I’ve been there many times. That moment when you pray for something and just the opposite happens. You expect God to do something amazing in your marriage or with your finances or with your children and it turns into a major fail. In that moment you feel a twinge of resentment and bitterness. You look to God and think “This relationship isn’t working.”
Part of that thought comes from a distorted message that we often hear in church.
Jesus will make everything better.
When you obey God He will bless you
Jesus can help you live “your best life now” (I couldn’t help it😀)
These phrases while partially true can get you lost in the woods without a GPS when it comes to your relationship with God.
Jesus will make your life better but better is defined on his terms and he died on the cross as a criminal
When you obey God he will bless you but the blessing may be different than what you think. His greatest blessing is relationship with Him
Jesus can give you “your best life now” but your best life is a life shaped to be like His
That moment when you feel like God is not working for you is a first step into learning what relationship really means. The idol worshippers in Biblical times worshipped with the notion that what they did controlled their gods. If the crops failed its because they didn’t do the ritual correctly or didn’t worship in the prescribed manner. Jesus comes and shatters that idea to pieces. The crowds came to make Him king but that was only so He could work for them (John 6:15). They wanted his fishes and loaves. They wanted the healing and miracles. They wanted him to destroy the yoke of Roman oppression. They wanted a king they could control. They wanted an idol but Jesus gives them so much more. You can’t have a true relationship with an idol in the same way you can’t have a true relationship with someone you try to control. “This isn’t working for me” is often a sign that instead of loving the other person you are using the other person. You only see them for what they can give you but not as a person. Sometimes we only see God as money or health or marriage and not for who he truly is: The Lord of the universe
What does that mean? He gets to decide what goes down in his territory. It means that we do not control Him with our behavior and our rituals. it means that anything He gives us is a gift. Ultimately it means that the relationship is not about things going your way because the relationship is not about Him being hired help. You have been invited to participate in intimate friendship with the Creator of the universe who loves you and truly knows what’s best for you.
