May 17, 2008
When God Shows Up… And Ruins Everything
Jon Birch has two great cartoons about what may happen when God shows up. There are times when we experience the love of God and peace comes rushing in. Other times we are really, really convicted of sin and have to face up to the parts of ourselves we’d rather ignore.
Becky Garrison commented,
“Except for Isaiah every prophet ran for the hills when they heard God calling them. And the first thing out of an angel’s mouth when they appear to say Mary and Elizabeth is “be not afraid” – a phrase you wouldn’t utter unless someone is shaking in their boots. What’s missing from all these angelic paintings of people receiving word from God and his messengers is the puddle on the floor.”
I’ve heard many wise Christian teachers say that while we’re praying for revival, we often don’t know what we’re asking for or what it will look like. I’m reminded of the religious leaders of Jesus’ time who prayed for the Messiah and kind of killed him when he showed up.
I’m not sure what we can do differently to avoid making similar mistakes, other than being slow to judge and keeping some open lines of communication with God.
Thanks for the last couple of posts. I’m glad to come across something that makes sense to me. I’ve deleted a couple of long comments I tried to write cause they became disjointed and confusing. Exactly how I’ve felt through all this.
I agree with your thinking though. I don’t want to be the guys that wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff when he opened the Isaiah scroll in the book of Luke because he was nothing more than the carpenters son… And yet, to there knowledge he was the carpenters son!
It’s been a long road wading through this. Up until recently I was one of the pastors at a church that has been through a big split over Todd Bentley and these new charismatic ministries. Complicating it all, Todd’s HQ and school of ministry are in our town. He lives here and hosts 4 big conferences here a year. Opinion of him is hot and heavy around here.
But I’m starting to get disjointed again so I’ll stop… but I still go to our little church. I’m uncomfortable myself with a lot of what comes out of these ministries, and therein lies my struggling. But I don’t want to be apart of the mob that tries to kill Jesus or what he is trying to do either…
I try to believe the best and pray the rest. All while still trying not to abandon testing the spirits and discernment. There is so much tension there. But I remember God likes tension!
I’m blabbing again! Thanks for your posts. I hope there can be some good discussion over this stuff.