Crisis. To me at least. I was faced with the decision of not going back to Honduras when planned originally. God and I had some serious conversations. Or perhaps it would be better described as my spouting and our so patient God listening.
“GOD!! Don’t ask Honduras of me!”. I told him that I felt like He is taking and taking and not giving back. “You gave me such joy in Honduras. Was that wrong? Are you taking it away from me for that!? Did I delight in it too much? God….You’re taking it away. I don’t see the next step, the rhyme, the reason for this….”
My Father let me rant. Then the Holy Spirit showed me what false images of God I had.
We can be so disappointed by others that we hesitate to really believe God and His promises. We are too afraid to trust in what He says, “Delight yourselves in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4).
Or we are so fixed on what we think is our good, that we fail to trust Him that He knows what is good. We don’t believe Him when He says He will work out all things for our good and to conform us into His image (Rom. 8:28).
We turn God into the Tantalizer, holding out promises which we never feel like we can truly trust in because they never will come to really pass—not for us, at least. We turn God into the Killjoy—a god who takes away because we had joy. We are so self-centered we make Him out to be the Manipulator, who tries to promise the pie-in-the-sky so that we cooperate.
But God is faithful. He is good. Gracious. Loving. That is His character. Even as I write that, I let those words sink in. For whatever my need, there is a TRUE NAME of GOD that meets my need.
In Christ, I am accepted. Because of Christ, I am a child of God, in whom He delights, whom He cares for, whom He disciplines, whom He loves.
Christ has given me the Holy Spirit who dwells with me, who is always with me, comforts me, guides me, and teaches me. “The Holy Spirit is the living person of God, abiding within the caregiver’s spirit to love, nourish, and care for her as no one else could” (Terry Wardle, Healing Care, Healing Prayer, p. 95).
This is our God.
And after I fatigued my complaints, I settled down into my Father’s love and Christ’s presence and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. “God, you are God. Thank you.”
“GOD!! Don’t ask Honduras of me!”. I told him that I felt like He is taking and taking and not giving back. “You gave me such joy in Honduras. Was that wrong? Are you taking it away from me for that!? Did I delight in it too much? God….You’re taking it away. I don’t see the next step, the rhyme, the reason for this….”
My Father let me rant. Then the Holy Spirit showed me what false images of God I had.
We can be so disappointed by others that we hesitate to really believe God and His promises. We are too afraid to trust in what He says, “Delight yourselves in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4).
Or we are so fixed on what we think is our good, that we fail to trust Him that He knows what is good. We don’t believe Him when He says He will work out all things for our good and to conform us into His image (Rom. 8:28).
We turn God into the Tantalizer, holding out promises which we never feel like we can truly trust in because they never will come to really pass—not for us, at least. We turn God into the Killjoy—a god who takes away because we had joy. We are so self-centered we make Him out to be the Manipulator, who tries to promise the pie-in-the-sky so that we cooperate.
But God is faithful. He is good. Gracious. Loving. That is His character. Even as I write that, I let those words sink in. For whatever my need, there is a TRUE NAME of GOD that meets my need.
In Christ, I am accepted. Because of Christ, I am a child of God, in whom He delights, whom He cares for, whom He disciplines, whom He loves.
Christ has given me the Holy Spirit who dwells with me, who is always with me, comforts me, guides me, and teaches me. “The Holy Spirit is the living person of God, abiding within the caregiver’s spirit to love, nourish, and care for her as no one else could” (Terry Wardle, Healing Care, Healing Prayer, p. 95).
This is our God.
And after I fatigued my complaints, I settled down into my Father’s love and Christ’s presence and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. “God, you are God. Thank you.”
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