God Knows Best

God is the ultimate Human Resource Generalists. He also is a phenomenal Content Creator, but I am not so sure he cares too much about PR. He has a unique way of going about things. We can all agree from what I briefly shared in my last post that my success rate has been below average. My resume, well interesting to say the least. If I am honest, which I usually am gently blunt ( talk about an oxymoron) I would again conclude from the said data points collected that I am not the woman for the job. Survey says, (long arduous pause) No! Yet, God saw a sparkle that He knew He could make all shiny and spiffy and use me among countless others to do His work. Today, I thought we could talk about why God sees our failures, our tears, and our messiness as the perfect opportunity to build a relationship with us. My inkling though is that before we dive into why God sees our failures as a chance to build a relationship with us, we need to take a look at God's heart for us because then we can see more clearly why He wants relationship with us in the first place. If you think about it God does not need us, but we need Him. God is complete without us, He simply wants relationship with us because He delights in us even in our deepest darkest moments. God always seems to pull through for us.

The Bible is a tapestry of stories and parables all pointing back to our relationship with Him and in turn is often a reflection of how we relate and respond to the world around us. Indubitably, God does not laugh at our misfortunes nor does He take them lightly. His son Jesus is the same way. Let's quickly look at a few examples of how God and Jesus respond to failures, grief, and our tears.

In 2 Kings 20:5 God acknowledges King Hezekiah and even blesses Him. He says, " Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go unto the house of the Lord." He also takes note of every one our tears, Psalm 56:8 says, " He gathers up thy tears and puts them in a bottle." Thus, our tears are not in vain, but counted and gathered up by God. We are that precious to Him. He is a compassionate, kind, and loving Father. Regardless of what your relationship is with your blood relatives, peers, and the people you work for or alongside our Heavenly Father does not shame us for our failures, tears, and pain. Rather, He often convicts us and presents the opportunity to change. He sees our vulnerability and softened hearts as a chance to truly invest in us and to show us He cares. In the New Testament, we see this kindness and gentleness so many times with Jesus. In Luke 7 a woman is found weeping at the loss of her son. Jesus could have ignored it all together, but how does he respond? It says, " He had compassion on her." He easily could have walked right by her and thought nothing of it. He also could have shown no emotion and immediately just raised the son up from the dead without batting an eye. Instead, this verse points to a moment where Jesus first shows compassion before action. He is showing us the importance of our feelings and draws us into the Fathers heart. Jesus has that same level of compassion for us as he did for this widow. He wants to have an encounter with you, in fact, he wants to have them with you regularly throughout the day.

Well what about failure? What does God think about my mistakes and major mess ups. God shows us that with every failure there is an opportunity to repent and change our ways. David is a prime example. He failed (sinned against) the Lord multiple times. For example, we see his failure in 2 Samuel 24 when he takes the census against the commands of God to rely on Him. Yet, in repentance Davids failure was turned to good as he built an altar to honor the Lord. We all have those failures that teach us something about ourselves and our sincere need for God. For me, my never ending failures drew me closer to God. I could no longer rely on material things, people, or places because He was the only source that could end the cycles, and truly heal me. In response to these failures and a sincere desire for repentance, God drew me close and loved me with such tenderness, grace, and gentleness. He in turn peeled the layers of blindness from my eyes and gave me ears to clearly hear His voice. He gave me a deep well of compassion and desire to bare others burdens and failures along side of them just as He continues to do for me. In turn, He birthed out of me a blog to share His compassion and love with the world. Praise the Lord.

God is the ultimate comforter and relationship with Him is how we can find true contentment. Perhaps we can now see that Papa God knows best. Now we see that tears, pain, and failure are not bad or a sign of inferiority or weakness. They are character building and with the right dose of humility, repentance, and God's grace we get to build a stronger more intimate relationship with the Father. It is not out of manipulation or control. It is not even out of a desire to dominate or control us. After all, God gives us the free will to choose what level of relationship we want to have with Him. As He tells us so plainly in Matthew 7 if we ask, seek, and knock we will find. If we take the time to ask Him questions, seek Him through worship, prayer, and scripture, it is no doubt we will knock on the door to salvation and an eternity with our Father.

~ Kathryn