They look for a miraculous sign. But the only sign they will get is the sign of Jonah.
Luke 11:29
Have you obeyed God and not had it turn out the way you thought it would? Have you done what he commanded and then been burned? When doing the right thing ends in the opposite of what you expected, does that mean that your obedience was wasted and there must have been a better option?
A lot of times you will be called to do some crazy things as a believer. Jonah thought preaching to the Ninevites would be crazy (see Jonah 1). Jesus says to love your enemies and do good to those who hate you (see Matt. 5:44)—huh? Sounds dangerous. Turn the other cheek—and get your feelings hurt? Submit—and be controlled? Preposterous! When you do these crazy things, a lot of the time nothing good seems to come of it. So over time you decide God’s way just isn’t working for you, and the next time you are hurt you retaliate instead of loving. When they say something you don’t like, you criticize or refuse to do what you are told to do. You no longer do everything God asks but only what seems smart.
The real issue isn’t whether doing the right thing has failed you but how you define failure. If your definition of failure is “not getting what you wanted,” then yes, obeying God might lead to failure. But a more accurate definition of failure is “not doing what God commands you to do.” So if you are obeying God, what looks like a total failure may actually be success in the spiritual realm. The God Girl knows that no matter what the outcome, her obedience will always produce godliness and therefore success, even when all things seem to say otherwise. When the promise seems to be broken and when the answer seems to be no, still she obeys, because she is aware of her eternal reward and spiritual destination. God promises that obedience will not disappoint, and she believes him.