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Overwhelmed by God


For years, I’ve told people that I’m a champion worrier. I can take a seemingly innocuous situation and come up with reasons to be concern. This morning, for example, I walked into a kitchen full of ants enjoying the remnants of one of my dog’s dinner. Not only is this disgusting, but for worry-warts like me, it makes my question whether or not I’m a good keeper of my family’s house, whether I’m a good pet parent, and about a thousand other concerns that have absolutely nothing to do with the ants’ march into my kitchen. To see my worrying in its finest, is really a sight to behold – and not a good one as my husband can attest.

A few years ago it was impressed upon me that despite my natural ability to earn a gold medal in worrying, it really wasn’t a godly characteristic in my life. While I was quite willing to trust in God for salvation, I wasn’t doing such a good job of trusting Him with life’s little mishaps. So began a process of learning to turn things over to Him – and of knowing that they were in His hands from the beginning anyway.

Recently, though, I’ve learned it’s not just about giving things over to God, however, it’s about taking all He has to offer instead. For, as John Montgomery from California Baptist University recently said, I should “be overwhelmed by God instead of being overwhelmed by life.” God not only takes our burdens upon Him but he offers His grace, mercy and love in exchange. When we are engaged in all that God is, our problems not only seem small in comparison, but they are overshadowed by the magnitude of Him. We are amazed by His mercy, in wonder of His grace, and overcome by His love. When all we see is Him, we cease to focus on our concerns.

The truth is this is not easy, but it’s not because of any insufficiency on His part. It’s because we choose to focus on other things. However, the more we choose His bigness over our smallness, the closer our perspective is to being aligned with His. And the more we do this, the more He consumes our life, and the more others can see just how overwhelming God is.

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Hope

The Proof is in the Putting

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er;
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

These words, penned by Louisa M.R. Stead in 1882 have been sung in churches for generations. They stand in sharp contrast to the many antagonists who posit that you can’t proof that God exists. The writer states in this hymn that the proof is possible, because His presence has been demonstrated in her life.

I reflected on these words recently, as I pondered when it meant to “prove Him o’er and o’er.” For those who have walked the Christian journey for any length of time, we recognize that as assuredly as there are moments of confident faith, there are instances of questioning despair. A loved one is diagnosed with cancer. A loving marriage is shattered by divorce. A child is the recipient of unspeakable pain. All of these, quite naturally, can cause us to question God; maybe not in the “do You exist?” sense, although that can certainly be the case. However, even in the staunchest Christian when faced with their personal protagonist of pain may wonder that if God has mercy on who He has mercy, and compassion on who He has compassion (see Romans 9:14-16) why does He withhold His power in bringing healing in our particular situation?

That’s when I realized, the proof that the lyricist wrote about wasn’t, I believe, in having a life in which all pain was immediately obliterated, but instead, was in continually putting her faith in Christ. In other words, to change the phrase, the proof wasn’t necessarily what happened in that particular circumstance, in the “pudding” so to speak, but the proof was in the putting…the perpetual commitment to trusting that God was in control, and that in the end His purposes and His plans would stand firm. God’s existence isn’t proven or disproved through His decision not to prevent a particular trial, but as we continually trust Him we see the proof that He is continuously trustworthy. His faithfulness is often clearest seen in our steadfastness to Him.

Now, some may say this is circular logic. “You are creating what you suspect” they may say. However, my challenge is this. Try it. Followers of Christ know that trusting in God often leads you to what you would least expect, so its not like a preexisting determination is making the equation true. However, by putting your trust in Christ, you can see how in your own life, He is proven faithful, time and time again.

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