Is God For Me? Pt. 2

So. I didn't think a follow up would happen this soon. That last blog was kind of different for me, because usually I'm blogging about something amazing I learned from something I read in the Bible or heard preached in a sermon. Anyways, I like to write about getting to know God better, and the the thing is, the reason I haven't written anything in a long while is not that I still haven't been learning, but rather that I just feel like no one listens. Really it just means that no one listens the way I expect them to. I mean, just because I feel like God isn't as close as I want Him to be, doesn't mean that He isn't. It just means that I feel that way.

Feelings is feelings.

Anyways, I heard something really awesome that completely took me by surprise today as I was getting ready. I was listening to the last ten to fifteen minutes of the teaching by Dennis McCallum that can be found here:

http://www.xenos.org/teachings/nt/matthew/dennis/mat16-2.htm

(That may be an older version, so I can't completely vouch for it having the same info as the one I heard today. The one I heard today was titled "Matthew 16 - The Transfiguration and Metamorphosis," and can be found by subscribing to Xenos podcasts preached by Dennis McCallum.)

Anyways, the part of the teaching that spoke to me was about how Peter was so overcome by the presence of Elijah and Moses and Christ's glorification that he blurted out that they should erect a temple. Then Mr. McCallum asked the question if any of us has ever had a spiritual high only to be followed by the feeling that God has left us or at least is keeping His distance from us. Completely relevant, so I listened up. He said that things go that way for two reasons. Either we are living a life of undealt with sin, so we are the ones impeding Him, or (and this was the part that took me by surprise) that those sought after "experiences" may actually be a sign of spiritual immaturity, not maturity. In other words, God may need to give younger or more immature Christians the "signs and wonders" for the purpose of making things clear and proving Himself to them, whereas for more seasoned believers, there may be times of the sense of abandonment. The thing is, it's not really abandonment. It is the time for faith testing and strengthening.

This makes complete sense. For instance, when was the time of Abraham's faith strengthening? Was it during the time when God pointed to the stars giving him a promise? No. It was when Abraham was about to plunge the sacrificial knife into the heart of his only son of promise. That was no picnic.

I think of Paul too. Paul's time of strengthening wasn't when He was preaching and teaching in synagogues, being bitten by snakes, or healing people. His time of greatest testing was when he asked for his affliction to be removed--more than once--three times. I can completely identify. I think most of us can. It's easy to believe in God when He totally hears you and gives you an answer. It's REALLY hard to believe in God when you have a huge problem that God won't remove.

Or else consider: When was Christ's work accomplished? Was it when He was riding a donkey through the town like rock star? Was it when He turned water into choicest wine? Was it when He fed over 5,000 people? No. It was on the cross, when He took the sin of the entire world upon Himself. Sin so great, so evil, so unholy that the Father Himself actually abandoned Him for a moment. That was nearly literal abandonment. That is abandonment that only God Himself could do to Himself. That is abandonment that God would never do to us.

My little sister gave me some references that explain this concept:

Romans 8:25-29
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And I really like this one:

Hebrews 12:11-12
11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.

The abandonment on the cross was Christ's ultimate testing, not that stuff in the wilderness by Satan. The real test wasn't being offered principalities and powers by a lesser being, the real test was abandonment by the Almighty Father for the sake of humans who deserve abandonment, but now can recieve eternal security. Pretty interesting dichotomous concept.

So, the point isn't that we are suddenly immature in our faith if you or I go back through the time of spiritual high of amazing God experiences. Those times are great, and should be recognized as great, but those times are NOT necessarily mutually exclusive to spiritual maturity. As Ps. McCallum puts it in the same teaching, "Those times should be welcomed, but not idolized." Good advice.

Anyway, nothing has changed on the outside. I'm still struggling with failure, and I'm not going to say that "everything's all right" when it's not. Life still sucks, but God is for me. I know this now. I'll probably need reminders in the future, but. . .that's sanctification for ya.