inside and out.  She tried to find satisfaction by going from one relationship to another.  He offered her eternal life so she would "never be thirsty again."
"Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live." (v.3)

2. Seek the LORD. (v.6a)
People search for life-meaning, life-guidance, self-improvement in every place but the one source that guarantees eternal results.  Repeatedly in the Old Testament and in the New, we are told to seek God.  Most people who have become disillusioned or rejected God have never read the Bible or sought to understand it's message.
"...he rewards those who seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)
"...those who seek me diligently find me." (Proverbs 8:17)

3. Call upon the LORD. (v.6b)
The rest of this verse includes, "...while he is near."  The Holy Spirit pursues us and prompts us to come to the LORD and seek Him for filling that spiritual emptiness inside.  It is perilous presumption to put off an immediate response to God.  His offer of forgiveness, cleansing of our past, and eternally securing our future is available now.
"Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts..." (Hebrews 3:7)