Are You "Filtered?"
We can easily take on faith that everything is ordained by God: “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3).
We can avow to the cry to God which says, “You are good, and what You do is good” (Psalm 119:68).
...and then comes pain.
But if the God who ordains all that we witness is truly sovereign, and truly good in all His dealings with us, should we not then accept that He remains the same, even as He moves us into situations in which we are hurt?
Perhaps we're reluctant to see that God desires for us to be 'patient when wronged' (2 Timothy 2:24); outright resistant to the fact that we're to 'accept joyfully' (Hebrews 10:34) the injustices committed against us. But I tend to think that the issue centers not so much on whether we know our calling, or are willing to release an offender from some “debt,” nearly so much as that we dislike relinquishing our claims to “self.” We tend to act like a container which must fastidiously hold the liquid within, as though we must harness all of our troubles in an effort to defend and preserve ourselves; as though we must not suffer to “spill.” Yet the reality is, we are not our own (1 Corinthians 6:19-20); the moment we submitted to His Lordship, we forfeit all those claims, which means we are not to hold anything – even pain – as our own.
God is particularly clear in His wanting to “filter” the pain through us; in seeing us become sieves, which let pour through us all the hurt and wrongs which He would have transferred to His hands. Indeed, He has declared repeatedly that any pain we experience He is already most eager to take unto Himself (1 Peter 5:7; Psalm 55:22; Matthew 11:29).
Yet somehow we only see that truth when, surrendered to Him, we finally stop striving to preserve “self” and begin perceiving that what lie before us, willing to receive the pain we are incapable of bearing, are the nail-pierced hands of the One who Himself was “emptied” (Philippians 2:6-7) --
So the question is: Are you “filtered?”
We can avow to the cry to God which says, “You are good, and what You do is good” (Psalm 119:68).
...and then comes pain.
But if the God who ordains all that we witness is truly sovereign, and truly good in all His dealings with us, should we not then accept that He remains the same, even as He moves us into situations in which we are hurt?
Perhaps we're reluctant to see that God desires for us to be 'patient when wronged' (2 Timothy 2:24); outright resistant to the fact that we're to 'accept joyfully' (Hebrews 10:34) the injustices committed against us. But I tend to think that the issue centers not so much on whether we know our calling, or are willing to release an offender from some “debt,” nearly so much as that we dislike relinquishing our claims to “self.” We tend to act like a container which must fastidiously hold the liquid within, as though we must harness all of our troubles in an effort to defend and preserve ourselves; as though we must not suffer to “spill.” Yet the reality is, we are not our own (1 Corinthians 6:19-20); the moment we submitted to His Lordship, we forfeit all those claims, which means we are not to hold anything – even pain – as our own.
God is particularly clear in His wanting to “filter” the pain through us; in seeing us become sieves, which let pour through us all the hurt and wrongs which He would have transferred to His hands. Indeed, He has declared repeatedly that any pain we experience He is already most eager to take unto Himself (1 Peter 5:7; Psalm 55:22; Matthew 11:29).
Yet somehow we only see that truth when, surrendered to Him, we finally stop striving to preserve “self” and begin perceiving that what lie before us, willing to receive the pain we are incapable of bearing, are the nail-pierced hands of the One who Himself was “emptied” (Philippians 2:6-7) --
So the question is: Are you “filtered?”
posted by Purple at 4:09 PM
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