Have you ever been disappointed in God? Angry with Him? So upset with your current and continuing situation that you tire of talking to Him? Or maybe you’ve sometimes felt separated from God, like a couple who lives together but doesn’t communicate closely. You are in good company. King David felt all this and more! Furthermore, David sinned grievously against God, before repenting. And yet God called him “a man after my own heart,” because ultimately David trusted Him.
God values communication. He is big enough to hear all our woes, our anger, our disappointment, even our lack of passion for Him. Like a patient parent who willingly tolerates the complaints of a child who yells, “Unfair!” God continues to gently and compassionately love us, unconditionally in and through every situation we face.
Some situations seem to be unconquerable: Chronic pain, cancer, a loveless marriage, a lost child, hopeless finances, betrayal, isolation from others, a lack of a best friend, frustrating work, or the inability to work at all. (All of these seem insufferable to us and yet most of us don’t know anything of the pain of persecution, torture, true hunger, inescapable abuse, or the presence of constant war that others face.)
When we do cry out to the God we ask Him to take away the pain, the suffering, and the discomfort. But we often remain comfortable with living in a way that separates us from the Holy God we seek to rescue us. Or we remain faithful but still discontent. The weight of the troubles seem greater than the weight of His grace.
The truth is, that when we are done making excuses, done with our pleas, and done with our constant striving…when we are ready to just ‘Be still’ before God, we find Him always waiting for us. He takes our hand in the midst of the trial and offers something we cannot earn or discover or manufacture on our own. At the time when it seems that God is not enough, He offers grace that is sufficient for our situation. It covers our weakness and it brings us strength to carry on, renewed hope, and unexplainable contentment, even joy.
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
2 Corinthians 12:9
As strange as it seems, I never stopped to think who made up the church of Philippi. Pastor Moises was talking about it yesterday and all of the sudden it was so crystal clear! Lydia, the jailer, their families, the slaves on their respective homes, the prisoners, and so on and so forth… Their lives were changed from hopelessness to eternal joy with just praying, testifying and singing in the midst of pain and torture. If Paul and Silas could do it, why on earth I think I can’t?
Dear Julia, your ending ‘question’ is the ‘answer’ for each of us. Thank you for sharing with us!
When my beloved Ethel died I was angry at God as Heart patients were suppose to be ok if they passed the 3 day test. Shortly after that a friend confessed she was angry at God, and felt terrible about it. Using my own example I shared that God was big enough to accept our anger and understand.
True. We aren’t “supposed” to be angry at God. Yet He is a Father in the ample meaning of the word. His love will never diminish because of our actions. That fact makes my anger fade away quickly when I catch myself lifting an angry fist at God.