PROUD PARENT
Most parents brag about their kid’s athletic or academic achievements. I’m proud that my 3 ½ year old likes Mexican food. When she ate guacamole at age 2, I knew I was succeeding as a dad. The only glitch in our culinary adventures came when we hit the salsa. I ordered a "medium" corn salsa. (On my heat index a "medium" makes me sweat just a little bit.) My daughter likes corn and was sure she’d like the salsa. I explained to her (several times) that it was spicy. That I knew it LOOKED like something she liked, but that it would light her tender mouth on fire. Then I played the parental trump card: “Just trust me”, I said.
BUYING IT?
That still works on my little one. Someday it won’t. Sooner or later she’ll start questioning my wisdom. She’ll wonder if I really have her best interests at heart- or if I’m just trying to keep her from enjoying her life. You know, the same thing most of us do with God. Eventually, and for a variety of reasons, we wonder if we can really trust God and His ways. Seems like Solomon (the author of Proverbs) struggled with this too. From the beginning of his book, he offers some reasons as to why we might want to give God’s wisdom a go.
GOD IS PROACTIVE
Where can we find wisdom? One picture shows insight sequestered in temple, on a distant mountain. Go on an epic quest and you may get there someday. Solomon creates a radically different image of WISDOM. Instead of making it inaccessible, God delivers insight to the masses. He comes to us. But He didn't have to. Shouldn't this count for something? Like a woman noticing the effort a guy expends to cross a room and ask her out, maybe we should notice God's initiative and give Him a shot.
THE FINAL 10% OF THE TRUTH
In college I dated a girl none of my friends liked. Of course, none of them told me this until she dumped me. Then they told me how relieved they were. I was disappointed. Not about being dumped, but about my buddies reluctance to level with me. The courage to care more about someones welfare- than their potential rejection of us is an all too rare quality. This kind of love and truth telling smacks of Divinity. Why do I trust God's wisdom? Because He is willing to LEVEL WITH US.
GOD WANTS YOU TO BLING
Remember when hip hop artists started wearing huge pieces of jewelry dripping with diamonds and saying things like, "I got to get my bling on, yo!"? Every time I saw a celebrity rock a $100K watch, I saw a statement about blessing. The accessories were a tool to show their peers that things were going well for them. Believe it or not, "bling" didn't originate 10 years ago. It is much more ANCIENT & BIBLICAL. Why should we listen to God's wisdom? Because He wants to bless us. Not with platinum and plasma tv's, but with MORE IMPORTANT THINGS. (Note: The tree of life reference hearkens all the way back to the original paradise God created for us to enjoy.)
SAFETY PATROL
I grew up in an era before airbags, crumple zones and mandatory seat belt usage. The most important safety device in our family car was my mother's arm. If she stopped short or spotted other potential danger, she'd snap her arm across my chest. My mom didn't learn this in driver's ed. It was maternal. Instinctual. Parents naturally want to protect their children. God offers us His advice for THE SAME REASON. He wants to keep us off of the paths that lead us to destruction and on the PATHS THAT LEAD TO PEACE.
EARNING TRUST
Why should we listen to God? Honestly, all of Solomon's reasons make sense to me. But I find myself wanting more. Not just reasons, but experience. I want God to prove Himself to me. Maybe you want the same thing. If so, we're in luck. If we want to test God's wisdom, all we have to do is use it. So try this- keep reading a chapter from the book of Proverbs each day and look for the ideas that connect most with your life. Pick just one idea a day. Then use it. See for yourself if God's ways are really good for you.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Do We Trust God Enough To Listen? (RGA2)
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6 comments:
"If we want to test God's wisdom, all we have to do is use it."
I have an uncle who suffered a stroke at the age of 39. The once-vibrant man is now crippled, paralyzed on one side, unable to speak as clearly as before, and has muddled memory and thought processes.
He is now 43 and he prays every night for God to a. heal him or b. take him (death).
It's probably the most basic question there is, but I have yet to hear a satisfying answer...When "testing" God by asking him for something we need and it doesn't happen, how can we believe he's listening? Or, to a greater concern, even exists? Has God "passed" the "test" mentioned above?
Thanks being willing to share Jeremy. This is a great example of why many of us find it hard to trust God. We feel like He has failed us.
First, I'm sorry to hear about your uncle. Sounds like there's a lot of disappointment and pain in that for him and for your family. I know there would be for me/mine. When it comes to questions like this, I don't think any answer really satisfies the emotional component of all of this. Probably because it isn't supposed to. God's presence (and even comfort) doesn't preclude disappointment and grief. At least it hasn't in my life- or in the lives of my friends or the people I read about in the scriptures.
When I wrote about testing God's wisdom, I'm not really talking about asking God for things to see if He answers. I'm speaking more about trying God's ways of living to see if they really work. For example, is it "Better to be a poor person who has integrity than to be rich and double-dealing." (Prov. 28:6)? We can find out for ourselves by choosing to be honest in the way we treat others and do business.
Also, I think the situation you raised with your uncle is a great example of how God's wisdom has proved itself to be true. Although some of the suffering in our world is tied to our own bad choices (probably NOT the case with your uncle), a healthy share of our pain is tied to the first humans' rejection of what God said was best for us. If Adam and Eve had listened to God's advice, we'd still be in paradise.
Again, none of this makes me feel better about your uncle, or the cold I'm fighting today or my best friends who lost their 2 year old a few months back. But (for me) the presence of pain doesn't negate the presence of God.
That makes some sense. I certainly didn't imply we should be asking God for a new BMW and get upset when one doesn't show up. ;) On the other hand, a situation like this certainly makes me question the authenticity of Matthew 21:22 "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." or John 16:23 "In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you."
I'm certainly not suggesting a name it and claim it mentality...that's for Santa Claus. But if Scott prays those things completely believing that He is able to do them and that it would relieve so much pain for one if His children...Why wouldn't He? Don't those verses say He would?
The usual answer is, "Well, God's answers just don't look like we want them to be." But I really can't see how any response (or lack thereof) in this situation would lend itself to the belief that an answer has been given.
-Jeremy "the skeptic" Davis
I think that often when we ask God to "give us a sign" or otherwise answer our prayers, we mess up by only providing God with a limited number of possible responses, none of which may be, from God's perspective, the right answer. I don't know your uncle and I certainly don't know anything about his conversations with God, but it may be that God has heard his prayers but has a plan for his life that doesn't include either option a OR option b.
I don't pretend to understand what God's plans are for a young man who has to deal with such a difficult and painful event; I suspect he struggles every day in ways I can only imagine. But I don't believe that just because we have to struggle, or even suffer, that that's an indication that God is not listening, or that God doesn't care. It may be that God has something in mind, but it's something that we don't yet understand. It may even be that what God has in mind may involve suffering.
I don't think God enjoys seeing any of his children suffering, any more than any parent would, but anyone who has ever been a parent knows that if your children are going to grow into strong adults, they're going to have to endure some suffering at some point. That's not to say that we should all rejoice when some horribly painful event happens to someone, but neither do I think it makes sense to assume that just because someone is suffering, there must be something wrong with God or God's plan.
"...may be that God has heard his prayers but has a plan for his life that doesn't include either option a OR option b."
This sounds like the "God is bigger than us and we don't understand His ways" answer. The biggest issues I have with that are for people with immense suffering or people who just can't believe in a God who allows these things to happen to the innocent.
I think it's easier to "buy" that answer when things are generally ok in our lives. When put in excruciatingly painful situations like Scott's or like Fred & Jen's friends who lost their 2 year old baby...Can - and should - a simple faith withstand those circumstances, and does a faith in "that God" even make sense?
Sorry guys. I meant to stay a part of this discussion today, but I've been in and out of bed with a fever and head cold.
I appreciate both of your perspectives Lance & Jeremy- and the willingness to dialogue. Been way too quiet on the comments section of this blog.
I too wonder about the promises Jesus spoke about asking and receiving and having faith to move mountains. Hasn't worked that way in my life very often.
Guess I balance it out with Jesus' example to ask for what He wanted (take this cross from me), but then default to what God wanted (your will be done). Paul's journey with a "thorn in his flesh" also challenges me. God thought it was better for Paul to suffer than be healed because it left him humble and depending on God.
My own tendency is to avoid pain. I see pain and suffering as the greatest evil. God must have some other standards, because although He promises to do away with pain eventually, He allows it here- (and even uses it for good?).
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