When God's Salvation Doesn't Look Like You Expected

We've all been there—standing in the gap between what we thought our life would look like and the reality we're actually living. Maybe you followed all the rules, showed up when you were supposed to, prayed the prayers, and yet here you are, wondering why God's plan feels so different from what you imagined.

Your career hasn't turned out the way you hoped. Your marriage is struggling despite doing everything "right." Your family dynamics are broken in ways you never anticipated. And somewhere in the middle of it all, you're left asking: Did God's plan fail? Did I do something wrong? Or is God not who He says He is?

Daniel's Dark Night of the Soul

The prophet Daniel found himself in exactly this place. After receiving powerful visions from God about the restoration of His people—promises that they would return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple after seventy years of exile—Daniel watched those promises seemingly crumble before his eyes.

God's people had finally been given permission to return home and rebuild. This wasn't just about a building or a location; Jerusalem and the temple represented the physical manifestation of God's presence and His promises. This was everything they had been waiting for.

But when they arrived, everything fell apart. Fewer people wanted to return than expected—Babylon had become comfortable. Those who did go back faced fierce opposition. Enemies hired lobbyists to convince the Persian emperor that the Jews were planning a rebellion. The emperor issued a decree: stop the work.

Daniel, now in his eighties, had received miraculous visions of salvation and restoration. Yet here he was, watching God's promises collapse in real-time. His response? He mourned for three weeks.

The Practice of Seeking Over Striving

Here's what's remarkable about Daniel's response: he didn't try to fix the problem.

Think about who Daniel was. He held a cabinet-level position in the Persian government. He had connections, influence, and power. He could have pulled strings, made phone calls, arranged for certain people to have "accidents." He could have leveraged every resource at his disposal to force the outcome he wanted.

But he didn't.

Instead, Daniel did two things: he fasted and he prayed.

This pattern appears throughout Scripture. When Jesus sought His Father, He fasted and prayed. It's the consistent response of God's people when faced with circumstances beyond their control.

Fasting isn't about punishing ourselves. Daniel fasted to align himself with the suffering of God's people and to awaken his soul to the reality of his mourning. In a culture that constantly tells us to numb our pain—to scroll, consume, indulge, distract—fasting moves in the opposite direction. It removes the barriers that numb our souls to spiritual reality.

And he did this during a season of religious celebration, no less. Imagine fasting during Christmas. That's the level of spiritual intentionality Daniel brought to this moment.

When God Shows Up

After three weeks of fasting and prayer, Daniel had a vision. He saw a man clothed in linen with a belt of fine gold, his body like beryl, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like burnished bronze. The description matches the way Jesus is described in the book of Revelation—scholars agree this was a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ Himself.

When Daniel encountered this presence, he was completely overwhelmed. He fell to the ground, unconscious, unable to move or speak.

Here's what's beautiful: Jesus didn't give Daniel a five-step plan. He didn't make all the problems go away. He didn't even explain everything that was happening. He simply showed up.

God entered into Daniel's brokenness by giving him His presence.

This is the most powerful act of transformation available to us: encountering the presence of God. We're not transformed by following more rules or working harder for God. We're transformed by coming face-to-face with His holiness and love.

The Spiritual Battle We Don't See

Then something fascinating happened. An angel appeared to Daniel and said something utterly shocking: "I'm sorry I'm late. I was fighting the demon in charge of the Persian kingdom for twenty-one days. I needed Michael, another angel, to come help me."

Wait—what? Angels fighting demons? Spiritual warfare over earthly kingdoms?

This reveals a critical truth: we are living in a world with spiritual realities at work. The disconnect between the salvation we expected and the world we're living in isn't just a practical problem—it's a spiritual problem.

Satan actively works against God's plan for salvation. Evil is real, and it hates God's creation.

But notice what Daniel didn't do. He didn't start making charts about who might be working for Satan. He didn't play guessing games about which political leaders were demonic agents. He simply kept his eyes focused on the God who has dominion and power over all forces of evil.

Our Response to Unmet Expectations

So what do we do when we find ourselves in Daniel's position—when God's picture of salvation doesn't match our reality?

First, we seek God's presence over striving for results. We resist the temptation to fix everything ourselves or to numb the pain through endless distraction. Instead, we intentionally create space through practices like fasting and prayer.

What's getting in the way of you being spiritually aware right now? Maybe it's social media, entertainment, work, or even good things that have become distractions. What would it look like to intentionally fast from those things and create space for God?

Second, we need a plan for prayer. When things aren't going well, if we don't have a plan, we won't pray. It's that simple. What does your prayer life actually look like? Not what you wish it looked like, but what is your actual plan for consistently seeking God's presence?

Third, we recognize the spiritual nature of our struggles. We're not just dealing with difficult circumstances or bad luck. There are spiritual forces at work, and we need God's presence and power to navigate them.

The Foundation of Purpose

When we talk about living with purpose, it's easy to get sidetracked into thinking we need a specific job description from God. We want to know exactly what we're supposed to do, where we're supposed to go, what impact we're supposed to make.

But here's the beautiful foundation: our primary purpose is to delight in and worship God. Our purpose is to seek His presence and reflect His love to the world around us.

We're not going to earn our way into purpose by getting really good at something or doing a lot of work for God. We're fueled for purpose by encountering and delighting in God's presence.

The most powerful place we can put our hope isn't in God's outcomes—it's in God's presence. When we pursue outcomes instead of presence, we set ourselves up for the same disappointment Daniel faced. But when we pursue presence, we're transformed regardless of the outcome.

Right now, in whatever space of disconnection or disillusionment you find yourself, God's invitation is the same as it was to Daniel: Come into My presence. Seek Me. I am here, and I am enough.