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Good Lord
Thursday, February 18, 2016
First Week of Lent
Matthew 7:7, 11
Jesus said to his disciples, “Ask and it will be given to you … if you who are wicked know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.”
Jesus trusts God SO MUCH! His Father absolutely can do no wrong. Even when he is forced to abandon his ministry and faces certain death, Jesus submits to his Father’s will.
Jesus lives every moment, as far as we can see, guided by two unalterable principles which he never forgets: “Love the Lord with all your heart-soul-mind and love your neighbor-as-yourself.”
He has complete confidence that every thing God gives us is good. No matter how it looks at the time, no matter how it feels, no matter. It is all good.
And even more astoundingly, he is certain that God will give us what we ask for. We are free to ask, and God freely gives. Is Jesus throwing his Father under the bus here? Because time after time it seems like we are NOT given what we ask for.
Does God our Father know better than his children what is good for us? Certainly he does. But I think God also knows we’ll grow closer to him over time out of regret and remorse when we’ve asked for and received what wasn’t good for us.
I remember Jim Carrey’s dilemma in the movie Bruce Almighty when so many prayer requests contradicted each other. He just typed in “YES” to all of them and then had to face some serious music after that. Does that happen to God anywhere other than Hollywood?
Jesus does not explain himself; he simply says that God is good. And everything God gives is good, and it is good for us to accept that. We are safe in the hands of this living God.
For Jesus our Father’s goodness was not a hypothesis but a certainty. It was a fact, not an opinion. He knew within himself the place where God dwells always. Thomas Merton calls this place the “virgin point.” It is pure and cannot be broken open or broken into. It is God’s home inside our souls. All of us. All our souls.
Jesus has a way of persuading his listeners that what he says is true. I am glad to believe him, even if I don’t understand the workings of my life or anyone else’s life either. Because my inconsistency, my selfishness, and my sin will not change God. He is good regardless. I can count on that.
I give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart, for you have heard the words of my mouth. Your right hand saves me; you will complete what you have done for me. Your kindness, O Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the work of your hands. (from Psalm 138)
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1441
