Meet You at the Intersection of Experience and Honesty
Do you sometimes get mad at God? We want to be there for you when you go through struggles.
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Sometimes things happen that force us to face weaknesses in ourselves that in fact the Lord desires to massage His love into. Initially however, we don’t always see it that way and figuring that out can be messy and take time. God’s okay with that.
Do you sometimes get mad at God? Yourself? Others?
Facing my brother’s and Dad’s death’s in 2006, only six and a half weeks apart, plunged me into the deepest anguish, grief and anger I have experienced. I felt shame as the journey uncovered crusty parts of my soul exposing contempt for God, myself and it felt like every other human being on the planet. This lurked behind an image management that appeared most honorable, sincere and dutiful by intention. As the truth of pain and loss hit me deep in my core, I struggled, but God’s requirements to be open and honest propelled me forward and upward.
How does one confront the unfriendly parts of one’s soul?
Does one see reality of one’s darkness as it really is? Or does one minimize, distort or spiritualize it? Honesty requires a refusal to lie, steal or mislead in any way. It often begins by recognizing and admitting we may have been deceived.
Why must we recognize our sin and confess it as truth? Because
dishonesty, or living in denial, is actually an attempt to dethrone God! It represents self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency constructs a world according to our own desire. By engaging in it we shut out God and others. That is idolatry.
Through courage, humility and brokenness we can pursue honesty about our true condition and find peace, hope and love. The Lord says:
“The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in
truth” (Psalm 148:18).
Our loving God invites us to meet Him at the intersection of experience and honesty. We find resolve there. My Dad and brother know that in full. You and i continue in our discovery. God’s love is sincere in action, character and utterance. He transforms us into the same. His truth can satisfy any soul, whatever the condition, if we believe and receive.
Father God, I thank You that You pursue my soul and draw me on in facing truth and finding You in it. Help me as I confront the unfriendly parts of my own soul. Meet me and pour Your peace and hope and love into me afresh as I pursue honesty in the inner part of my heart. Thank you Lord, for Your love. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Questions: What is forcing you to face truth? Do you resist or do you welcome the Lord’s presence in every corner of your life? Do you see reality as it really is? Or do you minimize, distort or spiritualize it?
About the Author Karen Braun
Daily audio podcast: Hear today’s daily devotional, Meet You at the Intersection of Experience and Honesty, read aloud today on the Men’s Devotional Blog
Tags: anger, anguish, brokenness, buried, confront, contempt, courage, dishonesty, distort, Experience, grief, honesty, hope, humility, idolatry, lie, love, mislead, peace, spiritualize, steal
Some faces and names from my past (the bad part) have been popping up repeatedly and I jokingly told my husband that I think God is trying to tell me something. I have since realized that He IS obviously trying to tell me something. I’ve been trying to ignore it simply because I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I hope that He doesn’t want me to be in any contact with these people.
Wow…I am definitely experiencing this right now in my life and I do not like it very much but I know that God is also calling me to better things in my life. And I only can discover what all He has for me by being honest with myself and being pruned. Thank you for confirmation.
I know that I have a past that I’d much rather forget about. Sometimes it creeps into my dreams and I wake up very unsettled. I pray and ask God to help me move forward and in all things be honest with Him and with myself. I now know that He will not turn away from me because of what I have done and in confessing to Him I am washed clean. One of my favorite verses to pray is that my sins will be as far from me as east is from west The question of seeing reality as it is or do I spirtualize it? I don’t know and it troubles me.
The past few months I’ve been dealing with grief and depression. At one point I found myself very hard. It scared me. Around Easter my friends and family were rejoicing over what Christ had done for us, but I found it difficult to be thankful. I began to suspect my friends from chruch to not really care for me, and I became angry and flirted with the idea of walking away.
I’ve loved God my whole life. I’ve walked through difficult times before and always found peace and comfort in seeking Him, but this time I wanted to run. I was so angry.
The Lord has been doing a tramendous healing in me, and I am now depending on Him to work through this grief. But it wasn’t until I read this devotional that I understood why my faith had been so shaken. Over the past few years I’ve allowed little lies to take root without even knowing how it was affecting me. And when the Lord tried to get my attention I would say to myself that it’s no big deal. But then when I expirenced this great loss it was these lies and not my faith that governed how I delt with my greif.
I am thankful that God is OK with change being messy. I’ve found the most profound changes in my life have been difficult ones.
thank you
Karen, thank you for the devotional. To answer in sequence:
–what is forcing me to face truth?-the guilt I feel when I don’t feel exuberant and then don’t attend church
–do I resist or welcome God in every corner?–I feel I am transparent in every corner.
–do I see reality as it really is?–I see eternity as reality as hell is as well
Tiffany, hello. may I add to your last sentence. I’ve found this (Scripture) personally to be true. Judges 13:3 says-”Brokeness is God’s requirement for maximum usefulness.” I was as broken almost in two then the Lord Jesus Christ came knocking. I opened the door and have not looked back.
Kanj,
Thank you for the scripture. It’s very true. I’m finding that it’s when I’m most broken that I realize my need for Him even more. He’s becoming so much more to me, and the more I depend on Him the more healing and peace I find. I will add this verse to the list of ones I want to memorize.
God bless,
Tiffany