Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Is God Mad At You?

I had an illuminating moment this weekend. As part of the Father's day weekend at our church, all of the kids came up on stage and helped sing one of the songs. Talk about a great photo opportunity.

My four year old, Alyssa, is just getting to the age where she can participate in these kinds of "big kid" events. As she strode up to the stage, she beamed with joy. The kids all put on sunglasses, only Alyssa's were on a little crooked. She was about half a beat behind in all of her motions, but she was late with gusto. And I sat in my chair and just laughed my head off. It was a huge joy, on this special day, to take absolute delight in one of my children. What a memory!

After the kids went downstairs, we read a Psalm together about David crying out to God for help. And this is God's action about halfway through the poem, "He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me."

As I reflected on this idea, I couldn't help but think about the joy I had in watching my daughter and how this Psalm was saying that God felt the same way about me. Wow.

How do you think God feels about you? I think if you ask most of us (Christian, non-Christian, whatever), we would say that God is angry, upset, disappointed, or let down by the shallow, self-centered lives that we live. Strangely, this view of God is largely absent from Scripture.

Did you know the most repeated verse in the entire Old Testament? (The part of the Bible most people refer to when describing God as judgmental, angry, disappointed with us, etc.) It's this:

But you, O Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to get angry, full of unfailing love and truth. Ps. 86:15

This phrase is repeated no less than 9 times! Do you think maybe it's time to change the way we view God? I mean, can you imagine a God who sits in heaven and takes incredible delight in your life, in who you are, because he made you and he loves you? I think this would change the way that I live. I know it would certainly change the way that I pray.

I hope today that you will know a God who delights in you. Get to know that God.

Live, laugh, and journey on,

Nick

1 comment:

Melanee said...

Ahh, this is beautiful, and I am certain that God is delighting in you for illuminating His true character with such a precious, perfect example. I can't imagine how He must feel to hold this unfathomable love for us, and to have us view Him in the manner we do. Thank-you for pointing out His mercy in the Old Testament. I will pass this along.