Somewhere around the age of ten, I was sure that all I wanted and needed in life was this pair of green and purple Nike tennis shoes I had been eyeing at the mall for months. My parents were made well aware that this item was at the top of my Christmas list and if that couldn’t be arranged then I would gladly receive the shoes for my birthday just three months later in March. As Christmas approached, my mother and I were back at the mall shopping for gifts, and I couldn’t let the opportunity pass to visit the Buster Brown shoe store and once more try on the coveted Nike’s. As this plan was not on the agenda, I pleaded with my mother to go, and the more she resisted the whinier I became. She finally agreed to let Buster Brown’s be our last stop before heading home but was adamant about not buying the shoes for me that night.
Once in the store with the Nike’s on my feet, the temptation to beg was just too great to resist. I then did what all mothers dread and made a loud public expression of how badly I wanted those shoes and the unfairness I felt for not getting them right then. Oh, the wrath I deservingly incurred. While I didn’t get the Nike’s that night, I was awarded the nice parting gift of getting popped and scolded for my behavior. What I didn’t know then but would learn only a few short weeks later, was that my parents had already bought me the Nike’s, it was only a matter of waiting for Christmas to receive them.
Though I was happy to get those shoes, I remember feeling foolish for how I had acted when I thought my mother was holding out on me. How this scenario is often true of our relationship with God! At times when something we have asked of Him isn’t given as quickly as we would like, or when from our limited perspectives we understand a situation only in part, we can act as immature children towards our Father, demanding our way and screeching of perceived unfairness. The writer of Psalm 73 spoke from personal experience as he wrote, “When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You” (vv. 21-22). Like me, once the Psalmist gained a truer understanding of his situation, he realized how foolish his behavior and lack of trust in God’s goodness had been. He remained confident, however, of God’s continued love as he further wrote, “Yet I am always with You; You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with Your counsel, and afterward You will take me into glory” (vv. 23-24).
If this too has been true for you, if it is true for you even today, while God does discipline His children (Hebrews 12:7-11), know that any more than my mom not leaving me behind at Buster Brown’s that time (though no one would have blamed her if she had), and God not checking out on the Psalmist, your Father has surely not disowned you either (Deuteronomy 31:6; Hebrews 13:5). And as my parents knew my desire with those shoes but had a set time for me to receive them, so too Jesus says, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11) Let us then hold tightly to the promises of our Father, being more willing with each day to put our weight down on His proven goodness and faithfulness. He won’t let us down, and who knows that our “Christmas” may just around the corner!