Don't Cross That Line...

     God wants all of you. He wants your broken pieces. His is patient; He knows it may take time for you to give Him every piece of you. He seeks you out, whispers into your soul about a love that is incomprehensible for you, but possible for Him to give to you. He will do anything but one thing for you. You read that right. He will do anything but one thing for you.

     What could that be? It is this: He will not cross the boundaries you set in your relationship with Him. He respects our boundaries. He respects them in may ways. First, He leaves work for us to do that only we can do. He allows us to experience the painful consequences of our behaviour so we can change. He is not willing for any of us to perish and takes no pleasure in our destruction (2 Peter 3:9 and Ez. 18:23), but He want us to change for our own good and His glory. It hurts Him deeply when we don't. But at the same time, He does not rescue us; He wants us to work it out for our own good. He will not violate our wish to be left alone, although He will plead with us to come back to Him.  Second, He respects our no. He tries neither to control or nag us. He allows us to say no and go our way. He is a giver. One of the things He will always give us is a choice. 

     If we ever start to complain that God is not helping us, we need to think about if we told Him to leave us alone. If we choose to become stubborn and say, "Well, He knows I want help now because He knows everything. So why can't He just help me?" then we need to ponder on who He is. He will wait for us to ask Him to help us so we have an SLO (Significant Learning Opportunity) in humility. 

     Many people are not honest in their relationship with God even though He prefers honesty. "It is better to not make a vow then make one and not fulfill it (Eccl. 5:5)." We would be much better off is we would say an honest no to whatever God is asking than lie, for the next step could be repentance. 

     Until we can own our boundaries with God, we cannot ever change them or allow Him to work with them. They are hidden and not communicated. They need to be honestly owned, exposed, and made a part of us. Then, we and God can face the problem. 

     In our deeper honesty and ownership of our true person, there is room for expressing anger at God. Many people shut themselves down emotionally because they feel it is not safe or okay to tell God how angry they are at Him. These feelings of fear of being honest can seep into other aspects of our lives. We can start to believe it is unsafe to communicate our thoughts to others because we may suffer retaliation and abandonment. However, we need to honest in everything. We need to use honesty with a gracious manner. To continue: it IS okay to express how angry you are at God, as long as it is not in a disrespectful way. Job wanted to tell God about how angry and disappointed he was with Him so he did (Job 13:3). 

     

     God expects us to respect His boundaries as well. When He makes choices, or says no to us, that is His right, His freedom. If we are to have a real relationship with Him, we need to respect His freedom as He respects ours. When we put Him in binds and say "He has to do something" we are testing His freedom. When we are angry with Him for doing certain things, we are not allowing Him the freedom to be who He is. 

     The basic problem in human relationship is that of freedom. We call people bad because they do not do what we want them to do. We judge them for being themselves, for fulfilling their wishes. We withdraw love from them when they do what they feel is best for them, but what is not what we wish. We do the same thing with God. We feel entitled to His favour, as if He has to do whatever we ask/tell Him to do. It is a childish illusion. He does want us to make Him the bad guy when He makes a decision. We do not like it when others try to manipulate us with guilt and neither does He. When He does something for us, it is out of love and His free will.  We should embrace His freedom so our relationship with Him deepens. 

     Then again, God does not want us to be passive in our relationship with him. Sometimes, through dialogue, we can convince Him to change His mind. We can influence Him if we have a real relationship with Him like Abraham had with God (Gen 18:16-33). Abraham talked God out of destroying Sodom.

     When we make our feelings and wishes known, God responds. It is almost astounding to think this but we really can influence God's decisions. If we couldn't- would it really be a real relationship?

" 'Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord" (Isa. 1:18). Like a real friend, He considers your wishes. But if He knows that they will hurt you, He will dismiss them. 

OMADG