Monday, July 27, 2009

Though you do not see him now...

A few paragraphs I wish I had read prior to preaching from 1 Peter 1:8-9 yesterday morning. From Paul Miller, A Praying Life, 193-4:

"Many of us wish God were more visible. We think that if we could see him better or know what is going on, then faith would come more easily. But if Jesus dominated the space and overwhelmed our vision, we would not be able to relate to him. Everyone who had a clear-eyed vision of God in the Bible fell down as if he were dead. It's hard to relate to pure light...

"When we suffer, we long for God to speak clearly, to tell us the end of the story and, most of all, to show himself. But if he showed himself fully and immediately, if he answered all the questions, we'd never grow; we'd never emerge from our chrysalis because we'd be forever dependent....No one works like him. He is such a lover of souls."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

THis is quite good. Thanks for posting.

Also, good to know I am not the only one who has those, "man, wish i had seen this yesterday" moments. I had a moment like that Sunday except I was reminded about the book only 3 hours after preaching. Grr.

Anonymous said...

that was nathan c., btw.

M. Jay Bennett said...

Thanks for feeding us Christ this Sunday Sean. As one who tends toward a melancholy temperament but also loves the vision of a joy-saturated life, I was deeply encouraged.