Some people pull away from God when they don’t like what He does. They say, “If God is a god who allows . . . then I am not interested in following Him.”
It is easier to walk with God when things go my way. When it seems that God is not humoring me, I am lured to run my own life instead of following Him. Not only that, I find it much easier to seek His affirmation than His will. I would rather He tells me what I want or expect to hear than something foreign or difficult. When His ways seem harsh or demanding, I’m tempted to find someone who will tell me an easier way.
But God, being God, is bound to say things I don’t like, make commands that I do not agree with, and do things I don’t understand. I’m a human being with a sin nature, a tendency to go my own way — not the way of God — and my understanding has severe limits. The two, God and I, are bound to clash. When it happens, I’ve two options. One is to resist the God of the universe, the Creator and Author of life, as if I know more than He and have the power to make things work the way I want them to work. The other is to yield, humbly recognizing that I do not know everything and cannot do anything apart from Him.
God is God. Compared to Him, what do any of us know? What can any of us do? I may not understand much of anything that He does, but my understanding should never be my ground for approval. If I must experience God through only that which pleases me; if I must base my allegiance to Him on His actions and not His character, then I am making my own wants and understanding greater than God. This is not only practical atheism but arrogance!
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