Great testimony from King David over at The Far Wright today. It reminded me of a song we sang in church yesterday that goes, in part, “God will make a way, where there seems to be no way.”
What I saw in that song is that when there seems to be no way it really means that there seems to be no way to me. God always knows and sees the way — and usually I’m bogged down right smack in the middle of it (the way, that is).
We all have had the experience of trying to do things “our way” (thanks, Frank), the “worldly” way. If we’re blessed, or not too stubborn, we get hooked up with a good church and start to see God move and do things in our lives (He was doing them all along but we usually didn’t recognize them for what they were). We get a new idea of God’s power and mercy and we believe it and experience … yet we get comfortable or when a new challenge comes we still put ourselves in the position of saying or deciding what God can, or cannot, do. Even though we’ve seen that there were things we didn’t know before that have since changed our lives, we may yet assume that now we know it all …
“Oh yeah, God will do that, but He wouldn’t do this” or …
“If I do this, then God will do that, …
or the reverse, “God can’t do this because I didn’t do that…”
“God no longer speaks to us…or heals…or delivers…or opens doors that no man can close…”
Maybe it’s because our fear trumps our faith; we fear our faith is not even as big as a mustard seed, or we’re afraid that God won’t come through, or we’re afraid we somehow haven’t “earned” His grace — even if we’ve had hours, years, even decades of sound teaching that tells us His grace is a gift that no one can earn…
We cling to our doctrines and our own understanding, lovingly polished over the years, and fail to see or remember the underlying Word that they were based on. We’re afraid to just let go and put it in His hands, as if His plan isn’t sufficient for our needs, as if our senses are the sole arbiter of what makes sense.
God still speaks. He still heals. He still provides. If you don’t believe me, go talk to King David.
Your lazy commenting section is at it again. Maybe if you gave away chocolate? (you’d certainly increase the female response to your posts.)
On topic, I think many people these days are afraid of seeming ridiculous by believing in more concrete biblical promises. Instead, there is a tendency to spiritualize the promises or to emphasize that God works through “normal” means. Neither of those are lies, but they aren’t the full truth. Faith is not a therapeutic experience, it is trust in the almighty God. Do we have the courage to confess that kind of God and risk worldly ridicule? That God, the powerful life changing God, has shown up in my life and I wouldn’t want to confess anything less. It’s great that KD has a story to tell about that so that we can all be encouraged.