Different lessons
I awoke this morning considering my fear of losing, even in things that don't matter, realizing that this was put in place in me maybe 55 years ago because if God isn't going to take care of me, then I have to win. This is really the general case of all the nations saying, "What will eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?" but I didn't realize that until now.
Of course winning is sometimes necessary, especially if it can be done without making others lose any more than necessary, just as we do need food, drink, and covering. It gets ugly when we line up our food and drink, our petroleum under the sand of others, and power over other people because we think God won't take care of us - by dropping white phosphorus and depleted uranium on little kids and wedding parties in far away places. But in general, it gets pretty ugly with any of us when we have to win in case God won't take care of us. Indeed, all these specific cravings are special cases of having to win, however unjustly, because we're saying in our hearts that God won't care for us. Lamech the 6th from Cain had this problem (Genesis 4:19-24). I can see God not subsidizing that death in my life, so I'm glad to be getting this argument worked out with him today. Such faith toward the truth is in fact what real winning is.
We had a situation with lost car keys this morning. So why was God not asked for some help, as wrath and frustration was increasing? Well, God doesn't care about me and won't help me was the answer. So there was a big issue behind this tiny torment of the car keys. It is just as the proverb says, "A man's folly subverts his way, and then his heart rages against the Lord" (Proverbs 19:3).
The thing about this proverb is that it is simply a truth, not even a moral judgment. Our folly, and we all have some, always causes us to rage against God when that folly issues in trouble. An awful lot of rage comes God's way all the time, and for him it's really in one ear and out the other, like the three-year-old shouting "I hate you!" Even if we're in Christ, this sewage will keep frothing up all the time as a matter of course, and there's no condemnation for us in it, so long as we get around to telling the truth. It's expected, so there's no problem once we arrive at the correct diagnosis, that our folly got us in this mess and that God is not to blame, although God will have to be the one to dig us out of it.
Of course winning is sometimes necessary, especially if it can be done without making others lose any more than necessary, just as we do need food, drink, and covering. It gets ugly when we line up our food and drink, our petroleum under the sand of others, and power over other people because we think God won't take care of us - by dropping white phosphorus and depleted uranium on little kids and wedding parties in far away places. But in general, it gets pretty ugly with any of us when we have to win in case God won't take care of us. Indeed, all these specific cravings are special cases of having to win, however unjustly, because we're saying in our hearts that God won't care for us. Lamech the 6th from Cain had this problem (Genesis 4:19-24). I can see God not subsidizing that death in my life, so I'm glad to be getting this argument worked out with him today. Such faith toward the truth is in fact what real winning is.
We had a situation with lost car keys this morning. So why was God not asked for some help, as wrath and frustration was increasing? Well, God doesn't care about me and won't help me was the answer. So there was a big issue behind this tiny torment of the car keys. It is just as the proverb says, "A man's folly subverts his way, and then his heart rages against the Lord" (Proverbs 19:3).
The thing about this proverb is that it is simply a truth, not even a moral judgment. Our folly, and we all have some, always causes us to rage against God when that folly issues in trouble. An awful lot of rage comes God's way all the time, and for him it's really in one ear and out the other, like the three-year-old shouting "I hate you!" Even if we're in Christ, this sewage will keep frothing up all the time as a matter of course, and there's no condemnation for us in it, so long as we get around to telling the truth. It's expected, so there's no problem once we arrive at the correct diagnosis, that our folly got us in this mess and that God is not to blame, although God will have to be the one to dig us out of it.
posted by Peter Attwood at 9/20/2009 03:29:00 PM
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