R U ARGUING WITH GOD?

The following is a letter written to my daughter who  is struggling with the ups and downs in her life and needed a word of correction and encouragement. My prayer is that this may touch your spirit  should  you be struggling in your life as well...remember God loves you so much that He has already given his Son in death so that you might forever live with Him....HALLEUJAH!

Good Morning Little One...

I am compelled to write to you after reading your blog post of yesterday and talking with your Mom, who was visibly disturbed after her reading. It seems that you are going through a valley in your life at this time and may be struggling to find your way in this maze we call life...or you just may be a emerging cynic who is becoming the "town crier," running about the village shouting the alarm that your sky is falling. In either case, let me try and share a word or two of encouragement and correction as I deem appropriate.

First, congrats on your "baptismal birthday;" however, in the grand scheme of life it does not make you anymore "saved" than someone that doesn't know when they accepted Christ, got baptized or failed to follow in the ordinance of baptism. The act of baptism was NEVER meant to be a goal line or a measuring stick of your arrival into the Kingdom...it was always meant to be an outward expression of an inward decision in obedience to the Lord's direction. So if you have asked Jesus into your heart to be the LORD and SAVIOR of your life, then nothing else is required. With that said, here's the rub...Most of us get the fact that we NEED A SAVIOR; all we have to do is look at our life and see that we have made a mess of it and we fail to live a holy and righteous life that is required to be a child of God. It is a life that no one can live; one that is pure and blameless. So, we willingly and wonderfully accept what Christ did for us on the cross and count ourselves as blessed because Jesus was willing to trade his life for ours...that's where we get the "warm and fuzzies."

It is the other part, making Jesus Lord of our life, that creates all the hassles and heartaches of life. We want to give God control of our lives, especially since He has promised us an "abundant life" but giving up control of who we are and what WE want; well, that's not so easily accomplished.

In fact, that is where the conflicts and the arguments begin. We TELL God what we want and then we pray as if there is no other alternative that could possibly be right for us. So when God does not value our opinion and give us the desires of our heart, we begin to doubt His love and His commitment to take care of us and provide for us. In fact, if we are not careful in this way of thinking, rebellion rears its ugly head and we find ourselves at odds with God...us seeking to go in our direction and God pulling, prodding and provoking us to follow Him where He leads. This conflict leads to great tension in our relationship with Him and often can lead to a total breakup...us going our own way and leaving God out of our lives altogether.

It sounds to me in reading your blog that you are engaged in an argument with God about your life. This happened and that happened and that made you unhappy and wrecked your life and so on and so on.  Let me say this to you in great love and affection, arguing with God about what has happened in your life to date is an argument that you can't win....simply because GOD IS SOVEREIGN and YOU ARE NOT!!!

This simple lesson took me years and many heartaches to learn...and my hope is that I might spare you from some of that heartache. I would ask you to do me this favor. Pull out your Bible and go to the book of Job and start reading at Chapter 37 through Chapter 40, with particular attention to verses 1 and 2 of chapter 40. It calmly asks, "Will the one who argues with the Almighty correct Him?"

It is sooo easy to look at our life and lament about how it has turned out so far and to want to question God and argue with Him about what He has allowed to happen and why we find ourselves in such "bad" place. We fuss and fume about what He has or has not given us and continually try to correct His way of thinking so that He will get back to our "plan" for our life and we can once again be happy.

Here's the truth about our happiness and God...He is not interested in making you or me happy in the living of our lives; however, He has promised that when we seek HIS WILL FOR OUR LIVES that all the things we need and many of the things we want (that would make us happy)....HE WILL ABUNDANTLY SUPPLY....and the caveat, He will supply all our needs in HIS TIME!!!!

So my prayer for you is simple....quit arguing with God about the past or even the present and begin to trust Him with the child-like faith that says, GOD YOU ARE THE SOVEREIGN BEING IN MY LIFE AND I SUBMIT MY WILL TO YOU SO THAT YOU MAY LEAD ME WHERE YOU WANT ME TO GO. MAY MY LIFE BE A TRUE REFLECTION OF YOUR SON AND HIS LOVE AND MAY I QUIT GRUMBLING ABOUT HOW BAD THINGS MAY HAVE BEEN IN MY PAST OR MAY BE IN MY FUTURE. HELP ME TO KNOW THAT YOUR LOVE IS SUFFICIENT FOR ME AND WILL ALWAYS SEE ME THROUGH TO A BETTER AND BRIGHTER FUTURE, ORDAINED BY YOU TO BRING YOU HONOR AND GLORY...AND IN THAT I WILL FIND TRUE HAPPINESS.

AMEN!

May God Hold You In His Loving Arms as You Surrender to Him,

WPQ