Ever read that Calvin and Hobbes strip where Calvin asks his mother for a Cigarette? She gives it to him, he tries it and gags. His mother asks if he learned a lesson, and to good humorous effect, he responds, "*GASP* Yes. Trusting parents is hazardous to your health."
I was talking with a good friend on Sunday when she made reference to some of the dark things she had done and the pain that came about as a result and she said, "I have not been 'shown the way' by God." At first, this struck me as a Job story, but it was not. It was not a righteous man in pain. The pain that this girl felt was a result of her actions and reactions. This is not a story of God doing wrong and inflicting pain, or even a case of divine apathy. My friend, Juliet, who is in constant pain that will never leave her her whole life is a case for study of the book of Job.
Sometimes God gives us exactly what we want. When he does, it is utterly terrifying. Why, then, are we surprised when we get it? When God lets us do exactly as we please and reap the rewards of our actions, why do we then blame Him for the pain we suffer as a result? God remains here perfectly blameless, and still in control. To reach out and save us from our error is pure, undeserved grace. When he lets us have our own way, it is in fact no lack of love. If we are blind to our error, sometimes the only way to wake us up to the fact is to let us burn for it. If God didn't care, He wouldn't care. Thank God for letting us (sometimes literally) almost kill ourselves.
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9 years ago
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Wow! I needed to hear that, Clayton. Thank you. God bless!
ReplyDeleteI want to leave you some sort of comment about how this post makes me feel, however, I think I need to digest it some more first. It's very... thought provoking. I shall return when I have a real response of coherent thoughts.
ReplyDeleteHannen,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your waiting to think. It is thought provoking, and this is just a bit off the surface of what I have been thinking of recently. I have memories of various books and scripture passages, but I have yet to go seeking support to make a formal argument. Calvin and Hobbes was the easiest thing I could find that describes what i was talking about. I would love to hear what you think about it, as I too am still thinking it all through.
Amen :-) It's such a humbling process... when we see that our plans, our desires ultimately hurt us, that our human 'wisdom' is naught. Sometimes we need to see darkness to truly appreciate the light.
ReplyDelete*has thoughts running through head*
First, it makes me think of how some poeple don't like the word fate or destiny because it makes them feel as if they are not in control of their lives and that they're decisions make no difference because what's going to happen to them is going to regardless. Then I think of this quote, "If you want to hear God laugh tell him your plans", which is simply, as you say, God is in control, which ties into people not liking that they personally are not in control. However, God let's us make our own decisions, even the wrong ones as a way of learning and growing, if we never made mistakes, we'd never be able to learn and find our own way. God provides us with many paths and let's us choose which we want, but if it's not the one he wants then he provides us with a sort of extra path that allows us to go onto a different one that may lead us somewhere better.
ReplyDeleteThis all makes me think about how I'm at the age where I'm constantly being asked "what do you want to study in college?" "where do you want to go to college?" "what do you have planned for your life in college and after?" and in reality, I'm really quite tired of hearing these. I don't know what I want to do and I don't know where I want to do it. I'll figure it out as I go along. I don't have a plan, and don't intend to make one. God will provide for me when it's necessary, He'll force me to make a decision when it's absolutely necessary. If He wanted me to know exactly what I wanted to do, I would.
So, I guess all I've really said was 1) I agree with what you said. I just said it with more words than that. 2)I don't have a plan and am letting God guide me, which was basically what my little tangent was about. I suppose I could have just said that, but what fun would that be? =)
Clayton, you post the most wonderful things.