Angry at God?

I am frequently asked if it’s OK to be angry with God, and my answer, without hesitation, is always “yes.”   I base this on Martin Luther’s first rule of prayer, “Never lie to God.” 

            You see, I firmly believe that God can deal with almost anything --- even our anger.  What He can not deal with is our silence.  He cannot cope with our turning away, with our pretending all is well when it is not. 

            If we will not speak, if we will not listen, there is nothing God can do.  He will not force Himself upon us. 

            Pretending we are not angry runs against the scripture, where time after time persons of faith pray in loud angry waves, railing against the God they love -- and then finding their relationship with the Lord not torn asunder but knit together once more, at times even stronger. 

            One of my favorite passages about this comes from PSALMS NOW  Psalm 88.  I should warn you, it is not a feel good psalm with a happy ending but I think we all know the truth of it:  .......

            “My life is one long series of conflicts and defeats... 

            Without strength, forsaken, shunned bythose around me,

            I feel as if I were separated forever from You.

            I am assailed by afflictions, attacked by obsessions,

            and all but forgotten by God and human beings.       

            and yet I cry out to You even when the assaults of this life

            and the fear of death surround me and close in on me. 

            I look to You for some ray of hope.

As despairing as this Psalm may be I think of it as a Psalm of great hope, for it is unashamedly honest and allows God space to reply.  Angry at God? Be angry.  Just don’t turn your back and walk away.

Hooray for candy, flowers, and love

    Who am I to poo-poo a day set aside to show others how much we love them.  Besides in these long days after Christmas retailers can use the boost in sales of chocolate candy, chocolate covered strawberries, expensive cards, and diamond jewelry --- not to mention the dozens upon dozens of roses that are delivered with great delight.  No I say celebrate all these things – just don’t forget that they are not the real signs of love.

   

     Love is found not in what we give but in how we behave.  Perhaps the most beautiful description of that is found in I Corinthians 13.

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

The problem is no one can live up to this standard no matter how much they may wish too.  Dirty socks on the floor can make us resentful.  And we can get irritable when things don’t get done they way they should. 

This scripture is our ideal of human love, not its reality.  In reality, love is hard.  It requires listening and talking problems out.  It requires “I’m sorry.” And “I forgive you.”  It is not a 50-50 proposition but requires each partner to give at least 75% to the relationship. 

But when it works, there is nothing more like heaven than a good marriage. In the meantime: chocolates, roses, and diamonds can’t hurt!

What Is Fasting All About?

This is the season that for many Christians is known as Lent.  It is a time for us to prepare our lives for the crucifixion of our Lord.  During this time, it is the practice of many Christians to fast.  But exactly what does that mean and why do it at all? 

Fasting is one of the spiritual disciplines talked about throughout the entire old and new testaments.  It is a discipline of devotion and repentance and requires that you give something up (sacrifice it) for a period of time.  When you long for what you have decided to give up, it serves as a reminder to pray.

What you fast and how long you fast is up to each individual.  For Lent we fast for forty days (not including Sundays which is a celebration of the Lord’s resurrection). 

 Some will fast from chocolate, others will fast from meat.  Still others may fast from television or time on the computer surfing the internet.  The point is to devote time to God in prayer throughout the time of the fast. 

But it is also important to notice how you are to fast. Jesus is very specific that you are to fast in quietness without drawing attention to yourself so hat others won’t think of you as a kind of super-Christian.

What kind of fast is God looking for?  Does it count if I give up the cooked carrots I hate?  Not exactly.  Scripture is clear that it must be a fast of atonement, a fast of repentance, a fast where we turn from our unrighteous ways and live into God’s ways and God’s justice

So during this season of Lent I would suggest a different kind of fast – a fast that will change our lives perhaps forever, bringing us closer to being the people God would have us be. 

Let us fast from criticism and feast on praise; fast from self-pity and feast on joy; fast from war and feast on peace; fast from jealousy and feast on love; Fast from fear and feast on faith.  Let us live as God would have us live.