Greed and Its Antidote

A person from Illinois recently won the Mega Millions $1.227 billion jackpot. Normally I don’t pay attention to such news, but an article about various kinds of problems that some big lottery winners have faced caught my eye. Here are some examples of big winners and the problems they have faced:

  • Jack Whittaker won more than $300 million in 2002. Following that big win, his wife left him; in addition, his granddaughter, who had struggled with drug addiction but would have inherited his fortune, died at 17. “My granddaughter is dead because of the money,” he said. He added, “I don’t have any friends.” Thieves robbed Whittaker of hundreds of thousands of dollars, he became mired in various legal battles, and he fell into drinking and gambling. Here’s a telling statement that sums it all up: “Since I won the lottery, I think there is no control for greed. I think if you have something, there’s always someone else that wants it. I wish I’d torn that ticket up.”
  • Marie Holmes won a $188-million jackpot in 2015. However, she soon had to deal with lawsuits from her ex-fiance.
  • William Post III won $16.2 million in 1988. He dealt with various misfortunes, including a lawsuit from a landlord who obtained a third of his jackpot, an assault conviction, and bankruptcy (!). His brother, Jeffrey, was convicted of trying to hire a hitman to kill William and his wife for “monetary gain,” according to police.
  • Abraham Shakespeare won $31 million in 2006. A woman named Dorice Moore was convicted of killing Shakespeare six years later. She owned a medical staffing company which Shakespeare had transferred some real estate holdings to. Shakespeare had previously told his brother, “I’d have been better off broke.”

On the bright side of lottery winners, I recently saw a movie, based on a true story, called Jerry & Marge Go Large. Jerry, Marge, and others in their community manage to game the system, winning millions in the process; they use the money to revive their small town.

In spite of that movie, I still don’t buy lottery tickets, but lest you think I’m picking on those who do, greed can and does manifest itself in many other ways as well. For example, how about the stock market? Do you, like me, have investments that you track? While tracking is wise, it can easily become obsessive, speaking from experience. One way that I have dealt with this is to invest in ETFs, rather than individual stocks. The reason is that even on a bad day in the market, an ETF is, on average, going to lose less than an individual stock; the same, of course, goes for good market days and gains.

In connection with the stock market: When my wife and I were engaged, a couple of college students in a group we were helping lead at our church wondered if it was OK to have an IRA. That got us thinking the same thing. At the time, we had very little, and we were preparing to go overseas for a few years, so this question wasn’t going to affect us immediately. However, we decided at least for ourselves that it was OK, the reason being that we didn’t want to become a financial burden to anyone as we got older. Also at that time, we knew an older couple who had a rather lavish, large home. Initially, I almost felt uncomfortable being in it, but my fiancee explained that they regularly hosted large groups of international students for meals and Bible study. I thought (and still think!) that was fantastic, especially because hospitality was one of our desires as a couple and eventually as a family. At the same time, we discovered, both here and abroad, that we did not need a large apartment or home in order to be hospitable.

Greed shows its ugly face in many contexts; I’ve only mentioned two: lottery tickets and the stock market. One thing I should add is that I’ve noticed, in myself as well as others, that greed manifests itself regardless of age, socioeconomic status, or anything else! I think a good definition of greed is never being satisfied, but always wanting more. So, what is the antidote to greed? As always, the Bible points us in the right direction. Here’s what the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:12: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” In 1 Timothy 6:6, Paul writes, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” Then in verses 9-10, he writes, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” In connection with this, I should add that “the greedy” are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6:10 as people who will not “inherit the kingdom of God.”

In the first two Bible passages above, Paul mentions contentment; he tells us that it doesn’t depend on how much we have, and he conjoins contentment with godliness, telling us that that combination is truly great gain. How can we become more godly and content and thereby combat greed? I have no doubt there is more than one answer to this question, but here’s mine. I mentioned earlier that when my wife and I were engaged, we were preparing to go overseas for a few years. We were with an organization that sent Christian teachers to various Third World countries, and we were dependent on the generous financial and prayer support of brothers and sisters in Christ back in the U.S. It was positively thrilling to watch the financial support pour in, and we were never lacking. Maybe you can guess what else was thrilling when we came back to the U.S. to live and raise our kids: giving financially! There are many ways we have done this, but one way we have especially enjoyed over the years, I suppose even moreso when our kids were young, is sponsoring Third World children. All four of us enjoyed seeing their photos and getting updates on them, as well as sending them cards and occasionally also a special small gift, depending on their age. Giving financially is still one of our favorite things to do. The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 9:7, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Then in verse 11 Paul writes, “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” People have misused this verse to say that God will make everyone rich monetarily, but that is not what it means; regardless of your financial status, you can be generous.

Jesus Himself tells us in Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Let’s be joyfully generous, not serving money but using it as one way to serve God and others, combating greed in the process.

And Justice for All

I grew up watching Gunsmoke, which was a Western set in Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1890s. The “good guys” and the “bad guys” were clearly delineated, and every week justice was meted out by Marshall Matt Dillon and his deputies. As a boy, certainly to some degree because of this show, I grew up with a strong sense of justice–and frankly, a strong desire for it as well.

In my early teens, I spent a good portion of my summers detasseling corn in Iowa; many others and I would gather at the town square/park in Pella, Iowa, and wait for the bus to pick us up and take us out to the fields. Two guys that I got to know were Don and Jerry, who were brothers. Jerry stuttered and got made fun of because of it, especially by a bully who was much bigger than he was. Jerry’s brother Don would always defend him, basically telling him to knock it off. One day, things reached a boiling point, and Don challenged the bully to a fight after work at the town square. Don was strong; however, he was no match for the bully, who was bigger and clearly getting the best of the fight. Like Superman coming to the rescue, our foreman, Steve, saw what was happening and quickly stepped in; he grabbed the bully by the collar and literally shook him from head to toe while saying things like, “Why don’t you pick on somebody your own size!” And then, to top it off, Steve gave one last shake and said to the bully, “You’re fired, and I’d better not see you here again!” Some in the crowd cheered; I did, too, but not loudly because I didn’t want to become the bully’s next target. This incident also instilled in me a strong sense of justice.

I suppose if such an incident happened now, the bully would sue Steve, but thankfully, things were simpler back then. As I read about various events in the news, I do so to a significant degree through the lens of justice. Here are a few stories, some of them ongoing, that have caught my attention.

  • Jose Alba, a New York City bodega employee, is attacked by Austin Simon because his girlfriend’s EBT card was rejected. Alba manages to grab a knife and kill Simon, whose girlfriend then attacks Alba with a knife as well. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg does not charge the girlfriend with anything, but he charges Alba with second-degree murder; Alba is sent to the notorious Rikers Island jail. Eighteen days after Simon’s death, the murder charge against Alba is dropped after a huge public outcry; it seemed like an obvious case of self-defense to everyone except the DA.
  • Unspeakable things continue to happen to women and children at our open southern border; Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas continues to claim that the border is secure even as Border Patrol agents have continued to deal with more than 200,000 migrant encounters a month since March. In connection with this, you may have seen video of the “whipgate” incident last fall, in which a Border Patrol agent supposedly whipped a migrant; an investigation revealed, however, that the supposed “whip” was a rein and that it did not hit the migrant, who had fallen backward into the river. In spite of this, the Biden administration is still threatening action against the agent.
  • Two turnstile jumpers in New York City are told to leave the subway station by police officers. A verbal argument ensues, and then the “jumpers” attack the officers; the male jumper is the one most clearly seen in the video. The jumpers are arrested but are quickly freed under New York’s bail reform law; the male jumper had previously been arrested two other times but also been released.
  • Riley Gaines, University of Kentucky swimmer, has had the courage to speak out against the NCAA, which has allowed Lia Thomas, a trans woman, to compete as a woman. Thomas has “broken records” and eventually tied with Gaines for a national title. Thomas has also been nominated for a “woman of the year” award. Gaines has also spoken out against Thomas’s being allowed to use the women’s locker room: “That’s not something we were forewarned about, which I don’t think is right in any means, changing in a locker room with someone who has different parts.”

Thankfully, in the case of Jose Alba, justice was served, even though it was delayed for a couple weeks. It appeared that in the infamous “whipgate” case, justice had been served, but not so, or at best, only partially. And of course there has been no justice for the ravaged women and children at the border. In the five-day-old case of the turnstile jumpers, a foolish bail reform law has made crime more attractive; if you are so inclined, why not commit the crime, since you’ll be released anyway? Finally, one would hope that sports would be a venue where justice could be done, and for the most part, it still is. However, the NCAA doesn’t have enough courage to prohibit biological men from competing as women if that is how they identify, including sharing a locker room with them; notice the part of the quote above where Gaines refers to Thomas’s “different parts.” That tells you all you need to know about Thomas’s true gender.

In Habakkuk 1:3-4, the prophet cries out to the Lord: “Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.” The context is the wicked people in Israel; the Lord’s answer to Habakkuk is that the wicked Israelites will be punished by the Babylonians. Then Habakkuk cries out to the Lord again, this time asking about the Babylonians and their wickedness; the Lord assures him that the wicked Babylonians will be punished as well.

There are various Psalms, as well, where the Psalmist calls on the Lord to punish the wicked. Psalm 73 is an example; verse 3 says, “For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” However, later in the Psalm, the Psalmist enters the sanctuary of God and realizes what will eventually happen to the wicked in verses 18-19: “Surely, you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!”

How are we to apply these Scriptures to our own lives? Should we, for example, pray against those who are evil? Or should we pray for them? I have sometimes done both, praying that a person will turn from their evil and to faith in Christ, but that in the meantime they will have no peace in their heart; in other words, the lack of inner peace may very well be what turns them to the Lord. Sometimes I have just prayed that they will turn from evil, knowing that if they don’t, the Lord will deal with them. Ultimately, I know that the Lord’s justice will prevail in eternity, regardless of what may happen in this life; those who have trusted and obeyed the Lord will spend eternity with Him in heaven, while those who have not will be apart from Him forever in hell. My prayer for anyone reading this who does not yet know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, is that you will turn to Him in saving faith today.

How Should We Evaluate Near-Death Experiences?

A while back, I came across an article about near-death experiences (NDEs). That was not the first time I had heard or thought about them, but the article eventually spurred me on to research NDEs, especially as they relate to stories of people who claim to have visited heaven.

Let’s start with a definition of NDEs by Alex Orlando, an associate editor for Discover magazine: “While there is no widely accepted definition of NDEs, the term typically refers to the mystical, profound experiences that people report when they are close to death. They’re most common in patients who survive severe head trauma or cardiac arrest.” Often associated with NDEs are out-of-body experiences, or OBEs, in which people later report that their consciousness floated above their body. Roughly 9% of cardiac-arrest survivors have reported an NDE.

As a Christian, I am most interested in NDEs during which people claim to have visited heaven. Perhaps you’ve heard of the book The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven (2010), in which Alex Malarkey (an apt surname, as it turned out) claimed to have visited heaven when he almost died in a car accident in 2004. However, he later recanted his story. When asked why he had fabricated the story, he wrote, “I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention.” Well, it got attention, all right; it was a bestseller. Another book which includes a purported visit to heaven is 90 Minutes in Heaven (2004) by Don Piper, who had been declared dead at the scene of an accident but was revived approximately 90 minutes later. Very little of the book is actually about heaven, and he was actually at the gates of heaven rather than in it. He wrote that he had seen loved ones, been greeted by angelic beings, and heard wonderful music which was hard to describe. There are other books like these as well.

David James, executive director of the Alliance for Biblical Integrity, writes that there are four things that are generally uniform in every NDE account, whether by a Christian or non-Christian: 1) An out-of-body experience; 2) going through a dark tunnel; 3) seeing a bright light or ending up in the presence of a bright, unidentified being; 4) experiencing a feeling of overwhelming and unconditional love and acceptance. However, beyond these four commonalities, not even two of the 25+ accounts that he investigated by people who claimed to be Christians agreed on anything about what they saw and experienced in heaven. James makes the point that if these people actually visited heaven, their accounts should have some similarities in terms of sights and experiences, but they don’t.

Beyond that lack of similarity in these accounts of heavenly visits and whether the details conform with what we know of heaven from the Bible, what has long made me rather skeptical is the lack of accounts about NDEs where people claim to have visited hell. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus said, “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Given that the vast majority of people are not Christians, I would expect a few NDEs that include purported visits to hell. On the other hand, I suppose that for people who may have had such experiences, they would not be eager to report them for a number of reasons. Here’s an interesting quote from a secular source by the aforementioned Alex Orlando: “While euphoric NDEs get the most press, other experiences can be deeply disturbing, dominated by feelings of terror, isolation and agony.” Read that again: terror, isolation, and agony; now that sounds like hell!

In connection with this, several years ago, a sister in a church that we used to attend shared that a relative had died; at the moment of death, he said, “Oh, no! It’s all true!” That was not an NDE, but an actual death; that story has stuck with me. Tangentially related to this is a book called 23 Minutes in Hell by Bill Wiese, who is a Christian; however, what Wiese experienced was not an NDE, but could more properly be called a vision. Whether the Lord actually gave him a vision of hell, only He knows. Click here if you are interested in a post I wrote regarding what the Bible tells us about hell: https://keithpetersenblog.com/2020/07/08/what-will-hell-be-like/

The other main reason I am skeptical about purported visits to heaven is what the Bible tells us–and what it doesn’t. When I first heard about such visits, what came to mind is what the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4: “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know–God knows. And I know that this man–whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows–was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.” Most theologians think that it was Paul himself who was taken to heaven, but notice that he was not permitted to tell about it. The reason is that talking about it would make him proud, as verse 7 tells us; here are the first few words of that verse: “To keep me from becoming conceited.” The book of Revelation gives us a glorious picture of the current heaven in Chapters 4, 5, and 7, plus 11:15-19, 14:1-7, and 19:1-16. (In Chapters 21 and 22:1-6, we also have a description of the new heaven and earth.) What is particularly interesting in the context of this post is Revelation 10:4, which says, “And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.'” You will also find something similar three times in the book of Daniel. The point is that the Lord did not permit the apostle Paul, the apostle John, and the prophet Daniel to write down certain things; shouldn’t Paul’s example, especially, make us cautious about sharing purported visits to heaven?

Another thing I should mention in this regard is that in the Bible, we have ten accounts of people being resurrected. However, only in the case of Jesus are we told anything about what He experienced between His death and resurrection. Shouldn’t this also make us cautious about sharing supposed visits to heaven?

In summary, I am very skeptical of NDE accounts during which the person claims to have visited heaven. To be clear, I don’t discount Don Piper’s NDE, or even whether he believes what he wrote; I only question whether he actually visited heaven. I would frankly be less skeptical of a person who claimed to have visited hell during an NDE; maybe the Lord would allow that in order to bring the person to repentance. From Scripture, we know that the apostle Paul was not permitted to tell or write about his visit to heaven, which should at least make us cautious regarding writing–or possibly even telling–about such an experience. Let’s focus instead on the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ.

If you are reading this and do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that this will be the day you turn to Him in saving faith. Then you will not need to be fearful of death, and you will have eternal life with Him in heaven for all eternity.

How Do You Respond to People Asking for a Handout?

I live in a city with a rather large number of homeless people, and it’s inevitable that you will be approached by someone asking for a handout, often in a parking lot in my experience. Several years ago in a church Sunday school class, the teacher/leader asked us the question in the title of this post. He asked us to share stories of panhandlers that we had encountered. As the stories were told, what emerged was that no one had a plan–including the teacher! What usually happened was that the person being asked for money would feel guilty and thus hand over some money. The other typical response was to ignore the panhandler.

Early on in our marriage, my wife and I talked over what we would do when encountering people requesting a handout and came to some decisions. I’ll relate some encounters that we’ve had which should illustrate those decisions, at least for the most part. The first two happened in other cities, while the others happened in ours.

  • My wife and I encounter a poor-looking man in a touristy area. We have a friendly conversation, and it becomes apparent that he hasn’t had any food or drink yet that day. He indirectly asks us if we would buy him something to drink, so we take him into a nearby cafe and buy him some coffee, then continue the conversation.
  • My son and I have just had lunch, and as we’re walking, we encounter a guy who says he’s hungry. Since I’m carrying a box with leftovers, I hand it over while telling him that the food has my germs. He’s glad to take it anyway.
  • My wife encounters a woman who needs some food. After a conversation, my wife tells her that she will go to a nearby grocery store and get her a few things. When my wife returns with food, the woman says with surprise, “You came back!” (She had had previous conversations with other people who had promised to buy her some food, but who had not returned.) The woman thanks my wife and goes home.
  • A woman comes up to me in a parking lot and asks for money. I’m in a hurry, so I take out a few bucks and say, “So, you’re going to use this for food, right?” (She nods her head.) “You’re not going to spend this on cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs, right?” (She shakes her head.) I give her the cash and say, “Remember, God is watching you.” She looks very startled, and we part.
  • My family and I are in the parking lot of a restaurant. A woman calls out to us. I tell my wife and kids to wait while I talk to her. She says she’s hungry, so I offer to walk over to a nearby fast-food restaurant with her and get her something to eat. She says she would like to eat at the sit-down restaurant that my family and I are about to enter. I shake my head, shrug, and turn around. She leaves the area.
  • My wife encounters a man at a gas station. He says that he needs some money to buy gas so that he can visit his sister. My wife tells him to pull up his vehicle to the pump, and then she’ll buy him a few bucks’ worth. The man hems and haws, and it becomes apparent that he has no vehicle. He goes to another person who is pumping gas. My wife also realizes that she had seen the same man in a nearby parking lot a bit earlier.

I admit that there have been times when I have completely ignored people asking for a handout, but I trust that there are a couple of principles that have emerged from these encounters. First of all, my wife and I always talk to the person. Second, with the exception of the fourth story (I was in a hurry, but I made it clear that I expected her to use the cash to buy food), we don’t hand out money, but we do sometimes buy food for them. My wife usually has a couple of granola bars in her purse as well. We also know people who usually carry a gift card from a fast-food restaurant for such encounters. Third, we don’t give to people who are demanding or lying.

I’m not saying that what my wife and I do (and don’t do) is the “correct” or “best” way, or that we always follow it, but the point is, we have a plan. I met a sister in my early Christian walk who was always willing to give money to people who ask for a handout, no questions asked; while I don’t follow her practice, at least she had a plan! Let’s look at what Scripture has to say in relation to this. In Deuteronomy 15:11, we read, “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.” While this command was given to the Old Testament Israelites, I have no doubt that it applies to us as well. It also goes beyond giving handouts to people we encounter on the street; let’s be wisely generous in giving to organizations as well.

Trusting the Lord When You Have No Control

I think it’s safe to assume that everyone has been in situations where you have no control, some more significant than others. When we who are Christians find ourselves in such circumstances, we have a choice: we can succumb to fear, anxiety, worry, and the like–or we can pray in the Lord’s will and trust Him for the outcome, no matter what it may be. I will give two examples from my own life, but first, let’s look at some Bible verses having to do with trust.

One of the more well-known pair of verses about trust is Proverbs 3:5-6, which says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.” Notice especially the phrase “lean not on your own understanding;” in other words, we need wisdom, which the Lord invites us to ask Him for in James 1:5.

Here is another verse that I came across many years ago, tucked into the genealogies in 1 Chronicles 5:20; I’ll quote just the second sentence of it: “He answered their prayers, because they trusted in him.” Even though the context is the Israelites’ asking the Lord for help in battle, I believe this applies to us as well. On the other hand, when we read the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3, we notice these important words in what they say to the king before they are thrown into the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:18): “But even if He does not [rescue us], we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Now there is trust! Those three young men knew that even if the Lord chose to let them die in the fiery furnace, they would be with Him in heaven. (As it turned out, they were not even harmed.)

Finally, here’s another verse that’s tucked away, this time in the book of Nahum. Chapter 1 verse 7 says: “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.” Yes, the Lord is a refuge and takes care of those who trust Him!

Many years ago, when I was working in a Third World country, I got a letter from the head of a missions organization who wanted to visit me; he would be accompanied by an interpreter. (A little background: I was in the country partly under this organization’s auspices, but as an English teacher, not a missionary; this country did not even allow missionaries. However, we could talk to our students and others about the Lord, church, and the like if they raised such questions; that didn’t happen during class, but sometimes did when they visited me in my dorm room.) I replied that was fine, but that we should not meet on my college campus; the reason was that everyone would notice, and then I would have to explain to my college leaders who the visitors were.

When the visitors arrived in my city, it became apparent that our taxi was on the way to my college campus. I reminded them that we should not go there, but they brushed it off; they wanted to get a look at my surroundings and meet my fellow American teachers, who were also believers.

After my visitors left, my fellow believing friends and I prayed for protection because we all knew that I would be called in to meet with the college officials, and I was determined not to lie to them. Admittedly, the worst that could happen to me was that I would be kicked out of the country, but I had longer-term plans to teach there; my fellow believers would also then face “grilling.” Sure enough, a couple days later, I was called in, and after some pleasantries over tea, the conversation went like this:

  • Official: Mr. Petersen, we noticed you had visitors recently. How do you know them?
  • Me: One of them is a friend of my father’s.
  • Official: And what does your father do?
  • Me: He’s retired.

In case you’re wondering, yes, one of the visitors was someone my father knew, and yes, my father was retired; he had been a pastor. Notice they did not ask what my father had done before retirement, which would have also raised suspicion; much more significantly, they did not ask me what my visitors did for a living! You can imagine the celebration and praise to God that erupted when I told my believing friends what had happened!

There are other stories that I could tell about the Lord’s provision for me in that country as well, but let me illustrate with another situation that was out of my control in the U.S. One afternoon when my daughter (now 27) was in kindergarten, I got a confusing call from her; she sounded very happy, but she asked why I hadn’t picked her up; I asked her if she was in the school office, and she said that she was “playing with a girl.” To my horror, I realized that it was a minimum day, meaning she had gotten out of school an hour early. I asked my daughter where she and the other girl were, but she giggled, and when I asked her to put her friend or her friend’s mom on the phone, she hung up. Now I was really concerned because we did not have caller ID on our landline; if I had been thinking more clearly, I could have dialed *69. Anyway, as I got in the car, I thanked the Lord that my daughter had remembered our phone number and asked Him to help me find her. I figured she would be playing in a neighborhood near her school, and sure enough, it didn’t take long; I saw her, her friend, and a cop in a yard. (I’m not sure who called the cop; there was no other adult there.) My daughter laughed, said “Daddyyyy,” and ran into my arms, while the cop gently chewed me out a bit. You can imagine the praise to the Lord that erupted in my heart!

I can certainly recall other times when the Lord didn’t answer my prayer as I would have liked, but here’s another aspect of trust, perhaps the most fundamental one: I need to trust Him to always do what is best, even if I don’t understand it at the time; for me, this is the hardest part of trust, and I certainly don’t always do it immediately. However, there have been plenty of times where He has blessed me with understanding later; I have seen how much better the Lord’s plans are than mine. I believe He will do the same for you if you trust Him.