The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ecclesiastes 6:2,
"God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead."
This is a frustration. Why would God do such a thing? Isn't it his job to keep me from frustrations? Isn't he supposed to make my life a bed of roses?
It's amazing how many people think so. People in churches, people behind pulpits! They guarantee us that if we just join up with them that God will give us an abundant life with all the challenges and frustrations of life removed.
That is not how God reveals himself to be. On the contrary, he brings those frustrations into our lives with purpose. Consider Paul's words, "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." Romans 8:20. The creation referred to here is not pinecones or my dog. It is us, human beings. We all face frustrations (even though we may feel it is only us - it's everybody!). God's purpose for the frustrations is to help us find him, something not likely to be pursued by most people if their lives really were a bed of roses.
In fact, this book of Ecclesiastes is provided us for the very purpose of helping us face the true frustrations of life given us by God to aid in our pursuit of finding relief in him.
And those frustrations do not stop when we embrace him in faith either. He continues those frustrations in our lives for his purposes in stretching us, growing us once we become his. "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:7-11.
The discomfort about this "life under the sun" we feel when we see people unable to enjoy their wealth, possessions and honor (because it happened to "them" it could happen to us) is a part of the frustration God wants us to feel about this life, so we are not so distracted by it that we don't seek something better-- life in him.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
"God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead."
This is a frustration. Why would God do such a thing? Isn't it his job to keep me from frustrations? Isn't he supposed to make my life a bed of roses?
It's amazing how many people think so. People in churches, people behind pulpits! They guarantee us that if we just join up with them that God will give us an abundant life with all the challenges and frustrations of life removed.
That is not how God reveals himself to be. On the contrary, he brings those frustrations into our lives with purpose. Consider Paul's words, "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." Romans 8:20. The creation referred to here is not pinecones or my dog. It is us, human beings. We all face frustrations (even though we may feel it is only us - it's everybody!). God's purpose for the frustrations is to help us find him, something not likely to be pursued by most people if their lives really were a bed of roses.
In fact, this book of Ecclesiastes is provided us for the very purpose of helping us face the true frustrations of life given us by God to aid in our pursuit of finding relief in him.
And those frustrations do not stop when we embrace him in faith either. He continues those frustrations in our lives for his purposes in stretching us, growing us once we become his. "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:7-11.
The discomfort about this "life under the sun" we feel when we see people unable to enjoy their wealth, possessions and honor (because it happened to "them" it could happen to us) is a part of the frustration God wants us to feel about this life, so we are not so distracted by it that we don't seek something better-- life in him.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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