"Thinking rightly about God." This is one of the phrases my hubby said and absorbed in seminary. Just lolling the words on my tongue gets me excited. Why? Because theology matters, folks. You may say, "Well, I'll leave all that theological wrangling to theologians and professors. I don't have time."
The truth?
You must think deeply about what you actually believe. Who you actually believe.
Who is God? Who are you in relationship to Him? What does He require? What makes Him smile? What grieves him? Do you truly believe He is sovereign?
I've been thinking a lot about people and theology and tragedy. And this is what I've come to see. Tragedy reveals your theology. You may say, "I believe God will provide." But what if you lost your job? Is that still your belief?
We faced this when we lost our home to a conman while we were missionaries in France. Of course, my initial reaction was shock and anger and fear. Initially, I worried that we'd lose our credit, our home, our financial reputation. But as all that settled into me, I stopped myself. In the quiet, the Lord said, "Mary, do you truly believe I own the cattle on a thousand hills? Or not?"
I wrestled. I had said I believed that. Many times. But now I had the chance to truly see if my theology was reality.
"Yes, Lord. I believe. I trust You," I said. In that moment, the most beautiful and counterintuitive peace settled over me. And then we lived happily ever after.
Nope.
We did lose the house.
Our credit was thrashed and trashed.
We went through foreclosure.
But the miracle of the ordeal was this: God infused perfect, surprising peace in me throughout the 6-month-long trouble.
And ever since that time, my worry quotient when it comes to money is much, much lower.
This is why knowing what you believe and Who You believe is important today. Because there will be tragedy knocking someday. The question is: Will your theology stand up to the tragedy?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
This is where we old folks say, "the rubber meets the road."
Profound, and lived it.
Good blog post.
Amen, Mary. In the end, it's just stuff. We can trust in it, or we can trust in Him. I'm finally beginning to rest in that.
Sandy
Sadly, most of the time that the "rubber meets the road," I struggle and pound away on my own power.
Then, when far from control, close to desperation, and completely stressed, I finally remember to call on the Lord in prayer. (duh!)
Like Moses, who became very quick-to-pray for his "stiff-necked people" (with good reason), and Paul, who called us to "pray in the Spirit on all occasions," I pray that trusting and praying to Jesus will soon become the first thing I do, rather than the last.
Oooooh....my. Important words for me to think on.
Really good stuff here, Mary. Our theology gets a good check when things like cancer and death hit home too.
Again, so relevant to my life right now and I am so so so so so thankful that in the midst of the trials I can say yes Lord, I believe in You, I believe You and I trust You - only You. Yeah for a Father who comes through for us!!!
Thanks for the reminder. I'm learning as I am growing...lean on Him, he won't topple over, trust Him, he'll never let you down (my new mantra)
"Amen" goes right there!
To love the Lord with all my MIND will seal the love in my heart.
Jean
http://www.jeanmatthewhall.com
We always say, "Tough times reveal one's character", but I'd agree with you that they also reveal your faith.
I've similarly had my rubber meet that road with similar results.
Mary, thank you for sharing that difficult time. My family is close to that situation, depending on my husband's job. The Lord gave me a dose of reality with "if your faith is not good enough for times like these, when is it?"
Blessings**
Some people think that having faith and trusting God means we will live in a fairy tale. Thanks for your post to remind us that when we go through the bad times, and there will always be bad times, that He is there to help us and as long as we believe and trust there is no better way.
Carma
We are in the midst of losing our house among a series of hard turns in the past 2 years, and even when I want to run or turn away, I draw closer to Him and he ministers my soul in ways he couldn't were the cuts not so deep. Not that there aren't days when I cry out to Him in anguish, but when I let go of the fear, let Him have control, the peace is so much sweeter.Thank you for sharing your heart...
Yes, unfortunately, tragedy catches up with all of us eventually, and this summer that proved true in our family. On July 12th my 22 year old beloved grandson was lost on the Talkeetna River in Alaska and not seen since. My son (his father) and his family are devastated, but praise God, they are Christians and take comfort in knowing that our Jake is with the Lord. We miss him terribly, but we KNOW where he is.
Post a Comment