| A year ago I wrote this on Xanga:Who Is Your God ?The other day I was running through Lyons Woods and I had a deep thought.
It occurred to me that whatever, or whoever I am afraid of or worried about is what I am ultimately worshipping. Now that may sound very odd, but lets think about it.
If, for instance, a new neighbor moves in next door and they have a pitbull that is snarling and eating a hole in the wooden fence that separates him from your children, you are very likely to become anxious about that dog. Now you have despaired of God's ability to protect you and care for your family; you have descended into a mode of thinking that actually thinks that God has somehow lost control of your welfare. At that moment your worship turns from the worship of God to the worship of Dog. Its all backwards.
Whatever gives us a care; whatever we fear, is what we worship.
The cure for fear, anxiety, unrest, worry, and all that interferes with our peace of mind is to repent of having lost our trust in our God who loves us and always gives us what is His best for us.
People say that there is no God. But actually there is no Dog.
Ok, well, there is no denying that there is a dog, but how silly is it to let a pitbull eclipse our trust of God? We will have to find a way to deal with the pitbull but let that be guided by God for whatever purpose He has in this situation. And let us approach the problem with a cool head on our shoulders - the kind of peaceful disposition that reflects that we worship a God who we trust in every situation.
The fear of God is wisdom, and those who fear Him are blessed with peace of mind for they have rightly appropriated their awe and reverence.
If or when we catch ourselves fearing the Dog, we must immediately recognize that we have misappropriated our awe and reverence. We must stop and say: "God, forgive me for loosing my trust in You. You are my God. Forgive me for making a god of this thing that is barking and snarling at me. Restore me Father. I want to trust You with all of my heart." At the time in my life, when I wrote this, my retirement funds had been mismanaged by my employer, and I had little assurance that they would fix it. My insurance benefits were whittled away to nothing. I felt like our whole family identity revolved around our lack of money. Then the Lord put it on my heart to teach a boys bible study for CYT. I dug deep in to the word to search for what a man of God is, and God used that bible study to show me that my hope is in Him and not in me or my circumstances. Several weeks after I wrote that, I was chosen to be the greenskeeper of Birmingham Country Club. I can't even begin to report all of the cool things that I have been able to do here. Just being here on this great golf course is unbelievable. What a year! But even if I was back there still struggling in those difficult circumstances, I would say the same thing about God's love. But I sure am glad I don't have to watch that pit bull any more. |
