Excuses

I’m tired of making excuses for God.

Am I the only one who does this? I hate bad-mouthing anybody — least of all my Good Shepherd. And so I find myself saying the equivalent of this:

God’s a nice guy. He means well; He just hasn’t come through for me yet.

That’s ridiculous: it’s unsatisfying to me, and it’s belittling to my King.

I realize that there are passages in the Bible where people “justify God.” But that’s more than excusing Him — it’s showing God to be in the right in all that He does.

In other words, He not only means well; He is doing well — today! If I were to see what God sees about my life right now, I’d unable to contain myself with joy. I’d be waving my arms and jumping up and down. I’d be…I don’t know. Singing? Shouting? Dancing? All that and more.

Well then.

Since that is the case (and there’s nothing surer in this universe), I want to have more spunky trust, more robust faith — something that rises up in my heart and says:

My God is good! Period. Sure, some of His actions are puzzling to me, but He does all.things.well. His purposes are not simply to be endured, but to be praised!

Now that’s my King.

8 Comments

  1. Wow. That is just exactly what I needed to read at this moment. It’s so perfect, it’s almost funny! I’m very careful to assure everyone else that God is good, His wisdom is perfect. How many times in my life have I wisely quoted the words of Rom. 8:28 – you know, the “all things work together for good…” verse? And yet, if I truly believed it in my heart, I would be unable to contain the joy of knowing I am LIVING in the goodness of God. Present tense. Here. Now. In the middle of this situation, and this bad mood, and this day in which everything seems to be going wrong….etc…..

    Thank you so much, Elisabeth! God knew I needed the reminder today!

  2. Elisabeth, you cannot possibly have any idea how much I needed to read this message today! So much wisdom concentrated in so few words…

    “If I were to see what God sees about my life right now, I’d unable to contain myself with joy. I’d be waving my arms and jumping up and down. I’d be…I don’t know. Singing? Shouting? Dancing? All that and more.”

    I simply loved that! Thank you for glorifying God through your writing skills.

    Be blessed!

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