Recycling Judges: Which God?
As we wade in,
ㅤ as we immerse ourselves,
In his story…
We find we are continuing to wrestle…
Continuing to struggle with…
God.
For parts of the story still leave questions.
Doubts.
Uncertainty.
Of who he is.
Of who we are.
Of why we are.
Of what our purpose is in Light of his story.
For we have an image of who he is.
But our image,
ㅤ our understanding of him,
Is based on our desires.
Not based on his story.
His truth.
Our image of him,
ㅤ our view,
Sometimes draws us towards him.
At other times the image we’ve constructed drives us away.
We reject who we think he is,
ㅤ instead of searching for the truth of who he is.
Those times of rejection lead us into desperation.
Into a misery from which we require rescue.
And rescue is what he offers.
For even in the midst of our rejection of him,
ㅤ he chooses to reveal himself to us.
He shows us his Words.
His story.
Through connection,
ㅤ though interactions we and others have with him,
He reaches out to us.
By his inspiration he reveals his desire…
His desire to be seen.
His desire to be known.
His desire to bring us into relationship.
Relationship with others,
ㅤ and with him.
But we lay our constraints,
ㅤ our personal interpretations,
Over his inspiration.
We turn his words into ours.
His image into ours.
His desire into ours.
In our fear,
ㅤ we resist the calling.
The calling to move into his story.
To step out in trust,
ㅤ in spite of the lack of answers.
In spite of our uncertainty.
Our doubts.
We try to accept what we love about Jesus,
ㅤ while we ignore what Jesus believed about God.
Instead of inquiring in humility,
ㅤ instead of opening ourselves to God’s Spirit,
We ignore the possibility of discovering a deeper meaning.
But if we look to Jesus,
ㅤ we are led into that deeper meaning.
He shines his light onto the path…
The path through those difficult questions.
He reveals the Way through those apparent conflicts.
He reveals,
ㅤ He leads us along,
The road to truth.
As we walk with him we learn.
We learn to put down our misconceptions.
We learn to re-imagine him in a new light.
And our faith grows.
Becomes deeper.
Deep enough to handle our doubts,
ㅤ to face our questions,
While seeing his love.
As our ability to see his love,
ㅤ His beauty,
Grows…
We are able to walk closer to him
To better trust him.
To step out with him,
ㅤ in spite of our doubts.
We are able to step out with him,
ㅤ and step more fully into his love.
Psalming as Performance Art — written in real time, as I sat in church listening to a sermon preached by Pastor Phil on 9/9/18: “Recycling Judges: What God?”
