Reveries and Passions
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
more tomorrow than today | 6:19 PM |

I'm reading the book "Disappointment with God" by P. Yancey again...and a chapter really stood out to me today as I read it. For those of you that have the book, it's on page 92...but I'll type it out anyways:

When the prophets complained loudly about God's hiddenness, God didn't argue. He agreed with them, and then explained why he was keeping his distance. To Jeremiah, God expressed his disgust with what he saw in Israel: dishonest gain, the shedding of innocent blood, oppression, extortion. He covered his eyes, he said, refusing even to see hands spread out in a posture of prayer, for those hands were covered wih blood. To Ezekiel, God explained that once Israel's rebellions had passed a certain point, he simply "gave them over" to their sins. He withdrew, letting the people choose their own way and bear the consequences. To Zechariah, he said, "When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen."

My slowness to act is a sign of mercy, not of weakness.

When God did not punish quickly, the people of Israel presumed he had lost his power: "He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine." They were wrong. God's restraint marked an interlude of mercy, a time of probation he was granting Israel. Reluctantly, like a parent out of options, God resorted to punishment.


I think this really spoke to me cause a lot of time I complain about God's silence and His lack of intervention in my life...but who am I to complain? I know there were many times that God spoke to me and I simply brushed His words aside. Then when I'm in trouble I come crawling back. I dunno, I guess it helped me to put things into perspective. God's silence isn't necessarily God's lack of power, rather...it's our lack of obedience...our lack of desire to turn astray from the path we've fallen to.