This morning I was catching up on some reading in blog land and I got to Parchment and Pen, that post (linked) specifically.
In the post C. Michael Patton is saying that we should love God the way a newborn baby loves his parents. He makes a comment about something one son said to him as he was talking to one of his newborn children. The exchange went like this:
"Not too long ago Zack was an infant. I remember holding him in my arms and was talking to him. One day when I was doing this Will (my then three-year-old son) profoundly informed me that Zack could not understand. 'Daddy, Zack does not know what you are saying!!' was his comment. I said to Will, 'This is how you learned to talk and understand. If we keep talking to him someday he will be able to respond.'" [Emphasis added]
That last sentence literally hit me like walking from inside a dark house and stepping outside on a bright sunny day. I had a clear and new view that I hadn't even thought about or considered before. I think the rest of the post Mr. Patton goes on to speak of a different topic (spiritual growth) but that sentence spoke volumes to me. In fact I couldn't get past that sentence without sitting down to write this.
If our default state spiritually is like newborns, we can't do anything on our own. We can't understand what God is saying to us. But God continues to speak to us in ways that He knows will teach us how to speak to Him. Struggles, hurt, suffering, blessing, grace and other ways. God pours all this out on us and we turn to God (or away from God) and ask "Why, why is this happening to me?" And a lot of the time we feel like we don't get an answer, but we are trying to talk to God. As we seek God in our trials (and blessings, but probably less in our blessings) we are learning how to speak to Him. It's God teaching us to talk to Him!
This is a hugely exciting revelation to me because it puts a point on what I go through when I go through suffering and trials. God does care for me in all things and no matter what happens, He loves me and wants to have conversation and communication with me so He is teaching me how to talk with Him.
Amazing!
~B.
Yay! Praise God for His revealing more of Himself to you. Altough I have never had cancer, I'm willing to bet that it is this kind of revelation that makes the suffering and the trials bearable. Our heart longs to know our Father. Our Father longs for us to know His heart.
ReplyDeletePraying through Psalm 30 for you this morning.
Pray for a young man named Chase. He is going through some tough times that you would understand more than anyone I know.