coffeehubby
August 24th, 2004, 11:41 AM
Does God understand the experience of being human? When I was a boy my mother poured herself into her cooking, I clearly remember the scents of apples being blended with brown sugar and the spices of cinnamon and nutmeg. It was absolutely wonderful, and how honored we’d feel, my sister or I, whoever was chosen to lick the mixing bowl clean. It was her way of expressing her love for us, cooking those pies. My father spent hours on every aspect of making furniture, drawing carefully the plans, purchasing the best lumber after thoroughly inspecting it, executing those plans by measuring and re-measuring everything twice. I remember that table saw sounded like some enraged creature, screaming and in it’s fury it produced a ton of sawdust as if to say, “ Master, I will see to it you’re in trouble with your Mrs. for making me eat wood.” In spite of all the noise and bother, in the end his furniture was pure workmanship, a treasure. He had a gift for it. Does God understand that?
Does God know what it’s like to be four years old, riding a three wheeler on a sunny day? Is the man who can’t sleep at night a mystery to Him? The lady who has lost her mind, does the Lord visit her? Does He really know her heart, can she be rewarded still on judgment day? Is that young girl who dances spontaneously just because she is so happy she must twirl her arms about! Is she silly to Him? What about the boy who has discovered girls?
How can God understand any of that, the flirting, the sweaty palms and freaking out? And what about that gentleman who wants to make enough to support his family, and he’s feeling angry and lost, does our good Lord Jesus share in that man’s suffering? How can Almighty God know, really know in His heart and gut what it feels like to lose? When the bases are loaded and you just struck out, when your grown children don’t call anymore and you feel worthless and old, and even the most lovely of beautiful ladies from your generation, like Katherine Hepburn and Donna Reed are gone now, withered into skeletons. How much does God really feel of our joys and sorrows? Has He ever won a trophy for His school, stolen a kiss ,beaten the nerdy Chess Champion after four hours?
Do you suppose it was to answer accusations like these that God became flesh and He dwelt among us? Is God such a stickler for Holiness because of a certain jealousy over His Image in us? See how He guards His perfectly designed drawings of your house, the body, spirit and soul, the love of details as He attends to everything about you. He uses frustrations to pull you away from something that would distort His Image in you, then He uses joys for the same ends.
There are thieves out there which rob us of our human-ness, our very souls. Some activities add to the experience of being alive as others steal from us. By their very nature certain things are evil and draw life out of us. One adds dignity, another brings up shame. The Lord can use a carefully planned food fight for His glory just as easily as He uses mountains. He is within the ears that really listen just as much, if not more than the preacher’s mouth which shouts so often.
But back to the original question, does God understand the experience of being human? Read the Scriptures. The very heart of humanity lies within those pages, our heroic, inspiring moments and our darkest valleys. These verses are God breathed, in some way I do not understand God used the very words of finite man to express Himself. Nothing was wasted, there were no mistakes. Everything from Paul talking about perfect love to Job’s complaint about not being allowed to spit without God staring...are included. All of it is there. Then of course there is the fact that God Himself became not a rich prince but a pauper, not a winner but was seen as a slave, He was holy yet He had the very worst of reputations.
However, He rose above it all to completely identify with winners and losers, with everyone from every conceivable walk of life.
God must have intended for us to be far more noble creatures than we presently experience now. We were meant to be braver, funnier, to sing more than we cry, rejoice, love and live more fully than we do. And it will happen. The grinding beast of our sin nature, that
table saw creature will be silenced and destroyed forever. The feast is ready and even now the Bride is getting dressed into a shimmering robe. Jesus has been flirting for a long time with His Lady, and soon He’ll steal a kiss after He steals her away!
Does God know what it’s like to be four years old, riding a three wheeler on a sunny day? Is the man who can’t sleep at night a mystery to Him? The lady who has lost her mind, does the Lord visit her? Does He really know her heart, can she be rewarded still on judgment day? Is that young girl who dances spontaneously just because she is so happy she must twirl her arms about! Is she silly to Him? What about the boy who has discovered girls?
How can God understand any of that, the flirting, the sweaty palms and freaking out? And what about that gentleman who wants to make enough to support his family, and he’s feeling angry and lost, does our good Lord Jesus share in that man’s suffering? How can Almighty God know, really know in His heart and gut what it feels like to lose? When the bases are loaded and you just struck out, when your grown children don’t call anymore and you feel worthless and old, and even the most lovely of beautiful ladies from your generation, like Katherine Hepburn and Donna Reed are gone now, withered into skeletons. How much does God really feel of our joys and sorrows? Has He ever won a trophy for His school, stolen a kiss ,beaten the nerdy Chess Champion after four hours?
Do you suppose it was to answer accusations like these that God became flesh and He dwelt among us? Is God such a stickler for Holiness because of a certain jealousy over His Image in us? See how He guards His perfectly designed drawings of your house, the body, spirit and soul, the love of details as He attends to everything about you. He uses frustrations to pull you away from something that would distort His Image in you, then He uses joys for the same ends.
There are thieves out there which rob us of our human-ness, our very souls. Some activities add to the experience of being alive as others steal from us. By their very nature certain things are evil and draw life out of us. One adds dignity, another brings up shame. The Lord can use a carefully planned food fight for His glory just as easily as He uses mountains. He is within the ears that really listen just as much, if not more than the preacher’s mouth which shouts so often.
But back to the original question, does God understand the experience of being human? Read the Scriptures. The very heart of humanity lies within those pages, our heroic, inspiring moments and our darkest valleys. These verses are God breathed, in some way I do not understand God used the very words of finite man to express Himself. Nothing was wasted, there were no mistakes. Everything from Paul talking about perfect love to Job’s complaint about not being allowed to spit without God staring...are included. All of it is there. Then of course there is the fact that God Himself became not a rich prince but a pauper, not a winner but was seen as a slave, He was holy yet He had the very worst of reputations.
However, He rose above it all to completely identify with winners and losers, with everyone from every conceivable walk of life.
God must have intended for us to be far more noble creatures than we presently experience now. We were meant to be braver, funnier, to sing more than we cry, rejoice, love and live more fully than we do. And it will happen. The grinding beast of our sin nature, that
table saw creature will be silenced and destroyed forever. The feast is ready and even now the Bride is getting dressed into a shimmering robe. Jesus has been flirting for a long time with His Lady, and soon He’ll steal a kiss after He steals her away!