He told Noah to build a big boat when it had never rained.
He told Abraham to leave everything familiar to go to a place that he didn’t know.
He told Moses to go toe to toe with the most powerful man in the world and then to lead a stubborn people on an impossible journey.
He told Joshua to conquer a land filled with giants.
He told Esther to confront a dangerous king.
He told David he would be king and then made him wait for years.
He told Jonah to go to Ninevah.
He told Isaiah to preach to a people who didn’t really want to hear it.
He told the disciples to leave their nets and their tax collector booths and everything else.
He told a rich man to sell everything and come follow.
He told a grieving man to leave and come and follow without first even taking the time to bury his dead father.
He told His Son to go to a cross.
He told Peter to go to a Gentile’s house.
He told Paul to go all over the place no matter how much he suffered for it.
He told us to count it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds…
What is He telling you to do?
Does He want us to be happy?
We sing about “How He Loves” but does that mean that He wants us to be happy? Is God’s greatest goal for us that we would be comfortable? He is a God of comfort but is He a God of the comfortable?
Past experience would say “no.” He pushes us out of our easy chair. He shakes us up. He sends us into difficult circumstances. So we also sing…
“Spirit lead me where my faith is without borders
let me walk upon the waters
wherever you would call me.
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
and my faith will be made stronger
in the presence of my Savior.”
His is a call to come and live but on the way it is a call to come and die.
So we deny ourselves. We take up our crosses. We do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility we value others above ourselves.
Does He want us to be happy?
He has promised to rescue us out of troubles but strangely He has not promised to keep us from ever having troubles in the first place. At the very least He allows our struggles and He may, at times, even orchestrate them. In fact He says that we are blessed if we face persecution or hardship because of Him.
Does He want us to be happy?
Does He want us to be unhappy?
What if His highest goal for us is not that we would be comfortable or content or happy? Does that mean that He is not good? Does it make Him evil?
We are like water running toward the ocean. Our natural tendency is to take the path of least resistance. Rather than live adventurously we are tempted to safely watch the adventurous (and often fictitious) endeavors of someone else flash across a screen while we safely snack on popcorn and sip coke. We presume this will make us happy. We wonder why it doesn’t.
Does He want us to be happy?
He tells us NOT to do some things. He empties our hands of things. He strips us naked and then re-clothes us. He starves us and parches us and then says, “Come all who are thirsty.” He blinds us and then says “Come and See.” He makes uncertain what we were convinced we knew and then says, “Whoever has ears to hear let them hear.”
Does He want us to be happy?
There is no mountain peak without a climb. There is no victory without a battle. There is no resurrection unless there is death. Those who have suffered the most seem to celebrate the loudest. Those who have lost the most or who have had the least seem to give the most. And there are boundless depths and seeming unending riches wrapped up in a simple idea…
It’s not about me.
I fight with myself over the validity and truth of that statement. There are moments when it is as plain as day. But every day I make personal decisions, both great and small, as if it were a lie, as if the ultimate truth were that it is all about me.
I really want to be happy.
Does He want for me to be happy?
I really want to be comfortable. I really want to have all of the answers. I really want to know exactly where I am going. I really want to have control. I really want to do what I want. I really want for others to do things for me.
God doesn’t seem the least bit interested in making any of those things happen.
Does He want me to be happy?
Blessed are…
Rejoice…
Be strong and courageous…
Do not be afraid…
Come…
Taste…
Immeasurably more…
With…
Satisfied…
Loved…
Go…
Happy doesn’t even begin to describe all that God wants for us. In comparison to all that He promises, I’m not sure it’s really even on His radar.
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