I’m seven days into my adventure, and over and over is the message of God as good Father. I feel like He’s chasing me down with this part of Him. And it stuck me this morning that I will never grow past this with Father God. With my earthly father, my relationship changed as I grew from a young child to an adult and my needs from him changed. With Abba Father, He is always a good Father, and I am loved by Him, always, no matter what I do, say, think, feel. And this will never change. As my relationship with Abba grows, the picture becomes clearer that as I become more and more childlike, my capacity to understand His goodness increases.
I’m still searching for employment and the process is a little slower than I’d like. I’m a get it done, let’s find the solution to this problem, implement what works, tweek what doesn’t and move on to the next thing, kind of person. Thank you Jesus that Your timetable is not my timetable. In this process I have a lot of time to simply read scripture and re-read some of my favorite books. (When Heaven invades Earth, by Bill Johnson, I highly recommend it)
I find myself this morning in 1 Peter 5:6-7, a familiar passage to us all I”m sure. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on HIm because He cares for you.” Now, I don’t know why, but for most of my life, I’ve read these verses separately, ignoring the fact that they are right next to each other for a reason, like, oh I don’t know, maybe one verse informs the other? Shocking. So there is something about humility, the act of being humble that ties to my ability to cast all my cares on HIm.
Now my understanding of humility is that it is strength restrained. I know that it has been popular to denigrate ourselves and call it being humble, but that just doesn’t cut the mustard for me. So go with me on this, humility = strength restrained, lack of arrogance over our own abilities. All strength and ability I have comes from Him, so apart from Him I can do nothing. When I acknowledge that my strength, my ability is as nothing compared to Abba Father’s strength, then my focus shifts from what I can’t do, (keeping anxiety in check) to what He can do (destroying anxiety and throwing it into a very deep dark pit where it will never get out). Humility gives me the ability to release my hold on those things that are keeping me back from all that Abba has for me. And He cares for me, which means He wants me to let go of what I don’t need, so that He can lift me up to what He has for me, because I can’t get to that wonderful destiny by myself.
As a Father He comes to me, pursuing me, especially in the midst of my struggle with this jar of clay and He says, “Why don’t you let me hold all those cares and worries for you. Then you’ll be able to do what you’ve been trying to do all along without being crippled yourself or hurting anyone else.” And sometimes He just smiles and says, “Sit, rest and let Me do it.” Not going to lie, therein lies my biggest struggle, that sometimes all I’m supposed to actually do, is rest in Him.
But just as a father with a child learning a new skill, Abba never asks me to do anything alone or without an example. And here’s what really wrecks me: He loves doing with us. He is God with us – not God through us. I understand that God works through people all the time (both saved and saved, that isn’t my point). Think about the the words God With Us.
The dictionary definition of with: in some particular relation to (especially implying interaction, company, association, conjunction, or connection). The synonyms for with: along, amidst, alongside, among, beside, by, for, including, near, plus, upon. He is God with us. And He loves it, because He is a good Father, that’s who He is. And we are loved by Him; it’s who we are.
Keep Your Wonder 