How often we impose our ideas of love onto God! Oh, how we
mock his providence and wisdom by insisting that he fit into our small ideas of
love. We believe that God is loving only if he meets our demands and
expectations. But if God is sovereign over all, holds the future in his hand,
and has wisdom that is immeasurably greater than ours, then surely our
perspective of the events of our lives is limited. Unless we see what God sees,
possess his wisdom, and have his power to carry out that wisdom, our interpretation
of situations is faulty. Hence the wise words out of Proverbs: “Trust in the
Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”
God’s goodness is not dependent on you getting what you want
or what you think you need. God’s goodness is not dependent on him answering
that one prayer you so desperately want answered. You don’t even know what’s
best for you. The proof of God’s goodness is Jesus’ death on the cross.
Do you doubt his goodness? Look to the cross. He may not
answer your prayer as you wish. He may not give you the comforts and pleasures
that you wish. But he gives you the cross. This means that he gives his
presence and protection to those who put their hope in him. Oh, that we would
believe that his presence and promises are better than all the lesser desires
we want fulfilled!
I’ll let C.S. Lewis sum it up:
“In awful and surprising truth, we are the objects of His
love. You asked for a loving God; you have one. The great spirit you so lightly
invoked, the ‘lord of terrible aspect,’ is present; not a senile benevolence
that drowsily wishes you to be happy in your own way, not the cold philanthropy
of a conscientious magistrate, not the care of a host who feels responsible for the comfort of his guests,
but the consuming fire Himself, the Love that made the worlds, persistent as
the artist’s love for his work and despotic as a man’s love for a dog,
provident and venerable as a father’s love for a child, jealous, inexorable,
exacting as love between the sexes….It is certainly a burden of glory not only
beyond our deserts but also, except in rare moments of grace, beyond our
desiring.” (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of
Pain, 46-47)
We are discussing this and other attributes of God at community group this week. Join us Sunday at 5 at our place on Camano.
Wow, that is such a powerful quote from C.S.Lewis. I've got to read that book =) I completely agree with you too Derek, the cross gives us the answers to everything question, feeling, insecurity we have. We were telling our students this a couple of months ago. We asked them to think about what it is that they see when they look at the cross, and they gave us a HOST of answers. All coming from life experiences that gave them a different perspective on the crucifixion story...it was an education for us to listen to them.
ReplyDeleteTruly Jesus' life and death speaks his goodness and empathy for everyone. "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:15-16