How involved do you believe God is in our life? This question has been running through my mind lately. I can't quite seem to grasp how to view God's work in our lives.
If you were to take a poll and these were your options to the question...."How involved is God in your life?" what would be your answer....
A). God is involved in every single area of my life.
B). God is not all that involved in some areas of my life.
C). God has a hands-off philosophy with his creation. He set it in motion, but He rarely intervenes or interferes.
D). Everything that happens to us is a direct result of our own choices. There is not anything in life that happens to us that we don't somehow deserve.
Not a very good selection of answers I know.....but I thought it might get some of us to thinking or responding.
I was talking to someone today at church and she mentioned how rampant the view of "we get what we deserve" from God is in her sphere of influence. It, of course, made me wonder what those type of people thought I had done to deserve to lose my husband at 35. Sure, he wasn't perfect and neither am I....but I see so many other people who live every day of their life thumbing their nose at God...why is that they are still here and many of them living full and long lives?
I know logically that that type of thinking is dangerous.....but why is it so rampant? Or, is it just a matter of time before those type of people will have to seriously reconsider those type of assumptions.
But, the question is still there....exactly, how involved is God in my life? Is there even a point to praying...if He is so uninvolved then why pray?
I know that I have felt His presence in my life. His presence has been extremely powerful....but...I just don't quite understand how it all works.....
Shelly
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
IF He knows every hair on my head then I have to believe He is involved in my life...
IF I am fearfully and wonderfully made and not just a product of my own parents dysfunctionality then I have to believe He has a plan for my life...
Do I always ACT or react like I believe that...no but I think I am coming to believe it.....now what do I DO with that belief.....????
I don't have an issue with the "knowledge" God has....I believe He knows me completely. What I don't understand is how involved He is in my every day life. Does He cause certain things to happen....in order to accomplish a desired purpose? Or, does He allow certain universal principles (i.e. gravity, etc.) to rule the earth and we just live with the cause and effect of those things.
Is He this hovering helicopter of a God who is ready to swoop down and spare us from any peril if we but just ask him to....
Is he the ultimate wish granter in that if we just pray the right prayer hard enough and long enough He will eventually grant our desires (as long as they are in line with His)....but, really, didn't God know the desire of my heart was to spend many, many years with my husband....and if so, then it is cruel and unjust to take him away so soon...
I can't picture God as either one of those....yet, I think that that type of thinking has shaped my spirituality....
just trying to muddle through this...
You opened up a whole can of worms for me today...reading about Joseph I wondered all that you mention as well..I keep coming back to being in and under His protection and that word baffles me... but at the same time I get some comfort....protected but not safe.....then I remember the Lewis quote re: Aslan....the children asking IF he safe and the beavers reply NO but HE is good I tell you.....so yeah alot to muddle through and thanks for allowing me the privilege of muddling through it with you...keep processing thanks....I've gone from lurker to well.... to something!
I'm not so sure it's me that has the chipmunks running in her head.
To answer your question "How involved is God in your life?" with only the given choices I would have to settle on .....
Somewhere between A and B. I can't just choose one answer, you know. So, why did I choose that? I would like to think that God is involved in every aspect of my life, but I'm just not sure I can say that anymore. So, that would lead me to choose B. But, I wonder if it's that He is involved in every aspect of our life, but He varies His involvement in certain circumstances or situations. But, I'm not so sure I'm comfortable with that answer either. So, basically I am just telling you that I don't really know what I would choose if I HAD TO choose one answer.
What is the point of prayer? I think it's more for our benefit then it is for God's. I'm reading a book right now on prayer by Phillip Yancy and am trying to answer that question myself. We shall see.
It makes me think though and that's not a bad thing.
You've opened or helped open up a whole can of ...something...for me.....I think I thank you.....
BJK,
Thanks for interacting with me...glad you are not just a lurker anymore....
Hmmm....I am still struggling with these issues myself....it seems like a domino effect....when you question one thing or you adjust your thinking in one area...it causes everything else to domino with it.....there is a balance somewhere..I am just still looking for it....
If I say that God didn't cause Brian's accident then I lean toward God being somewhat uninvolved in our daily life...which isn't how I have lived my life.....
But, if I say God causes all things and even caused this wreck to happen to achieve some purpose then it skews my thinking towards maybe we did do something to cause it to happen....but this is actually a safer way to go for my faith because it compels me to just trust that it will all work out....but, I can't say that God causes horrible things...it just doesn't fit his nature....
I read the Joseph story again....something that struck me was that it says several times that "God was with Joseph...."....it appears that He was with him even through the "crap" that happened....I don't know, I got interrupted when I was reading it...need to read it again....but it seems to reinforce my experience in that I have felt God's presence at all times throughout my struggles....I just can't figure out how He works....
Shelly
And can we be OK not having balance or figuring it out?? Have you ever read any Larry Crabb stuff??
If you ever want to email discuss stuff let me know I would more than enjoy the opportunity.....
Re: Joseph I saw that this AM too...the whole to his brothers, 'don't worry about anything God put me here'...I don't know I always thought the old adage what man intends or intended for evil God turns into good worked....just alot to think about and I enjoy having someone to think about it with...thanks
BJK,
Yes, God takes us as we are...and I should be ok with not completely understanding everything...it would be arrogant, I think, if I ever thought I did understand it all....but, there has to be an honest attempt to understand it and work through it....for some reason I can't allow myself to take the easy way out so much anymore....I would just like to get it right....as close to right as I can...I really want to understand how God works so I can be faithful to His truth...not just my version of how I think he works...
Me too....so I will go back to lurking and listening.....this stuff is real and getting scarier for me....thanks
Post a Comment