So, I was reading Story by Steven James (again) and this part especially jumped out at me and I wanted to share it :)
God's silence offers us the choice--faith or sight. We can either abandon our faith or learn to trust in the dark. God leaves that choice up to us. And all the while he's more interested in our faith in him than our ability to decipher his silences. The poet Coleman Barks wrote, "The only way we know the play of destiny and free will is to dance the mystery and die inside it."
When you listen to a song, you only hear the harmony because of the emptiness between the notes. If the song is too full of notes, it becomes nothing but noise. To hear the harmony you have to let the silences have their place in the song. It's like each note is a pearl upon a necklace and the silences are what strings them all together.
Maybe God knows that without his silences in our lives, we will never hear the melody of faith.
I think in every person's life a day comes when faith becomes a choice. You can either give up on the silence of God or choose to trust him in the dark as Jesus did while he was dying on the cross.
In the end, most of the Israelites gave up on God.
And at last, God stopped sending his prophets. He stopped speaking to his people. The Old Testament ends with the word curse. And that terrible word echoed in the hearts of his people for four more centuries.
While God remained silent. As silent as the sky.
I had to fight to not put quotes around the word SILENT. I feel like what we think of God being silent isn't what He thinks silence really is. But, maybe He is silent. And maybe silence is all of that...what we both think.
I've been thinking a lot about how crazy the story of creation and everything from there to here sounds. Pastor Steve spoke about that today, I was talking to Jen on the phone and she touched on it today, I was reading Story and that was the part I came to... Now, I could say "that's coincidence, like so many things in my life" or I could say "Cool God, thanks for putting it all together for me." I choose the latter because I believe in God. BUT when it's hard to swallow, but I know I believe my Father, then I just trust Him and believe it. I would rather just have faith and believe than try to explain it all away. I love how Steven James put it here, too:
It's so absurd, this king of the galaxies lying in a feed box for animals, this Creator crying in the stable. Anyone can see at this point that this story isn't man-made. Who would ever believe it? If I were making up a religion that I wanted people to believe in, I'd never insert stuff like this. Only God could tell a story this ludicrous and then claim that it is true.
Also, I can't explain a feeling. I just know inside of me that I have yearnings for something bigger than the here and now and life would be too hard to accept without a Creator who made us with a purpose in mind (to reflect him in love).
It's so cool to think about God and time. I won't get into it here, but OH EM GEE, right? We have time and everything is governed by it. God doesn't, so my right now is the same as my conception and the same as Zoe's college graduation. It's happens simultaneously...or no, that's a time word. Everything that WILL happen to us, HAS ALREADY happened. Wild! I could talk about it for hours and discuss and debate, but I shant here.
I think I'm in a time of wonderment and enjoying Jesus as a hippie would and as a fist pumping lunatic would . I'm all "oooh, pretty Jesus" while simultaneously all "POWERFUL GOD, SEND ME! SEND ME! I WILL GO FOR YOU, JUST TEACH ME HOW! I WANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD AND SHOW THEM YOU ARE LOVE AND THEY CAN BE LOVED"
But then, the flesh side comes in and I'm afraid I'm offending someone. But, we're all adults right? You can take what I say, like it or toss it. Wow, how did I get here in this blog? Haha, my mind is a hot crazy mess all hopped on the Holy Spirit (and i love it). That's what I get for going to Celebration Church... ;) I just didn't know it could be like this.
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