Control

It's funny how much our ideas of God can grow and mature as we get to know more of him as he has revealed himself.  It doesn't always go smoothly.  It usually goes like this; I read something in the bible I don't like, I brush past it at first but the more I read the more I have to face it.  So I try to excuse it or explain it away, trying to make it fit in with the way I like to think God opperates.  Problem is my view of God is waaay to small.  Don't I want to know who God really is?  What am I afraid of?  I guess we like to think we have things figured out and it's hard when God reveals things in his word that challenge our ideas.  I has this battle with the idea of Gods sovereignty for a long time.  Is God in control or isn't he?  On one hand we want him to be, on the other it means I have no real control - and I like to be in control!  But really do I?  Who is better to be in charge of my life, me or the almighty God of the universe?!  Of course there is the classic struggle with the idea of election and all that goes with it... But at the end of it all, looking at the flow of the bible there is just no denying - God knows what he's doing and he is absolutely in control.  I believe that God is sovereign.

But after wrestling with this idea for so long, I now find it to be solid ground to stand on and a warm blanket around me.  This God excites me.  This God is worthy of worship!  This God saved me when I was still dead in my sin (Col 2:13), while I was still his enemy (Rom 5:10) he drew me to his Son (John 6:44).  Thank you God.  I couldn't understand my experiences over the past few years apart from these truths.  I am so grateful for the way that at just the right time the Lord teaches us just what we need to know, and over these past 5 years I have been reminded that he is both sovereign and good.  He can be trusted.

We need to be careful that we don't try to pin God down to be what we think he is, what is comfortable, what we want him to be, what 'feels' right  but instead we must ask Him to reveal himself through his word and adjust acordingly.  If we don't he is patient, but we will miss out on a richer, deeper knowledge of our God.

Lord I need to know you more than anything else.  Please reveal yourself to me, my family and my community.