THE BREAD GOD HAS GIVEN
Exodus 16:9-16
I have several random thoughts about this passage. Sorry if i'm confusing today.
Thought #1:
"And there it was: the Glory of GOD visible in the Cloud."
So all the people turned and saw the glory of God in a cloud. How amazing is that? I mean, what did that could have to look like? I'm imagining bright, colorful, puffy, and large. But who knows.
Thought #2
I've always heard that i am supposed to delight in the Giver, and not the gift. Have you heard that? For example, when God gives me a good experience or a good friend, i'm supposed to worship Him for it, and not turn to worship the experience or the friend.
But i've also heard that we should ask God to give us enough daily bread. Or manna. And as the book said this morning, "If you haven't formally complained to God about this matter, do so."
So i don't get it. I guess i feel like i've been told to act satisfied in God even if i don't feel like it. And while God deserves our worship through whatever emotion we're feeling, i think he expects our honesty as well. So i think it is good and right to complain to Him when i don't feel like He's enough. Because at least i'm going to Him with what i feel. And i'm not running to something else besides Him.
But then i think of this quote:
"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."
-John Piper
i confuse myself...
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That is confusing..
ReplyDeleteI think God wants to know when we don't feel like He's enough, or at least he wants us to hear us say it, for our benefit. He wants us to know that we can come to Him with anything, even problems that we have with Him. So that we can find closure, i guess. When we come to Him, telling our complaints, that He will respond. It's just that we have to be open and accepting of it..
I feel like Im being confusing as well, but Im trying my hardest to make sense.
Thanks Kara. It has always been a confusing subject for me. I appreciate you putting it in your own words though...It helps. :)
ReplyDeleteMichelle, I always love reading your thoughts. You bring up a good point, too. How can God want to hear the human pleadings of our heart AND see our ultimate satisfaction rest in Him alone - at the same time? The way I reconcile this in my mind (which may or may not make sense) is this:
ReplyDeleteI think God's ULTIMATE goal for each of us is John Piper's quote, for us to be fully rested and satisfied in Him alone...which will SCREAM His glory to the nations. However, we are all broken and we are all in process. Though I may have a day I fully live out what John Piper says, I will have another day that I revert to my weak humanity and look for satisfaction elsewhere...or lose my focus...or just, out of my humanity, do not understand WHY something is happening. In those moments, I think, God wants us to remain real with Him. When we know (in our head knowledge) that God is good, but we hurt and do not understand how he can be good because someone young dies tragically and hurt is dripping from everyone's faces, God wants to hear about that from us. He wants to know where we are...not just where we wish we could be. God isn't a God that says, "Suck it up, wipe the tears, now be Godly." He is a God who wants to walk through our complaints with us, wipe our tears, and show us how to be Godly. So, I guess I think that because we are in process and none of us are ever holy enough to constantly find our 100 percent satisfaction in the RIGHT place, God's greatest desire to is to know us...and to meet us where we are...so he can take us where he wants us to be. When we try to skip a step and just be where we think He wants us, we miss out on the intimacy and probably His direction along the way. Probably more than you wanted to hear from me. I enjoy discussing our questions, though, because it makes me think...and if you can't tell, I process as a I talk, write, sing...lalalalala. :)