Being the writing/reading/language enthusiast that I am, word choice means a lot to me. As I was praying this morning, I was listening to a playlist of some worships songs that I really love. I was trying to pay attention to the words, today, instead of getting swept away in the music. The overwhelming theme I found was that God is sure of Himself, and that means we as His children, can be comfortably sure of Him.
There is this realization I keep coming to lately in prayer, and that is that God did not make things tough for us. Life can be tough, but God didn't make it that way. (In fact, He made it perfect for us, in Eden.) Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with a priest about this quandary on my heart of why life is difficult if God wants us to be happy. I'd had a really bad day, and I was trying to see God's hand working in it. For most of the things in the day - an unexpected 2 hour car ride, people flying into the wrong airport in the wrong city, a broken washing machine, and the like - I could come up with my own reason and tie it back to some lesson God wanted me to learn, like patience or flexibility. But there was one thing bugging me. I had broken my toenails. An unfortunate meeting of my flip flops with a very heavy door was to blame, and I asked the priest in frustration, "I get the other stuff, the real trials with real lessons...but honestly, why break my toenails? What lesson was there? It just made me mad." The priest smiled and explained to me that there is a big difference between what God does and what God allows. God doesn't strike people down, but He allows them to fall. I think there could be many reasons for that, but the one I am reflecting on today is that God wants us to let Him care for us.
Life can be really difficult and trying at times, and it makes me
wonder how I'm ever supposed to find God in the midst of all this noise,
but what I'm finding more and more as I explore scripture, is that
there is an answer for my questions. The Bible really is a guide to
life.
There is a verse in Corinthians that says this:
" No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be
tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide
the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it." (1 Cor 10:13)
Basically, God understands that we're going to have it rough, but He will lovingly provide answers whenever we're willing to listen. It reminds me of my relationship with my mother. She's been my age, she's grown up and learned life lessons. She knows, to an extent, what lies ahead of me as I enter into what it means to be an adult. But she wants me to grow on my own, so she'll let me figure things out and we both know that when I come across a problem I just can't handle, she'll be there with the answer, waiting to help me with open arms.
And here's the best part, which is what the music was speaking to me today. God's way is absolute; there are no ifs, ands, or buts. And that's what I was hearing in these songs - just one absolute after another. God will provide always. God never lets go. He always comes through. Nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39). There is no "sometimes" or an addendum that says, "...if you do such-and-such thing for Him." My friend Luke recently spoke at a retreat I was on staff for, and he said, of prayer, that we fall into a trap of thinking we need to earn God's love, so we try to make our prayers something great and wonderful and wordy, when in actuality, we do not have to qualify ourselves to get His love. We've already got it and nothing in the world will ever change that.
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