Psalm 37:14 “Take delight in the
Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Is this a promise? Should it be read, “Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart…that he promises you?” Again, the conundrum, what do we do with the
desires God does not promise? Are we
still to hope? Or do we accept? Monday, January 5, 2015
Week 7 = Hope vs. Acceptance
“Contradicting the situation and
exceeding human ability are true of everything God has promised.”
I believe this statement. I believe that God can do exceedingly more
than we could ever dream or imagine and obliterate any human reality,
circumstance, or situation. Yes. Amen!
The part that is extremely difficult for me to understand, and this is
the second time this sermon series has jutted me up against this wall, is what
about the deep desires we have that God does not promise us? I was quite frustrated and a bit
heartbroken while listening to this sermon because I kept thinking about the
deep, deep desires in my life, and I know that God does not promise them. The two areas in my life that I desire to see
changed and healed have to do with health and marriage. God does not promise that He will heal our
bodies of illness. Even Paul pleaded
with God to remove the “thorn” in his side and, as far as we know, God never
promised he would. Of course He could
do it, but He never promised He would.
“Is this One, who promises us things
that awaken hope in us, that we do not embrace able to fulfill His
promises?” When hope is awakened to things
that God does not promise, at what point do we embrace the present circumstance
and ACCEPT our situation be it the result of a fallen world or a God-given
trial?
A specific example of this is a
health situation I have been experiencing for the past five years. I don’t know if I got this because “life
happens” and this is a result of living in a fallen world, or because God put
this in my life for a reason….or both!
It doesn’t really matter to me either way. For a long time I prayed for total healing,
people in my church family prayed the same.
After year two, I realized that this disease would be my companion for
life. At some point, my mind and emotions reached acceptance, and there was a
peace about that new state of being.
This was now becoming part of my story meeting God’s story. However, the question continues to arise: Do
I continue to pray for total healing? I
still do…sometimes. God does not promise us health. He does not promise us healing, even when we
want it. Yet, it still remains a deep
desire. I know that God CAN, but He does
not promise He will.
Marriage: Another deep desire that has been with me longer
than the disease. Seventeen years of
desiring something so deeply, yet it is not something that God promises to any
of us. I know He can make marriage
happen, but He does not promise it in our lives.
A frustration with Sarai arises. At least she heard a promise! What about those who do not hear a promise
yet have deep desires?
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Nina, You've burned away for me just for a fleeting moment the stubble and revealed (for me) with piercing clarity the only "that" which remains -- FAITH, HOPE, & LOVE. I feel at this very point in time you've bypassed so many signs that consume my life -- marriage, kids, reasonable health. These signs proclaim a message. The message is from God and the articulation of the message is, "I love you." Buuuut they are still just signs. They are less than. Less than what? They are less than..... the substance. The substance....communion with Love itself, the creator. I am firmly convinced at this unique point in time in your life God has disciplined your heart and mind to forgo (for maybe a moment...this moment!!) dilly dallying with signs (Steve signs -- marriage, kids, & a decent pathology) and to crash headlong into the substance -- abandoned delight in communion with Christ. Let's be frank here -- Christ ripped signs. He ripped them because of their numbing potential to deafen ears to God's ecstatic words of love poured out. Christ ripped signs because even for minimalists like myself - (I am kind of a sort of quasi-psuedo minimalist) .. Lets start that sentence again. Even for minimalist Steve, since every inclination of my heart (as a child of Adam) is evil, huge hoarder potential exists in my heart. This hoarder heart psychosis squishes out room for the substance of love which is God God and Jesus (thank goodness) knows it exists in my soul. He knows it and warns against the insidious crowding effect of "sign play" and the lust trap that accompanies.... signs. Your post screams (in a more pure way than I personally as a "going through space and time WITH SIGNS traveler" -- could ever understand .... ) Redo... Your post screams to me "GOD I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! WITH OR WITHOUT SIGNS -- I LOVE YOU AND I AM YOURS." "No hubby sign, I LOVE YOU LORD!" "No great health sign, I ADORE YOU JESUS." No offspring sign, I WANT YOU GOD. I WANT YOU. The substance and author of GOOD to which all GOOD signs point. In the darkness, I hold to faith. In the confusion I shake out the cob webs and numbness with hope. In the bleeding tears, I press my face against the sorrow and blood that flow mingled down your torn face my savior. Your post preached that proclamation to me. I know that might seem a stretch but it did. We say that noone graduates from Jesus school but your post is a testimony of a graduate from sign school.
ReplyDeleteIn summary, your post is an incredibly pure and powerful testimony from a child of God who longs for His presence in the absence of signs. Your image is an eternal image for it is the image of Jesus trusting God in weakness, brokenness, and the abject absence of signs. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and Christ in you is the hope of Glory so I'd definitely keep rolling the dice with hope. (I didn't need to remind you of that -- so if you're thinking, "Steve, was that for me?" "No Nina, that was for me."
One of my favorite "absence of signs" verses in all the bible is Genesis 39:21. When Joseph was completely screwed and abandoned for the umpteenth time while in prison the story goes...... "but the Lord was with Joseph and showed Him steadfast love." That's ultimately the message I felt in your post. As you wrestle in your own prison of questions and admitted disappointment I so much hear you in your story, "But the Lord was with Nina and showed Nina steadfast love."