So this morning I was reading about how God allows problems in our lives to drive us closer to him, to increase the intimacy between us (so long as we see them as blessings and actually turn to him because of them).
My first thought was, How selfish.
Seriously. I mean, abusive parents (or abusers in general) do the same thing- they hurt the kid to keep them close. It doesn't sound like it makes much sense on paper, but it has a twisted logic to it. The abused child either has all sense of worth beaten down and out of them, so they are dependent upon the abuser for a sense of value, or they are extremely loyal to their abuser (it's rather complex, that one), or they are simply fearful and complacent. Either way, it keeps the child subdued and under control, and every instance of abuse drives the child deeper into whatever route they've taken for survival.
(And then you have those rebellious ones with the indomitable will to live, but they totally don't fit into my analogy at this point.)
This is the thought process streaming through my mind. God... are you selfish? Seriously, why would you hurt us, just so that we'll depend on you? That's pretty messed up.
And it would be, if God had never done one crucial thing.
Jesus.
As I'm pondering this thought (a disturbing thought- it has the potential to totally rock my faith to the core!!), I came across these verses:
"For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us;" (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)
Aha! I had forgotten about salvation! You see, it's not all about this life, what we're experiencing right now. There's a greater picture, a bigger drama, going on behind the scenes that we often know nothing about.
And, most importantly, Jesus had to do the exact same thing- dealing with troubles, taking them as opportunities to get closer to his Father.
God is not selfish. He doesn't sit comfortably in the sky and zap down discomfort to us under the guise of "helping" us. He went through torture for our welfare. He knows exactly what it's like to have trials and troubles and not enough money and too much work and friends that die and, yes, physical pain.
It would indeed be selfish if he had never experienced it, if he were somehow removed from the situation. But he's not. He is YAHWEH- "I will be to you all that I am". He is Emmanuel- "God with us".
He's intensely interested and intimately involved in every scene of our life.
No... God is not selfish. If he's anything else, he's not that.
My first thought was, How selfish.
Seriously. I mean, abusive parents (or abusers in general) do the same thing- they hurt the kid to keep them close. It doesn't sound like it makes much sense on paper, but it has a twisted logic to it. The abused child either has all sense of worth beaten down and out of them, so they are dependent upon the abuser for a sense of value, or they are extremely loyal to their abuser (it's rather complex, that one), or they are simply fearful and complacent. Either way, it keeps the child subdued and under control, and every instance of abuse drives the child deeper into whatever route they've taken for survival.
(And then you have those rebellious ones with the indomitable will to live, but they totally don't fit into my analogy at this point.)
This is the thought process streaming through my mind. God... are you selfish? Seriously, why would you hurt us, just so that we'll depend on you? That's pretty messed up.
And it would be, if God had never done one crucial thing.
Jesus.
As I'm pondering this thought (a disturbing thought- it has the potential to totally rock my faith to the core!!), I came across these verses:
"For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us;" (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)
Aha! I had forgotten about salvation! You see, it's not all about this life, what we're experiencing right now. There's a greater picture, a bigger drama, going on behind the scenes that we often know nothing about.
And, most importantly, Jesus had to do the exact same thing- dealing with troubles, taking them as opportunities to get closer to his Father.
God is not selfish. He doesn't sit comfortably in the sky and zap down discomfort to us under the guise of "helping" us. He went through torture for our welfare. He knows exactly what it's like to have trials and troubles and not enough money and too much work and friends that die and, yes, physical pain.
It would indeed be selfish if he had never experienced it, if he were somehow removed from the situation. But he's not. He is YAHWEH- "I will be to you all that I am". He is Emmanuel- "God with us".
He's intensely interested and intimately involved in every scene of our life.
No... God is not selfish. If he's anything else, he's not that.
0 thoughts: