Not Your Typical Game of Hide and Seek

"If God never did anything else for you, he would still deserve your continual praise for the rest of your life because of what Jesus did for you on the cross. God's son died for you! This is the greatest reason for worship."

I wonder where we got the idea that we deserve the things that we have.

It has been said that if you can read, you are among the rich; and if you can afford to buy a book to read, you are among the richest in the world. In 2006, Books-A-Million made $520 million on book sales in the United States. How dare we complain?

The quote above comes from Rick Warren's devotional The Purpose Driven Life. Reading the book has given me lots of new things to think about. One thing that Warren talks about is the presence of God. Sometimes God intentionally hides himself from us for the purpose of testing and maturing our relationship with him. While he promises that he will never leave us, God desires faith from us, whether we feel him near or not.

Sometime during my senior year of high school God began to distance himself from me. I believe he was testing me, and I realize now that I didn't exactly pass with flying colors. When I ceased to feel the Lord's presence, I became angry and confused and scared. It isn't that God can't handle these emotions from us, because he can. The problem was that I was dependent on my feelings rather than my faith. In other words, I didn't feel God, so I began to doubt his presence all together. Selfishly, I wanted to God to make it obvious that he was with me and when it wasn't so obvious anymore I said 'forget it'.

Perhaps God knew that the only way I was going to learn the true meaning of faith was if I spent over a year doing things my way--hence the pit I'm currently making my way out of, by the grace of God. The past year without the Lord's direction was miserable. I allowed Satan to latch onto my weaknesses and take full advantage of them, wreaking havoc upon every aspect of who I was. Demons from my past came flying back at me with frightening force. I began making terrible choices and all of my relationships suffered because of them. Occasionally God would make himself known to me, and I would rejoice and praise him in relief...until he left again. Every time he backed off again I dug a little more desperately and sunk a little deeper. He reassured me that he was faithful countless times, to no avail. I'm sure it pained him to know that I was going to have to learn this lesson the hard way.

We are given a perfect example of what true faith in the Lord looks like in the life of Job. Considered the greatest man in the East, Job lived comfortably in the country of Uz with his wife, ten children, and large estate. One day the Lord spotted Satan among Job's sons. When God expressed pleasure at the glory that Job's life brought to him, the evil one said of course he worships you! Look at all his wealth! He has nothing to be afraid of; nothing has tested his faith. I assure you that if you strike down his possessions, Job will curse you to your face.

So God gave all of Job's possessions over to Satan under the condition that he leave Job himself alone. So it came to be--in the course of one day Job lost everything: his children, his wife, his livestock, his servants. He was left with nothing. While Job's losses and his suffering were great, his response to it all was much greater.

"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I will leave this life.
The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.
Praise the name of the Lord."

This isn't to say that Job wasn't angry and heartbroken, confused and lonely--of course he was--but in spite of his feelings, he remained faithful to the Lord, praising his name all the while. God rewarded Job for his faith and integrity by later multiplying his wealth and surrounding him with family members who would comfort and uplift him. What an incredible display of faith on Job's part and faithfulness on God's!

So back to Rick Warren's quote at the beginning. God doesn't owe us anything. We, on the other hand, have him to thank for our very lives. I am fortunate enough to be able to write these words, and you are fortunate to have the ability to read them. However, even if we had absolutely nothing, God would still deserve our worship nonetheless. He did his part by becoming human and dying on our behalf. He gave us this life, and it is our job to have faith that he is who he says he is, regardless of whether we feel his presence or not.

"Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God's throne."
Hebrews 12: 1-2