Rumors about God...

I've been meaning to write this post for a while, but I never got around to it, so here it goes. We are entering a series in our youth group called Secondhand Jesus, which is based off of a book by Glenn Packiam called "Secondhand Jesus: Trading Rumors of God for a Firsthand Faith." There is a passage in Job after God himself speaks where Job exclaims,

"I admit that I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand-from my own eyes and ears! I'm sorry-forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise! I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor." - Job 42:5-6

One of the biggest myths or rumors in the Christian faith (and one I hear frequently regarding this adoption process) is this, "Everything that happens is God's will." This simply is not true. My friend Jerusha Clark wrote a book titled The Life You Crave- the promise of discernment and in it she says, "Not only does this fallacy wrongly deny the dynamic relationship between God and man, but it also fails to match up with our daily experience. For instance, it is absolutely true that God wants none 'to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives,' as 2 Peter 3:9 (NCV) proclaims. But it's also true that many unrepentant people DO perish. While we don't fully understand it (and I don't think we ever will comprehend this on earth), there is an authentic interplay between God, mankind, and the actions individual men take."

Well said Jerusha! I cannot pretend to understand the mysteries of this relationship between God's will and man's actions, but I do know this. While God does not cause every circumstance, He can and will work in us through our circumstances to bring Him glory. I will continue to place my trust and hope in a God who loves me and gave His Son for me.