What Shocks Heaven
WARNING: prepare for some sarcasm
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CAN YOU IMAGINE?
A bank president hands you a check for $10k, and you thank him with a hard slap to the cheek.
IMAGINE…
You’ve contracted a deadly virus, and a doctor gives you an injection that saves your life, and you repay him with a punch to the kidneys.
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ONE DAY…
You awake as a castaway (like the movie staring Tom Hanks.) Someone rescues you, and in place of a thanks, you stab his liver.
Unfathomable
Absurd
IN THE PHYSICAL REALM, those ungrateful reactions would be frowned upon, unthinkable if not shocking.
BUT IN THE SPIRIT REALM? Do we have the Spirit-vision to recognize and understand what’s happening in the unseen realm when the physical world turns chaotic? 1 Cor 2:14
When life doesn’t match up to my dreams or expectations, what’s my initial reaction? Accuse God?
“Lord, what were You thinking? Major fail! I thought You had this worked out for me.” The prophet Jeremiah had to walk the Israelites through the same thought process: “What injustice did your forefathers ever find in Me?” said the Lord?
GOT TROUBLE? At some point, life will feel as if it’s spiraling out of control. Take the time to ask a few questions rather than jumping to conclusions:
- “Where are You, Lord?”
- “What work are You doing here?”
- “What is Your perspective on this situation?”
EVEN AT MY BEST, I see dimly from my low place on this earth. But God sees past, present, and knows the future. He sees above and under and all around even in the dark and hidden places of man’s heart.
WHY look to my measly self for the answers when I have access to the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16
THE ONLY OTHER OPTION is to use God’s “injustice” toward my situation as a license to rely on human strength and resources. Fact: there never was nor will be any injustice in God; which means we’ve entered into idolatry (the ultimate expression of unfaithfulness to God). Nor is God slow, for “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” 2 Peter 3:9 ⇐Peter points us back to that bigger, universal picture we can’t perceive with human eyes.
ALWAYS A GREATER PURPOSE. Once I surrender my circumstances to Him, He will fight on my behalf to either shift my circumstances or deliver me out of a situation that harms me. YET even knowing this about Him, I’m still tempted to let my doubts override His character and promises.
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DROUGHTS, DESERTS, & DEATH’S SHADOW
When God leads me through difficult times He won’t abandoned me in the dark places–what glory would He get from doing that? But He might lead me where no one else lives—a type of seclusion—so i can learn to live with Him. Live in Him. Live for Him. Strong foundations are essential to a thriving, Heaven-driven productive future.
MASTER COORDINATOR. He coordinated all that “moving and shifting of people and things and situations on my behalf” —> to bring me into a bountiful land to enjoy its fruits and all its good things.
I did nothing to deserve any bountiful fruits, but He chose to bless simply because He’s merciful. As the song goes: “You’re a good, good Father; it’s who you are.” (Song)
“STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES”
Or, as Jesus put it, “You know a man by his fruit” especially when hard times hit. And considering God is perfect in ALL His ways, willfully looking to myself or other worldly solutions as a fix flies in the face of wisdom and logic.
. . . And that’s when Heaven gasps.
“BE ASTONISHED AND APPALLED, O HEAVENS, AT THIS; be shocked and shrivel up with horror, says the Lord [at the behavior of the people]. For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, and they have hewn for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns which cannot hold water.“ Jeremiah 2:12-13
YEP,our own so-called provision buckets can’t hold water. And the farther we run from Him, the more trouble and fear consume us.
Ouch…
YOUR WORD & PROMISES ARE TRUE AND JUST
O Lord, help me never to stray from the path You’ve set before me
no matter what the sidelines look like
no matter what evil eyes glare at me from the tree lawn
no matter what storms rage overhead
For You are faithful!
You are true!
You are my God
and I am Yours.
