accusations

Over the process of the last decade or so, the thing that God has been teaching me is that His character exists outside of my circumstances, meaning that my circumstances don't dictate his character. If I am poor it doesn't change the fact that he is still my provider. If God doesn't answer my prayer requests the way I want Him to, it doesn't mean he is not faithful. Things to keep in mind. His ways are not my ways and His thoughts are not my thoughts. His plan for each human being is that we would 1) know His son 2) be made into the image of his son. Anything else that happens in this world is superfluous. Wealth, health, success, fame, etc are all secondary (if not tertiary, or 293 iary) in the Kingdom of God. So what do we do then as humans when we are confronted with pain? We ask God to change our circumstances. It's the wrong thing to pray. The correct prayer should be to ask God to change us. Not that he doesn't want to change our circumstances, but that's like going to a bank and asking them to do a heart surgery. You're asking the wrong question to the wrong person. You've got to go to a doctor to get a heart surgery. So with God, we have to ask him God questions...heart transformation questions. That's the business of God. So let's say you're presented with pain, and you are asking God to change your circumstances and your circumstances don't change. Then what? The enemy comes in and lies to you. He tells you that God has abandoned you. He accuses the character of God to you. In the Garden, in Genesis 3, we see this being played out for the first time.
The Fall of Man
1Now (A)the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

2The woman said to the serpent, "(B)From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

3but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"

4(C)The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die!

5"For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and (D)you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

6(E)When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they (F)knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
God told Adam/Eve don't eat from this tree. So when she was confronted with that boundary (rules are just like painful circumstances, because we are confronted with our weakness and we are given a choice of who will be God in our lives) the enemy came in and told her that 1) God is a liar. He says you'll die but you won't. 2) He is holding out on you. He is keeping good things from you like the ability to know good and evil. 3) He doesn't have your best interest at heart or he wouldn't be holding out on you. The enemy accuses the character of God to Eve. This puts her in a position of whom she will believe. Will she believe in the character of God or will she believe the lies of the enemy. Will she allow God to be God or will she choose to be in control of her own fate. Eve/Adam like the rest of humanity after them have been confronted with this exact same situation and have believed the lies of the enemy. We have allowed the enemy to convince us that God is not who he says he is. God's character is outside of the space/time continuum. He is: loving, just, faithful, a provider, merciful,long suffering, slow to anger, quick to love, peace, etc. When I am confronted with pain I get to choose who to believe. When I believe that God is who he says he is, I ask him to transform me into the the image of his son. So whatever his character is I step into agreement with that part of him, and am changed.

So when you have the capacity to see that God's character is being accused in your life, you are at one of those moments where you get to choose who will be God. You get to choose to be transformed. I imagine that God is like a waterfall and I'm standing in the desert. When I step into his character and believe him, I am refreshed. All of the sudden the places of fear and doubt are washed away and I believe that God does have my best interest at heart and that he is not holding out on me. He longs to bless his children. If an earthly father would give his child good gifts how much more will the heavenly father. Again, they are tertiary at best. His main purpose is that I know his son, and am transformed into the image of his son. That means there will be crosses to bear, and there will be a choice to die to myself. But those are the moments when we are closest to him. The cross is the greatest invitation to intimacy. When we share in the sufferings with Christ, we will know him better than those who don't go to the painful places.

I pray for our family that apathy will be removed from our house and that we will long see with clarity the beauty of the man, Christ. I pray that in times of pain and frustration we will choose to believe that God is who He says He is, and will ask to be transformed into the likeness of the Son. I pray that we will carry our crosses, choose to die, so that we may have new life in Him.

He is worth it! He is all together lovely!