Monday, August 1, 2016

Understanding God...Like That Will Ever Happen

I really don't understand Him. He baffles me. He wants me to be be holy. He holds up the standard. Then He watches me struggle my way to victory or defeat; to congratulations or repentance.

Does He enjoy the process more than the product? Is bringing His children to full sanctification the great, divine pleasure that is above everything else for Him? I have to wonder.

Having never been a parent, I have not known the joys of raising up a child in the way he should go. I am thinking though, that this is what God is doing for His children as we go through this life. Like every parent, I suppose He wins some and He loses others. I also think that none of us will ever forget Him though we might fail to please Him. How could anyone turn their back on a Father that gave up His own Son for the sake of the other adopted children in the family? There are many that do not believe He even exists or that Jesus Christ is His Son. They believe His Words to be the product of men's imaginations, written only to control behavior. I cannot go there. I have known His love and I want more.

He told Isaiah this:

  Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
  Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
 Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
    declares the Lord.
 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts."

I have known His love and I want more. So what is standing in my way? I must be able to sacrifice my short term and often destructive desires to that purpose. It is a hard thing. He knows this. He seems to enjoy the process where I, where we suffer, to seek His favor. 

I have asked Him, I have asked myself, is this not cruel in the extreme? I feel Him smiling at me. I hear Him say, "You'll get over it. Do what is right. I AM here".

"Well Jeff, you're just hearing voices, you're a religious extremist, you're nuts." I get this from unbelieving friends frequently. They want to know why I bother with the struggle. I have come to believe that in struggle there is truth and life and God. I am renewed by both victory and failure because He lives in me and makes that renewal happen. I have not just read about it. It happens to me on a daily basis. It is real and I cannot explain it in any satisfactory way other than I know I am His child and He will NEVER let me go. I would be miserable without Him anyway. 

So Lord, lets do another day. Please drive our mutual adversary back to the Pit. Let's have a day of victory. We can do it together. Just You and me. Thanks.