Cathy's Corner

Cathy’s Corner

 

Don’t Hurt the Lord

 

“Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip.” (John 14:9).

 

Our Lord must be repeatedly astounded at us – astounded at how “un-simple” we are. It is our own opinions that make us dense and slow to understand, but when we are simple we are never dense; we have discernment all the time. Philip expected the future revelation of a tremendous mystery, but not in Jesus, the Person he thought he already knew. The mystery of God is not in what is going to be – it is now, though we look for it to be revealed in the future in some overwhelming, momentous event. We have no reluctance to obey Jesus, but it is highly probable that we are hurting Him by what we ask—“Lord, show us the Father…” (14:8). His response immediately comes back to us as He says, “Can’t you see Him? He is always right here or He is nowhere to be found.” We look for God to exhibit Himself to His children, but God only exhibits Himself in His children. And while others see the evidence, the child of God does not. We want to be fully aware of what God is doing in us, but we cannot have complete awareness and expect to remain reasonable or balanced in our expectations of Him. If all we are asking God to give us is experiences, and the awareness of those experiences is blocking our way, we hurt the Lord. The very questions we ask hurt Jesus, because they are not the questions of a child.

            “Let not your heart be troubled…” (14:1, 27). Am I hurting Jesus by allowing my heart to be troubled? If I believe in Jesus and His attributes, am I living up to my belief? Am I allowing anything to disturb my heart, or am I allowing any questions to come in which are unsound or unbalanced? I have to get to the point of the absolute and unquestionable relationship that takes everything exactly as it comes from Him. God never guides us at some time in the future, but always here and now. Realize that the Lord is here now, and the freedom you receive is immediate.  

                                                                                                            Oswald Chambers

 

            My prayer is to be simple because I need discernment. It’s not that hard sometimes to discern between good and bad, most of the time it’s pretty obvious. But how do we determine what to do when it’s good and good?  What’s good and what’s best? I want to do what God wants me to and I want to be obedient, but sometimes I’m not sure what it is He wants me to do. I know it’s not Him and it’s me. I want to see the evidence where He is using me but I don’t.  While I have others who may tell me what they see, I’m guilty of wanting to be fully aware of what God is doing in me. That’s where my unreasonable and unbalanced expectations of Him come in. I don’t want experiences to block my way and I don’t want to dwell on my experiences. I truly do not want to hurt the Lord. I guess I am because my heart is troubled and I’m struggling with different things in my life right now. I don’t want my questions to be unsound or unbalanced. I do believe in Jesus and His attributes and I know He is guiding me right now. I just want to be simple and be able to discern the best from the good and then do what God wants.

 

 

Have a great day in the Lord!