What God wants to give me —

When my children were small, the middle one, a girl, often stirred up her brothers against each other. She smiled sweetly when I scolded the boys as if she had no part in it. I’d say to the boys things like, “Get along with each other” without realizing there was often another party in their childish battles. Not only that, I had a naïve belief that merely telling them would fix the problem.

This is something like the “don’t worry, be happy” line that is also naïve. Those who say it totally disregard the context or situation of the other person. Someone who is in despair because of severe losses wants more than a platitude. Those ill or struggling with clinical depression need more than a chirpy “get over it.” While I’d like a one-liner to ‘fix’ those who hurt or are in trouble, I know that does not work.

For example, Job had lost everything. He didn’t know that he was the target for a test. Satan had challenged God’s gift of faith saying it only worked in the good times. Job was a man of faith who had a large family and was wealthy. God allowed Satan to attack him as proof that faith sustains, even when times are tough.

However, three of Job’s ‘friends’ figured that Job must be guilty of something and was being punished. He must have resisted God in some way, otherwise all his troubles would not have happened. They gave him all sorts of advice without knowing his context or the spiritual background. One of them offered this one-liner:

“Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you.” (Job 22:21)

The odd part of this statement is that it is true. That is, if a person is resisting God the only way to gain peace of mind and experience God’s goodness is through reconciliation. As we often quip, there is no rest for the wicked. Dealing with sin and that human tendency to resist God makes a huge difference in any person’s life.

Tozer says Satan’s master blow was tempting us to sin so our God-awareness would be destroyed. However, the main work of Christ in redemption was to reconcile us back to knowing God. He adds that the Holy Spirit makes that knowledge and awareness more acute as He sanctifies us. He added that, “All other steps in grace lead up to this.”

I often pray for all sorts of things, but my prayer life began with agreeing with God. Each time I bow my head, I know that I must deal with any cantankerous attitude. This is important, yet the warriors of prayer (including Tozer) say that there is one all-embracing prayer that is vital — to ask God to give me Himself. These two requests/requirements teach me that the greatest blessing and fullest peace come when I can look into God’s face and know there is nothing between my soul and Him. This is reconciliation, but also a great gift of God’s presence.

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Jesus, thank You for Your work of redemption and for making possible peace with God. I praise You and the Holy Spirit for giving me the grace to agree with You, to be at peace, and to know that You are right beside me, even in trials as well as the good times. There is nothing greater than sweet fellowship with You.