"There once was a man named alex. Alex loved the lord very much, and why not; he had been blessed with many gifts and a good life. He had a beautiful girl who loved him, a family that had taken him in as their own, great friends, and his life was laid out perfectly for him. Alex was happy for the world to know that the Lord Jesus is his saviour and his joy in the life he leads. He even dedicated his professional life to God, training to work for the church to serve him.
One day, the devil said to God; "I bet he wouldnt love you if he didnt have so much to be thankful for..."
To which God responded "satan, you are wrong. My son knows me and would love me if he had nothing else in the world."
"Prove it", came the devils cynical response.
And so, the blessings that made Alex's life so happy began to fall away. His girlfriend left him, he could no longer live with the family who took him in, the life that he had dreamed of and been building for 5 years was falling apart.
And so God reaches down to wipe the tears away..."my son, I know you are hurting, but I love you, I am all you will ever need...come home."
Alex opens his eyes, grits his teeth and through the tears he yells;
"I HATE YOU! I HAD EVERYTHING I WANTED AND YOU TOOK IT ALL AWAY! HOW CAN I TRUST YOU IF YOU WANT TO SEE ME MISERABLE!? I HATE YOU!!!"
The devil, sniggering, utters the words "told you so..." as he slithers from the room. And at these words, God drops to his knees and begins to weep."
God cries, right? God gets upset? I've always thought that the emotion we hold must be found in God, or else how could he put that in us? I also like to think that God can hold those emotions to the fullest of their potential. Happiness you cant understand, joy you cant fathom, anger that cant be put into words and sadness like you cant describe.
Have you ever cried tears so deep that your body physically hurts? Imagine what that level of sorrow feels like to God...
This entirely untheological. Im not basing the potential emotion-waves of God off anything other than my own perception, buts its making me think.
So many people I know are content to either ignore/hate/not listen to/resent God. And God, despite his infinite power, chooses not to reach down and flip a switch that will make that person suddenly love him again. Instead, he just waits for them to come back.
Not being a parent yet in life, I can only imagine how it would feel if one of your children decided they hate you because you dont look after them well enough (even though you know everything you've ever done has been in the best intentions for their sake) and chose to leave, or never talk to you, etc etc.
Pretty sure that would be crushing.
That story up there is a true one. Bits of it bare a certain similarity to Job, no?
I dunno, perhaps Gods reaction would not be to break down in tears at Alex's reaction. Maybe in his infinite wisdom, he knows he will come back to him in due course. But my overwhelming thought is that when we are so ignorant that we cant see Gods love (which, by the way, if we took a few minutes to go looking for would hit us in the face like being slapped with a salmon) in all its grace and beauty, that must break his heart.
"How can I put my trust in a God that wants to see me hurt, that would take away everything I know and love in the space of a week?"
THE SAME GOD MADE HIMSELF MORTAL AND WENT THROUGH THE WORST POSSIBLE PUNISHMENT SO THAT YOU (yes, YOU) MAY HAVE LIFE THAT DOESNT SUCK!!! HE OWES YOU NOTHING!!!!
And yet he gives you so much...You are not the rightful owner of anything. When you became a christian you said you wanted to give everything to God. Those words carry weight.
Point is, God isnt looking to make life miserable for us. With the guy in the story, he could only love God when he was well off. When things get tough, out comes the blame game. I dont know why he's going through such a pile of crap at the moment, I dont know if satan is doing all he can to tear him from God. I dont know if God is putting him through a fire, in the wisdom that when he comes out the other side his faith and identity will be found in God and nothing else...
I do know I want my friend back. I cant tell him what I think, cause he's not ready to hear it. I cant tell him he has no right to be angry with God (this doesnt go for him alone, noone has the right to be angry at God. You create the universe, go through the pain as it corrupts itself, give up your only son to death for the sake of the sinful individuals that populate that same world, and work miracles on a daily basis...then we'll talk about your right to judge Gods actions).
Pain is a part of life. It flippin sucks, I know this. Anyone close to me knows i've dealt with some stuff, but i've been fortunate in that my trials pale into insignificance compared to some peoples.
Ultimately, I think you have to find out which side you're going to stand on. Job lost everything he had, but till the day he died he never stopped prasing the Lords name. Alex lost much of what he loved and his immediate reaction is to turn to hate and bitterness.
I'm being brutal. You cant really blame him for his reaction, its how many people would react. I suppose my ultimate point is this; If you honestly can place your trust 100% in God, then I genuinely believe that you could lose everything you know and still find yourself crying to God instead of turning from him. At no point in the bible does it say "Love me and all your days will be easy and happy, etc."
Sadness is something we will all go through, and they can be intense, testing times. Loss always hurts. So what if your foundation, the very core of who you are, the one thing that defines you more than anything else is something that cannot fade.
You cant lose God. Surely it makes perfect sense to put all your hope in something that will never leave you? = ]
OH MY WORD what a rant. I could keep going, i really could. Silly, silly brain, In other news, this is my new phone. Its amazing. If you can make out the screen...yeah, thats right, Raining in London.
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