Here we see God: He sits up there on a cloud in his castle, eating grapes and drinking wine. And the poor servant boys and girls hold their faces to the earth, kneeling in the dirt, pleading their cases. And God pretends to listen, waving his wand, but we know he's paying more attention to the drama of Desperate Housewives than our problems. All the while, we are poor servant boys and girls gathering to plead with God over our cancers and flat tires and broken homes. We lie down here and say, "O God, bring us a good gift of healing. Take away our pains." But we know our hearts are saying, "Come on God.You've got to have something better up your sleeve." The great magician, working his magic as he pleases. Our hope is in his tricks.
Do we really want our God to hide cards up his sleeve and make rabbits come out of his
hat? Do we really want him to make our grandmas and grandpas and mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers and sons and daughters reappear just as he had allowed them to vanish?
But what if pain and suffering was really the good gift all along?
Here God sees us: We are starving children. Fully depraved in every way. In need of a
good gift.
"Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God— let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help."
Hebrews 4:14-16 (The Message)
We forget that God has given us the greatest gift of all-- eternal salvation in Jesus Christ. God has experienced our weakness. God has done the unthinkable in relating to us:
"Rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!"
Philippians 2:7-8
God does not merely ask us to shout out to him as he sits up on his throne, watching
television. He invites us up to heaven, where he dwells, to enter into his court. He invites us to his table to have fellowship with him. He invites us to have a relationship with him:
"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations."
Psalm 100
Our God has given us the greatest gift of all, which is Christ. He hears our cries and answers us with love and empathy. God's gifts are good and personal. He is not that great of a magician, so we should rejoice. He does not sit around watching television, waving his wand apathetically. He is greater, wiser, and stronger than any magician. Suddenly, ‘He’s not that great’ changes to ‘He’s not that great of a magician’.
"I am a no-longer-teenage twenty year old who is studying Youth Ministry and Counseling at Grace College and Theological Seminary. I write to process what I can't figure out, I ride my bike to feel like a butterfly, and I play guitar and sing to express what I can't say. I have a great passion for the poor, lonely, and oppressed. This is currently enunciated through a brand new local homeless ministry led by my best friend and I. In two years, my greatest dream is to move to France with my soonish-to-be husband, Travis. God has laid on my heart a burden for the French. My greatest hope for today is that God will use these words and thoughts to glorify Himself."