Teddy Bear or Lion

“For I know the plans I have for you, “ says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me.” Jeremiah 29:11-13

We are often reticent in our prayers because we are unsure of our standing with God. “What does He intend for me?” we ask. “What if His calling for me is to do some terrible thing, like travel to a foreign country where I will be persecuted?” “What if He wants me to be single for the rest of my life?”

This mistrust is natural, to a certain point. After all, God is not like us. He says that He is the embodiment of love and yet He was willing to drown the known world when they became evil. He claims to be humble and lowly of heart and yet He drove the money changers out of the Second Temple and cried out against them, “You Scribes and Pharisees…hypocrites! Blind leaders of the blind! Whitewashed sepulchers full of dead men’s bones!”

Many people feel that because God is love, He should be comfortable like an old shoe, a teddy bear or your grandfather. When they encounter the real God, not their make-believe one, they are shocked and left with these lingering doubts as to His intent. This is a good thing. We should never get so comfortable with God that we forget that He is – well – God! He is omniscient where we are pitifully ignorant. He is omnipresent when we are stuck in one place. Where He is terrifyingly holy and pure, we are the very essence of sin…and sin can find no place in God. His presence destroys sin.

But with all these qualities that should distance Him from us and leave us groveling on the ground, there remains one stupendously confusing element in God. He desires intimacy with us! Unbelievable, I know. Incomprehensible, I realize. And yet, there it is. The Sovereign Lord wants to get one on one with you and He says that His intentions are good. He wants you to have a future and a hope. When He limits you, it is for your safety. Where He calls, He shows you the way. When He calls, He will give you the strength and grace to not only endure it, but will cause you to flourish in that calling - no matter where it is, no matter what it is.

It’s like having a lion suddenly roar, charge you and just as you throw up your hands in despair, he suddenly stops. Purring, he nudges you out of the way of a dangerous serpent that (unbeknownst to you) was sneaking up on you. Unsettling to say the least; but once you understand what’s really going on, it can be quite a rush.