Why God? How long Lord? When are you going to help me? When is this going to get better? How long is this going to be a struggle? How long is this going to hurt? Will it always feel like a fight where I am outnumbered and outgunned? Why is this happening? Why didn't You..... Where are You? What I am going to do? How? When? Why? Where? What? Sometimes they can best be summed up with a blank question, calling out God?!?!?
There's nothing wrong with those questions. When we are hurting, discouraged, afraid, confused, or unsure, it's a whole lot better to turn to Daddy and say How? When? Why? Where? What? than it is not to. Because that means we're remembering the answer to the most important question. You may have recognized that these questions seem to go together. They do. They are five of the six questions that are considered the foundation of problem solving. Did you notice that I left one off? Maybe the order made it harder to see. The six basic questions to ask when gathering information to solve a problem are called the Five Ws And Sometimes How. Does that bring to mind the first W? It's who? Who, what, when, where, why and sometimes how is the traditional order these questions are taught.
And I have found that it is important to settle that first question first most of the times when I am a mess and have a problem that needs to be solved. Who? As in who can I turn to? Who is going to help me? Who is going to get me through this? Who can I run to? Who's your Daddy? Seriously, I wasn't trying to be funny with that last one. When we hold onto the truth that we can always turn to and run to Daddy and we remember who He is, that He is the Creator and Lord of all who has all that we need then it becomes a little less scary to ask the other questions.
For one thing, we know it's OK to ask them. A child falls and scrapes a knee, runs to Daddy and is held and comforted and cared for even as the alcohol treating the wound burns and feels like it's making everything worse. Why? Why do we have to use the alcohol? How long is this going to burn and sting? What can be done to make it better or help me endure it? These questions, and others, can be asked without fear of Daddy getting upset or pushing us away/ They are a natural reaction to the pain, but they can be asked even as the child grabs Daddy's hand and holds on tight for strength or leans into Daddy's shoulder for comfort.
But if you are anything like me, sometimes these questions get thrown out there as though there is no answer. We cry out and move on. We may say God, what, when, where, why, how, but really we're just crying and complaining. We're not expecting or waiting for an answer. No, I'm not about to get onto you or myself for this tendency. But the reason I brought up Habakkuk and the way the book begins is because it's a great example of a better way. Chapter one is string of questions and negative observances. Then it goes into chapter two this way:
I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the LORD says and how He will answer my complaint.
- Habakkuk 2:1
I will climb up to my watchtower.... is Habakkuk's way of saying I'm going to retreat into solitude and silence and wait on Daddy to answer the cry of my heart. He didn't gripe, complain or cry out and then just go on with his day and life. Some translations make it seem like He felt he would be reproved or corrected for the questions of chapter one, but still he waited for God to answer so that he would know how he should respond. OK, this is how I feel, and these are the questions that are making me miserable and sit behind the problem that I can't solve. I'm giving them to You, Daddy, the only way I can, by asking them to You, by screaming them in my heart at You. But I'm waiting on Your answer. And even if it means I will hear O child of little faith before the answer, that's OK, because I know it will be said in love and that You will still care for me. I am going to wait in solitude and silence until I know how to react and respond to what is going on in my life the way You would have me.
We have times when there are things that are overwhelming. There are times when there are things coming that we are going to need power and wisdom we don't have to face and deal with. There are times when we are going to need to love someone that we won't know how to love. Whether we are charging up before the crisis, searching for guidance, direction, strength and solution during the storms or recharging after, we need solitude and silence. We need time alone with Daddy, time when we are listening and thinking about His love, care, and promises. It's good to spend time alone talking to Daddy, but it's also important to listen to Him. What if He doesn't seem to be talking or we don't seem to be able to hear Him? Well, then we can just think about who His word says He is, what His word says He has done and will do for us, when He will be our help and strength and comfort and joy, where He will meet us, why we can always look to Him and how the distance between us and Him has been closed by the work of Jesus on our behalf.
I'm not getting on to anyone. I'm not saying shame on us for not spending more time alone with Daddy, being quiet and still so that we remember and know who He is. I am saying that even Jesus often withdrew into time alone with Daddy, and we need that. I am trying to encourage us all to do this more, especially during the times when the questions are threatening to overwhelm us. It doesn't matter where we get alone with God. I have two places that are my favorites. Anywhere I can sit alone with Daddy and my pipe and get still, and on my motorcycle, where I am cut off from everything but the motion, the wind and the Spirit. But you have your own place where you can cry without reservation or grab hold of the peace and comfort in the solitude and silence.
There is a difference between isolation and solitude. I am not advocating isolation. We need time with others, with people. We are told not to forsake the fellowship, and you can't be of service while playing the hermit. You can not edify and encourage or be edified and encouraged if you withdraw from society and your spiritual family. So, I am not talking about long periods of separation or cutting yourself off from others. I am talking about getting alone with Daddy long enough and regularly enough to be able to endure whatever mess is going on without walking away from love or forgetting that Daddy cares for us, long enough to know how to walk through the valley in such a way that will give God glory and draw others to Him, and so that we will be strengthened and filled (charged and recharged) with all we need to be victorious over our difficulties and able to serve and love others.
Don't feel bad if you think you have failed to do this as much or in the way you should. All of us could do it better. But today and in the days to come, let us remember that it's OK to ask whatever questions rise up in our hearts and cry the concerns we have, but it's a lot better when we then wait on an answer and His comfort. Let us remember that if we are going to do what He would have us do that we need His power and that we get that in the solitude and silence.
This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.
Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments, the weekly Unshackled Echo and or listens to the Audio Messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them on social media, commented on the blog or replied to an email subscription. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions and sermons to more people by sharing this? Hitting the share button or forwarding this to a friend will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.
No comments:
Post a Comment