Chapter 5 in Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts
"I know all our days are struggle and warfare and that the spirit-to-spirit combat I endlessly wage with Satan is this ferocious thrash for joy" (page 90).
Thrash for joy. Isn't that what this life is about? Whether you're a believer or not, we all want to be happy. We all fight for things that bring us the most joy. And as a Christ follower, we know that our ultimate joy is found in Him. Finding joy in this life is a fight to see God in all things. It's a fight to know Him more and to see His hand — both in the beautiful and in the ugly.If I struggle to see God's gifts—His grace—in the mundane and ordinary, if I don't train and strain my eyes to see the grace in the day to day, then I will have a difficult time seeing His hand in the deplorable and hard-to-swallow places of this world. "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" (Matthew 6:22-23).Isn't it about perspective? How do I see with the eyes of my heart? If I train my heart-eyes to see God's blessing in the laundry, the dirty dishes and diapers, then thanking Him for the simple, and the routine of life, will strengthen my heart. I have been going to a Boot Camp, for 3 days at 5am every morning. I am training for a marathon. Why? So that my body will learn, so that my muscles will grow strong and remember what they are capable of doing on the day of the race. Straining with my mind's eye to see God in the day to day trains my heart. Seeing the world through the lens of His Word, trains my mind to trust Him in all things. It helps my heart to remember what He has done, Who He is, and what He is capable of doing. So that when I am confronted with the hard parts of life, my heart and mind will remember.
"And the more blessings I name, this theological problem deepens. . . . Do I believe in a God who rouses Himself just now and then to spill a bit of benevolence on hemorrhaging humanity? A God who breaks through the carapace of this orb only now and then, surprises us with a spared hand, a reprieve from sickness, a good job and a nice house in the burbs — and then finds Himself again too impotent to deal with all I see as suffering and evil? A God of sporadic, random, splattering goodness — that now and then splatters across a gratitude journal? Somebody tell me: What are all the other moments?" (page 85-86)
"In all unbelief there are these two things—a good opinion of one’s self and a bad opinion of God. Man’s good opinion of himself makes him think it quite possible to win God’s favor by his own religious performances; and his bad opinion of God makes him unwilling and afraid to put his case wholly into His hands."
Tough questions that we need to answer. The answers directly affect how we live out our faith. When the rubber hits the road, who do we really believe God is? Do we believe that He loves us? Do we believe He is fully in control? Or do we believe He is like a grandfather who is just watching us, unable to control what's happening in the world?
"In all unbelief there are these two things—a good opinion of one’s self and a bad opinion of God. Man’s good opinion of himself makes him think it quite possible to win God’s favor by his own religious performances; and his bad opinion of God makes him unwilling and afraid to put his case wholly into His hands."
Horatius Bonar (1808 - 1889)
We need a right opinion of God to have joy in Him. We need to see that He is sovereign, that is the Almighty and have faith that He will set all things right. If we don't, we will be afraid to put ourselves wholly in His hands. If we don't, the blessings will be taken for granted and we will believe the lies that the Enemy wants us to believe - that He is withholding from us, that He is not good. If we don't thank Him for all things, then we will rob ourselves of joy. I know I need to be in His Word so that I can view the world through His lens. I will strain to see His goodness in the everyday so that I can see Him equally in the catastrophes. I will fight the good fight. I will choose to see Him in the ordinariness of life and consider it all joy.
Good questions! I've read the book twice and still need to pause and ask myself those tough questions. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteRight now I am in the middle of a "accept no as my answer" battle with both my kids. It is overwhelming at times, but perhaps my perspective needs to be altered. Right now, I'm trying to change then, but perhaps if I train my eyes on God for this situation, the grace would flow more readily.
ReplyDeleteEnough people have recommended this book to me that I guess I should buy it and read it soon.
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