Disagreeing With God

Have you ever felt led by God to do something? If not then this post might not have much value to you but if you have then let me ask another question. How did you know that God was leading? Was it circumstance, a big bright light, a still small voice, or just your heart? Usually Gods’ leading is really confusing. In fact… it’s always confusing and the biggest problem with it is that it’s not always what you want. But it’s always what He wants.

God and I don’t always agree with each other… it’s shocking, I know. It’s also pretty dumb if you think about it but I bet if you’re honest with yourself you’ll see it too. And how I wish, oh how I wish, that God wanted what I wanted. And, don’t get me wrong, sometimes our hearts and God’s heart just collide in agreement and it’s beautiful but sometimes it’s just more complicated.

So what do we do? Do we try to conform God to us or us to God? Now if we call God Lord and we truly believe He is God then the answer is obvious; we must go through the grueling and painful process of conforming our will to God’s will (of course this means going through the equally grueling process of finding God’s will… topic for another post). This means dealing with our problems instead of ignoring them. It means stopping long enough to discern.

In my life I can see where God has placed me and where He wants me but my heart wants to be somewhere else. Many of the people who are closet to me are in one place but my life is somewhere else and God has done so much to put it there. Now I have the confusion of wanting one thing but knowing that what God wants it different. So this is a very important time. When you come to a place like this there are two directions you can go. You can either fight God or follow God and trust that what He has in mind is better than what you have in mind. There’s no how-to book or instruction manual there’s just you and God and community. I add community because if you’re ever doing it alone then God isn’t there. God is in community. This means you have to open yourself to community, sometimes even ask for help and that can be the hardest part.

As difficult as it all may be, and it is difficult, God is there. He calls for your trust and obedience. His will is confusing and even painful but it’s always good. The pain of the cross is the symbol of new life; this is the paradox of God’s love.

Comments

Dan McGowan said…
I understand the thrust of what you are saying here and, on many levels, I tend to agree. However, I don't agree with the statement that God's leading is confusing. God is never confusing. He is crystal clear. The issue is not God's confusion - but ours. The assumption here is that we are on the right track and that, somehow, when God speaks, it is hard to discern what He REALLY wants. But that is not true. For example, God's message to Jonah was pretty clear - and the confusion came in when Jonah decided to run the other way - and then end up as fish food. On the other hand, God was equally "clear" with Noah - who, because He walked with God, DID hear what God wanted - and then decided to OBEY what God said.

God is never confusing. He cannot be confusing. He is always clear, correct and accurate.
wellis68 said…
Ok, Dan.

Whatever... it's good to hear you have such a direct line to God. I bet you'll find yourself pretty alone in thant when people are being honest with themselves. I just don't have your divine understanding. I find myself a little bit like Jesus crying in the garden; angry, frutrated, nervous, but desparately trying to trut. God's will is confusing to me. I don't know why He does what He does all the time. I don't know why there are famines and earthquakes and tsunamis but I can, with all my might, try to trust that His will is best for me.

-Wes
Dan McGowan said…
You didn't read what I wrote... which is too bad... if you read what I wrote, you would have CLEARLY read that I said GOD IS NEVER CONFUSING and that is 100% true! Then I went on to say that WE are the ones who mess things up - in now way was I saying that I have a direct line to God and for you to say that proves you did not read what I wrote. Life is hard, no doubt. And you are going thru a hard time - AND - God is never confusing.

If that still does not make sense, such is life.
wellis68 said…
You really gotta think about how you word things. I think you're trying to say God is not confused... I agree.

Saying that God is confusing is saying that we are confused by Him, you seem to agree with this. to say He's not confuing is saying that we shouldn't have any trouble understanding Him and I have a whole ot of trouble. If God is clear to you then you must have some direct line to God. The truth is God is rarely clear at all. He's mysterious. He's clear to Himself, of course, but not to us... well most of us.

Dan, I'm not in the mood to argue. Can we please just take the post for what it is and stop disecting all the time. In this particular post I'm more concerned with expressing myself than I am with being theologically sound.

-Wes