Part one of a two-part series on good intentions gone horribly awry.
Last night was literally the fifth time in one month that Lazarus (John 11:1-44) has come up in my conversations with God, and always at the most appropriate times. For anyone who doubts that God communicates with us personally, you stand corrected.
How many times have I sounded like Martha when I pray: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
"If you had been here"...there's a sense of resignation. It's over. I believe Jesus can heal, but can he resurrect?
"I know that even now"...sounds strikingly like the tagline I end many of my doubtful, resigned, woeful prayers with. Cuz you gotta say it, right? You can't actually tell God that you think his power has reached its limit.
And then it comes: "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day"...my classic phrase to make sure I 'cover God's ass' (to use the crude legal term), so that if this prayer never gets answered, at least God won't look bad. How noble of me.
Martha and I have one big thing in common. Our faith (well-intentioned as it may be) is placed in the future, because it's easier to fantasize change tomorrow than it is to ask for change today. That's not the kind of faith God looks for, because God is today ("I am" sound familiar?). Even if our prayer isn't answered exactly as we expect at this very instant, that doesn't mean God is not acting. The faith God looks for is the kind of faith that seeks for how God is working today, even if it's not how we expect.
God is acting now to answer your prayers. God is anything but passive. If there's one churchy phrase I absolutely despise, it's that God "allows" things to happen. A firefighter who stands on the street "allowing" an apartment building to burn is a sick sadist that should be shot. But a firefighter who sacrifices himself to save the people inside, even if it means pulling them deeper into the fire on the way out...that's the God I want to come rescue me.
*the first bit of this is from Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for his Highest. If you haven't already, go buy it and read it.
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3 comments:
Seriously Josh... that's deep. I really appreciate you sharing this with us, it actually spurred me to start a conversation here.
sweet, that is excellent, I'd love to hear that story. I had no idea you knew about this blog lol.
Man I'd HOPE that the firefighter would try to *avoid* going deeper into the flames...but I digress...
I'll add one other item to this post (which is really good btw):
Too often we focus on the "God will give you whatever you ask" and we turn him in to Santa Clause, but we set ourselves up for disapointment when we didn't quite get the present under the tree we were hoping for.
Christians need to re-think prayer...its not a Holy vending machine, its an opportunity to commune with God...that's the idea anyway. That should be the key focus, not on asking for things. If more people thought that way, less people would be disapointed.
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