Friday, March 12, 2004
The act of asking something from God and getting it is both a daunting and comforting prospect. Daunting because although He cares about the smallest details in your life and He wants you to think out of the box in asking from Him, there's no stopping Him from using those opportunities to test your heart's resolve. He wants you to really think it through and be specific with what you're asking. Why? Because He wants us to weigh our options carefully and to be aware of the instance He answers it. Beware of the times when our requests are dictated by our present emotional state. Allowing it makes us think smaller than what we usually do. Emotion narrows down our perspective resulting in tunnel vision of the future. If by His sovereignity and grace, He so chooses to answer in the positive and gave us what we asked, maintain a genuine attitude of thanks throughout the whole affair. Our intentions may or may not be good at the time but it is his prerogative in how He chooses to answer them. It is also a comforting process because despite of our shortcomings, our narrow mindedness, our shallowness, or no matter how many mistakes we make there's always a safety net waiting down there below us. We only have to humble ourselves even more to see it.
For example, I asked that my friend be blessed financially and that he would love his wife even more. This was in accordance to His revealed will but the problem was it was a selfish request because it only had a lot of "me" written behind it. Because I was absorbed with the perceived benefits of what I asked for, I missed His answer and thought there was a conspiracy. I felt like I blew something again and I don't know what it was. Like that scene in the movie Labyrinth (which is a wonderful allegory for Spiritual Warfare) where the main character was being bogged down by things from her past in a deliberate attempt to make her forget her mission, so was I being held down by thoughts of betrayal, assumption and other junk. One morning I was cornered by one simple thought: "Do you honestly think that God conspired with your friend to betray you?" As much as possible I avoided blaming God for my troubles. He's good. He came through to me everytime in the past and I know it isn't his nature to do such things. Right? But whether I liked it or not, I became like Jonah. I broke down, answered yes and, in between sobs, said I was sorry. Now if this were a Hollywood movie, a Divine spotlight would shine on me accompanied by a heavenly choir and God would speak in a big booming voice like James Earl Jones, speaking words of affirmation and fixing everything in a snap. Nothing that dramatic happened in reality. What happened next was a period of quiet rest before I was able to get up from the stupor I was in. Soon after that "desert experience,"* I also figured out that in answering my petition weeks ago He also tested my maturity in handling the situation. I'm very happy I passed the test.
* No matter what the outcome, God uses that process to remind us that we're still human and to show us what kind of foundation our professed faith stands on.
For example, I asked that my friend be blessed financially and that he would love his wife even more. This was in accordance to His revealed will but the problem was it was a selfish request because it only had a lot of "me" written behind it. Because I was absorbed with the perceived benefits of what I asked for, I missed His answer and thought there was a conspiracy. I felt like I blew something again and I don't know what it was. Like that scene in the movie Labyrinth (which is a wonderful allegory for Spiritual Warfare) where the main character was being bogged down by things from her past in a deliberate attempt to make her forget her mission, so was I being held down by thoughts of betrayal, assumption and other junk. One morning I was cornered by one simple thought: "Do you honestly think that God conspired with your friend to betray you?" As much as possible I avoided blaming God for my troubles. He's good. He came through to me everytime in the past and I know it isn't his nature to do such things. Right? But whether I liked it or not, I became like Jonah. I broke down, answered yes and, in between sobs, said I was sorry. Now if this were a Hollywood movie, a Divine spotlight would shine on me accompanied by a heavenly choir and God would speak in a big booming voice like James Earl Jones, speaking words of affirmation and fixing everything in a snap. Nothing that dramatic happened in reality. What happened next was a period of quiet rest before I was able to get up from the stupor I was in. Soon after that "desert experience,"* I also figured out that in answering my petition weeks ago He also tested my maturity in handling the situation. I'm very happy I passed the test.
* No matter what the outcome, God uses that process to remind us that we're still human and to show us what kind of foundation our professed faith stands on.
@ 6:46 PM ---> 
