What Displeases Us Sometimes Pleases God
In today’s Devotion, Dianna Hobbs teaches how to bless the Lord when God’s will differs from our prayers. Drawing on her Aunt Mattia’s final season, Jacob’s crossed hands in Genesis 48 and David’s vow in Psalm 34:1, she shows how to keep praising at all times.
Credit:Yuri/Your Daily Cup of Inspiration
In March 2018, I sat with my Aunt Mattia near the end of her battle with ovarian cancer. She had already told the family she was tired and ready for her heavenly reward. We all loved her and selfishly wished she could stay with us always, yet we knew we had to let her go. Her body was weak and weary, and her faith held firm to the very end.
It all began with a dream. One night, God showed me that Aunt Mattia was seriously ill. I saw her gravesite, and the Lord told me she needed to go to the hospital.
God often speaks to me through prophetic dreams, so I pay close attention. When Aunt Mattia got the message, she responded with haste. My cousins had been urging her to see a doctor for some time, and she had been refusing.
“I believe the word of the Lord out of your mouth,” she told me afterward. “When He said it to you, I knew I needed to go to the doctor.”
At the emergency room, her abdomen was so swollen she looked pregnant. Days later, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. One of the doctors told her the cancer had likely spread everywhere, even to her brain, and nothing could be done. My cousin Felicia, who was at her side, broke down.
My faith-filled aunt took that bad report to the Lord. The final results showed the cancer was Stage 3 and contained. Not long after, she was declared cancer-free. Our whole family rejoiced.
Months later, I had another dream. The cancer had returned, and Aunt Mattia came to me looking worn down. “I’m tired,” she said. Once again, the dream was prophetic.
In early 2018, I preached in our city. Aunt Mattia was frail and feeling faint, yet she told Felicia she had to come hear me preach the Gospel again. “This might be my last time ever hearing her,” she said.
That night, the power of God fell. I prayed for Aunt Mattia, and God gave her strength. She danced before the Lord. After the service, she grabbed my hand and said, “Whatever happens, I’m not worried now.”
A few weeks later, the Holy Spirit woke me in the wee hours and told me to pray for the family and prepare for her transition.
When I visited her in hospice that March, Aunt Mattia drifted in and out of sleep as gospel music played softly in the background. She could hardly keep anything on her stomach, yet hopelessness and fear had no hold on her.
“God is able,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I’m just tired. I’m too weak to fight.”
I told her to rest. Her healing would not come on this side of Heaven, and we accepted that. As a family, we said yes to God’s plan to give Aunt Mattia the ultimate healing.
Aunt Mattia, whose full name was Mattie Mae Bryant, went home to be with the Lord on March 28, 2018.
That season brought Jacob to mind. In Genesis 48, as Jacob lay on his deathbed, Joseph brought his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to receive their grandfather’s blessing.
By custom, the greater blessing went to the firstborn, given with the right hand. Joseph placed Manasseh, the older boy, near Jacob’s right hand and Ephraim near his left. Jacob crossed his arms, laying his right hand on Ephraim’s head and his left on Manasseh’s. According to tradition, this was all wrong.
Joseph was displeased and tried to move his father’s hand. Jacob refused. The switch was intentional. Ephraim, the younger brother, would be greater. Both boys would still be blessed, just in a way Joseph never expected.
Hebrews 11:21 KJV remembers that moment as an act of faith: “By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.” Like Aunt Mattia, he spent his final strength in worship.
Friend, those crossed hands show us what the sovereignty of God looks like. He will switch up our plans and do things in unconventional ways. Whether we like it or not, whether we prefer it or not, what displeases us sometimes pleases God.
As Isaiah 55:9 NIV says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Part of spiritual maturity is accepting the will of God in all things. Saying yes to Him comes easily when things go our way. God also wants our yes and our praise when He leads us down a path we don’t prefer.
To remind you what to do when His sovereignty trumps your preference, I’m stirring the words David declared in Psalm 34:1 KJV as the sweetener in your cup of inspiration: “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
The Hebrew word translated “times” is et, meaning a season or appointed time. Solomon uses the same word in Ecclesiastes 3:2 KJV: “A time to be born, and a time to die.” David’s vow covers every one of those seasons.
As you drink down the contents of your cup, remember that David wrote this psalm while hungry and on the run from jealous King Saul. Its heading ties it to the day he pretended to be insane before a Philistine king to escape with his life (1 Samuel 21). He chose to bless the Lord anyway.
When it doesn’t feel good, choose praise. When His sovereignty produces difficult results, worship Him anyway. At all times, He is yet good and worthy.
Now let’s pray.
God, please help me to bless Your name in good times and bad. Whether the outcome is positive or negative, I know You are sovereign and never make a mistake. I declare in every season that You are faithful, and You do all things well. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
