March 19, 2007

Step 3: . We made a decision to turn our life and will over to the care of God.

Scripture reading for today: Psalm 21, Proverbs 12

An honest witness tells the truth, but a false witness tells lies. The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 12:17-18 Today’s NIV
I’ve spent a lot of years listening to lots of people share their opinions about who God is and what He is up to in this world. Here’s a sampling of some opinions I’ve heard in recent weeks:

I think God has abandoned me.

God is punishing me unfairly.

When God was handing out the good stuff, he skipped me.

God is so far away.

God doesn’t care about my problems.

When I pray, it feels like there’s a glass ceiling between my prayers and God – I feel very far away from Him.

God could have stopped these bad things from happening to me and he did not.

What God? God is for the weak. (A sentiment I happen to agree with. Unlike mankind, who seems to despise weakness, God does not. God is FOR the weak. But I digress.)

God is disappointed with ____ (me, my child, my spouse, etc.)

Step three is our opportunity to make a decision about who we think God is – it’s important to know the character of the one in whom we’re being asked to cast our lot with. I believe that many of us take the attributes of the people who have been most influential in our lives (for good or evil) and heap them onto our image of God. Pause to prepare. If that is true for you, how close do you think your opinions of God align with what is true of God?

Thought for today: I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18 NIV
Scripture is a great place to seek out a sense of who God is. I found great comfort in John 14:18 when I discovered it for the first time. God won’t leave us as orphans – God comes to us. He doesn’t make us search for him in a game of heavenly hide-and-seek. He comes to us. He desires relationship with us. That’s a God I want to get to know.

Thought for tomorrow: Why not take some time this year to explore who God is, recognizing that we all have opinions about God that may be, well, wrong.

March 19
Teresa McBean