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Musing the Muddles

Started by SippinTea, April 01, 2008, 03:00:52 PM

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MelodyB

Have you slapped that one dude from Indiana with a pie in the face today?
 

SippinTea

Talking to God - Job style

Sometimes when I'm praying I wonder if I'm bordering on disrespect by asking Him questions, by demanding answers, by asking Him why, by questioning His reasons/timing/purposes. And sometimes when I'm having a conversation with other people, they convince me of it. They say things like "Who are you to question God?", and "Be careful! Don't be disrespectful in your questions." and "God isn't required to answer to you." and other things that convince me I must be a terrible person to verbalize the questions in my head.

The funny thing is: I know that the things I face are not unique to me. Therefore, the questions in my head cannot be unique to me. I'm not the first human being to question God.

And then tonight I read Job... in The Message.

Wow. Can I ever identify with him! Not, perhaps, in the specific things that went wrong in his life. But I do understand the feeling of things being stripped away from you - taken for no apparent reason. And I do have friends who have said the same things Job's friends told him - over and over and over and over again. And I do have conversations with God where I'm asking the same blunt questions, asking for - no demanding - answers to the "why", reminding God that I've tried with everything in me to live an upright life. Job even said "it's not fair!"... just like I have.

And just like me, Job had friends who were horrified at his conversations about (and to) God. Just like my friends, they told him he was being disrespectful - told him God would punish him for questioning Him.

Okay, so my friends may have been slightly more veiled about their speeches. They weren't quite so in-your-face as Job's friends were. But then... sometimes they were.

And just like me, Job grew angry. Angry at the unfairness. Angry at the accusations. Angry at the inconsistencies.

But surprisingly enough, in spite of the predictions of Job's friends, God did not grow angry with Job. On the contrary, He wasn't too pleased with Job's friends.

"After God finished addressing Job..." (Which address put Job in his place, by the way, but not in the angry and punishing way his friends had predicted. It was a response in kind to Job's blunt questions... a direct and blunt reply. Kind of like the kind He gives to me. Kind of very like the kind He gives to me.) Anyhow...

"After God had finished addressing Job, he turned to Eliphaz the Temanite and said, 'I've had it with you and your two friends. I'm fed up! You haven't been honest either with me or about me—not the way my friend Job has. So here's what you must do. Take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my friend Job. Sacrifice a burnt offering on your own behalf. My friend Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer. He will ask me not to treat you as you deserve for talking nonsense about me, and for not being honest with me, as he has.'"

Did you catch that? He told Job's friends that they hadn't been honest with Him - nor about Him - not the way "my friend Job has." Amazing! Job has this blunt, confrontational, almost in-your-face conversation with God Himself, and what does God have to say about him?... "'My friend Job' was honest with me." Not only was God not going to punish Job for his questions and demands of answers, but He called Job His friend!

I guess maybe my friends were wrong. I guess maybe God can handle my questions and demands just like He did Job's. And I guess maybe He'll still call me His friend when we're done with our conversation.

:beret:

P.S. Not all my friends are like the ones I talked about in here. Just in case you wondered or worried. ;)
"Not everything that is of God is easy." -Elona

"When you're wildly in love with someone, it changes everything." -F. Chan

"A real live hug anytime you want it is priceless." -Rachel

MelodyB

You read my mind on that last part...naturally! ;) I was worried that our Job conversation the other day was taken the wrong way! Haha.

This is an AWESOME post, Ruby! I love you grlie. :) I am SO happy to see this sort of writing. ;) 


(I request permission to read it to Ann...)
Have you slapped that one dude from Indiana with a pie in the face today?
 

SippinTea

"Not everything that is of God is easy." -Elona

"When you're wildly in love with someone, it changes everything." -F. Chan

"A real live hug anytime you want it is priceless." -Rachel

titushome

God already knows the deepest doubts, the hardest questions in our minds.  He knows the darkest desires of our hearts.  People will sometimes tell us to hide those things away - often with reasonable-sounding statements about being respectful toward God - but God hasn't said any such thing.

I think he wants us to be honest.  Let it all come out.  Let those things deepen our relationships with him.
"You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."
- Augustine

sunlight

* sunlight hugs Ruby really really tight.

thank you for writing this.
  :attackhug: Be full of hugs!

SippinTea

It upsets me. It makes me sad. Sometimes it almost makes me cry. And sometimes it almost makes me angry. It makes me want to ask her to please quit talking that way.

What am I thinking of? I'm thinking of the times Nana starts talking about dying. The times she talks about "after I'm gone". The times she wants to plan her memorial service. The times she talks about how long she's lived and how heaven is next - as if her life is over.

But today I got it. I really, really got it.

You see...
In grade school I looked forward to summer. It was my Next Big Event.
In winter I looked forward to my birthday. It was my Next Big Event.
In December I looked forward to Christmas. It was my Next Big Event.
In high school I looked forward to graduation. It was my Next Big Event.
In summer I looked forward to family vacation. It was my Next Big Event.
In my 20's I looked forward to falling in love. It was my Next Big Event.
While I've been engaged I've been looking forward to my wedding day. It's my Next Big Event.
When I'm married I'm sure I'll be looking forward to having a baby. It will be my Next Big Event.

Sometimes I've been impatient, eager, longing for my Next Big Event.
Sometimes I've been content and happy in the stage I was in, but I was still looking forward with anticipation to my Next Big Event.
Sometimes I've planned for the Next Big Event for days ahead. Weeks ahead. Months ahead. Even years ahead.
Sometimes I'd think about the Next Big Event. A lot.
Sometimes I'd talk about the Next Big Event. A lot.
Sometimes I drove everyone around me nuts by how much I talked about the Next Big Event.

I guess it would be fair to say that the Next Big Event was never far from my mind. Ever.

And now I get it.

Heaven is Nana's Next Big Event.

See, she's not happy here. She's in pain. She's missing people she loves that went to heaven ahead of her. And she knows that her life here isn't exactly improving.

She knows that in heaven she'll get to see Bapa again. She won't have pain. She won't be sad. Or lonely. Or fearful.

And it's her Next Big Event.

And suddenly, in my own mind, that makes all the difference in the world.

:beret:
"Not everything that is of God is easy." -Elona

"When you're wildly in love with someone, it changes everything." -F. Chan

"A real live hug anytime you want it is priceless." -Rachel

MelodyB

This is incredible. I feel enlightened. Like a revelation has taken place in my thought process because of this.

Thank you.
Have you slapped that one dude from Indiana with a pie in the face today?
 

SippinTea

Honestly?... that's kinda how I felt too. I mean, as a Christian you know that heaven is good... and that dying is the only way to get there... and that it's not sad for the person going... but still - it hurts. At least, it does to be here. But something kinda snapped into place in my head today. Not sure why, not sure how, but it's like some fog cleared up in my head. Nice feeling. :)

:beret:
"Not everything that is of God is easy." -Elona

"When you're wildly in love with someone, it changes everything." -F. Chan

"A real live hug anytime you want it is priceless." -Rachel

(R.I.P.) YooperYankDude

Great post Ruby!   :great:

I recently heard a message while visiting a few friends at their church. It is a home missions church... and they have had a rough yr... But the Brother who preached that night is from another church... and his sermon was how sometimes we forget that at the end of all this... whatever this is... we have a reward.  It was awesome!

Your post made me think of this again! 

Praying for your family Ruby...  :)   *hugs Ruby*


Feed The Bachelors 2010

SippinTea

"Not everything that is of God is easy." -Elona

"When you're wildly in love with someone, it changes everything." -F. Chan

"A real live hug anytime you want it is priceless." -Rachel

sunlight

* sunlight hugs ruby really really tight
That was awesome!
  :attackhug: Be full of hugs!

MelodyB

*bump*

This thread has been idle too long...with all the creativity on GP these days, Im sure that there is SOMETHING that can be mused...or muddled...

;)
Have you slapped that one dude from Indiana with a pie in the face today?
 

Lynx

Everyone has his own thread these days. 
"Do you sing at church?"
"Yes I sing at church, I sing at home, at work, in the car, at the supermarket, at Wal-Mart..."
:sing: :sing: :sing: :sing: :sing: :sing:

SippinTea

Quote from: MelodyB on March 16, 2011, 02:32:45 PM
*bump*

This thread has been idle too long...with all the creativity on GP these days, Im sure that there is SOMETHING that can be mused...or muddled...

;)

Hmm... maybe. But you know me... inspiration strikes in spurts. And even then, I have to muddle and muse on my own before anything is ready to share. ;) But we'll see. I've got a couple things simmering.

Quote from: Psalm_97 on March 16, 2011, 10:30:20 PM
Everyone has his own thread these days. 

These days? *lol* Hmm. Not quite sure how to respond to that.

:beret:
"Not everything that is of God is easy." -Elona

"When you're wildly in love with someone, it changes everything." -F. Chan

"A real live hug anytime you want it is priceless." -Rachel

The Purple Fuzzy

Isaac, this is Ruby's thread.  The way Mel worded it, it kinda sounded like it belonged to whoever and nobody was posting.

Lynx

That's the way I took it.  I was assuming this was a general thread for people to post musings, started before everyone started his own thread.
"Do you sing at church?"
"Yes I sing at church, I sing at home, at work, in the car, at the supermarket, at Wal-Mart..."
:sing: :sing: :sing: :sing: :sing: :sing:

MelodyB

I meant, with all the creativity just floating around GP in general, some should rub off on rWooby and she could post. In here. In her own thread.


*COUGH*
Have you slapped that one dude from Indiana with a pie in the face today?