Without a doubt, your perspective of God will shape your perspective of your circumstances. Your theology is like a lens through which you examine life. This means that you never come to a circumstance from some point of happy neutrality. You and I are always evaluating our situation from the point of view of vertical awe or lack of awe. Somehow, like the children of Israel, we are always asking ourselves five deeply theological questions, and the way we answer them will lead us to hope or panic.
It is important to say that, in some way or another, you answer these questions every day. Every day you and I reason theologically about our lives. In this way, it may be that our daily lives are being influenced by our functional theology more than by our formal theology. The theology we unconsciously adopt can differ significantly from the theology we claim to believe when we make conscious theological commitments. The God of our formal schemas may be very different from the God we think about daily in those moments when we are unaware that we are thinking about Him. Every day you ask and answer these important theological questions, whether you are a pastor, a computer programmer, a secretary. , student or plumber. And you do it influenced by vertical amazement or by the amnesia of amazement.
1. Is God good?
You can be sure that God's goodness will confuse you. You see, what seems good from God's perfect and eternal perspective does not always seem good to us. It is difficult to accept that God knows what is best for us. It is difficult to accept that God can use difficulties for good in our lives, so we find it difficult to trust His plan. And, again, the matter of wonder is behind this. If I live in the center of my God-given capacity for wonder—that is, if wonder for myself has replaced wonder for God—then I will invariably conclude that God is not good, and I will complain about everything.
If I am in the center, I will define good as everything that is comfortable, predictable, pleasant, natural and easy. The good life will be the easy life because awe of myself will have replaced awe of God as the primary motivation of my life. So when difficulty comes, my automatic theological response will be to wonder why God is doing what He does and doubt His goodness. In my early days of ministry, I was surprised that many of the people I counseled were angry at God and assumed He was not good.
__________
"His goodness is the foundation of all His amazing qualities.
He never thinks, wishes, says or does evil.”
__________
And here is the dangerous thing about this type of thinking. As I have mentioned before in this book and elsewhere, if you allow yourself to doubt God's goodness, you will stop following His commandments and you will stop coming to Him for help because you no longer trust Him. But God is good. His goodness is the foundation of all His amazing qualities. He never thinks, wishes, says or does evil. He is the definition of all that is good, just and true. Everything he does is good in all aspects. His goodness is so glorious that it should leave us breathless, silent and in wonder. And if His goodness amazes us, we will not fear in times of trouble and we will not refuse to do the difficult things He calls us to do.
I wish I could say that I have never judged or questioned the goodness of God, but I have. For three years I housed my elderly father, whose sin had devastated our family. I hoped to be used by God to make him repent of his sin, but it never happened. One day he fell down the stairs, fell into a coma and died. From my perspective, nothing good had come of it. Hosting him seemed to have been a huge waste. While in a hospital elevator, I began to release all the anger that had been building up inside me. Thank goodness I was alone. The way I questioned God's goodness scared me. It was humiliating that for a brief moment I allowed myself to think that I knew more than God, that my “goodness” was better than His. How about you? Does awe at God's goodness give meaning to your life? Or do life's difficulties lead you to question His goodness?
2. Will God fulfill what he promised?
Few questions in life are more important than this one. Because we are all small and weak, because we don't really know what will happen in the future, and because God calls us to do difficult things, we need to know that His promises are reliable. Will He always be with us? Will it supply everything we need? Will you forgive us? Will His love be eternal? Will His work of grace continue until it is complete? Will it provide us with the guidance and protection we need? It will?
God's promises are designed to motivate us. Its purpose is to give us hope and courage. They are powerful in overcoming our feelings of loneliness, inadequacy and fear, and in giving us peace when chaos and confusion surround us. God's promises are designed to amaze your mind and give rest to your heart. They are gifts of grace to you. Deep in your heart, you know that you do not deserve the blessings He showers on you. His promises should produce awe of Him and cause you to marvel at the glory of His grace. His promises are designed to be the way you interpret and make meaning of your life.
I am amazed at the number of believers whom I have seen plunged into a state of spiritual paralysis because they no longer believe in God's promises. Since they do not believe in God's promises, they have no reason to continue doing the radical things that God calls His children to do. If doubt replaces wonder, you will soon give up the disciplines of the Christian life. Your problem is not that life is difficult. Your problem is that you have lost your awe at the God who made the promises that once motivated your way of dealing with life. Do you have the hope and courage that comes from believing in God's promises? Or do you question its reliability?
3. Is God in control?
It is essential that your amazement rests on this. In some way, all the other questions are based on this one. It would make no difference in life if God did not rule over places that resist His goodness. The reliability of God's promises depends on the extent of His control. He can only guarantee His intervention where He has absolute control. What good is His power if you lack the authority to exercise it? It is no use knowing that God is in control if He does not govern the circumstances in which His care is essential. Yes, all the comfort that God's amazing qualities offer us is based on His sovereign control over every situation, place, and person.
__________
“Yes, all the comfort that the amazing
God's qualities are based on His sovereign control
about every situation, place and person.”
__________
But here's the problem: at first glance, your world doesn't appear to be under careful and wise control. In fact, at times it seems to be completely out of control. This brings us back to the same point where the other questions have taken us. Are you going to let your circumstances tell you who God is, or let God's amazing revelation about Himself interpret your circumstances? You see, people who live in fear, who torment themselves with too many “what if?” or who cannot turn off their brain when they go to sleep do not have a problem of circumstances; They have a wonder problem. In those situations where we have no control, we can only rest when we are in awe of the One who controls them for His glory and our well-being.
The main problem for people who believe they have to be in control is not one of power; They have an amazement problem that produces a hunger for power. A lack of awe at God's sovereignty causes them to try to establish their personal peace and security through personal control. How about you? Have you been freed from your fear and your need to be in control by the awe of God's infinite sovereignty?
4. Does God have the necessary power?
How do you measure the power of God? How can weak minds understand something infinite? The Scriptures tell us that God comes to us with the same power that raised Christ from the dead. That is the definition of absolute power! What would be more powerful than the ability to breathe life into a dead body? What could be a better definition of omnipotent power than being able to get up and walk after being dead? There is no place where human beings are more powerless than in the face of death.
If you have experienced the death of a loved one, you know what I mean. I stood at my mother's bedside after she died, wishing I had one last conversation with her, wishing I could hear her say “I love you” one last time, wishing she could hold my hand and say everything would be okay. I wanted it with all my heart, but she was gone and there was nothing I could do about it.
__________
“The power of God is so great that He rules
life and death."
__________
God's power is so great that He governs life and death. Now, this is why this is important. You can only have peace in the face of your own weakness, failures, and inability when you are amazed by the wonderful power of God. You will only be able to do what you do not have the natural ability to do when you know that the amazing power of God is with you. Awe at God's power produces courage in the face of weakness. Awe at God's power allows you to admit your limits and still live with courage and hope. Fear, denial, hiding, making excuses, or running away are not primarily problems of weakness, but problems of wonder. I can face what is bigger than me because I know that the One who is with me is bigger than what I am facing. How about you? How much of what you do is done out of fear and not faith? How often are you paralyzed by your weakness? Do you live boldly in light of your awe at the power of God?
5. Does God care about me?
Perhaps this is the question we are most aware of. It is the question asked by the child who is bullied at school. It is the question asked by the wife who watches her marriage collapse. It is the question asked by parents who end up exhausted after a difficult day with their children. It is the question asked by the single woman, the man who lost his job and the person who sadly had to leave the church because of its bad doctrine; the one that is played by the weak old man who suffers and the sick person who fights against a chronic illness. It's the question you ask yourself when you see the culture around you going from bad to worse.
God's care is fundamental. It lets me know that all of His attributes operate in my favor. His care means he will be good to me. Your care means you will do what you promised me. His care means that He will exercise His control on my behalf. His care means He will unleash His amazing power on my behalf. Awe at His care allows me to embrace the hope that all of His other qualities give me. The Bible never questions God's care; He assumes it and declares it. It confronts you with the nature of His mercy, love, patience, grace, tenderness and faithfulness. He is the most loving Father. He is the only Friend who is completely faithful, the one who remains closer than a brother. He will never abandon you. He is the one who does not send you if he does not go with you. He is your protector, guide, defender, teacher, savior and healer. He never mocks your weakness, but rather strengthens you. He never uses your sin against you, but grants you forgiveness. He doesn't play favorites, he never gives up on you; He doesn't get exhausted or want to give up. It is never disloyal. His care is so amazing and complete that nothing you experience in your life can compare. He takes care of you!
__________
“He is the one who does not send you if he does not go with you. He is your protector, guide,
defender, teacher, savior and healer.”
__________
How about you? Do you go through times of disappointment and complaints because you have allowed yourself to doubt His care? The size of your hope is directly proportional to the level of your awe at God's care.
So every complaint and every grumble is deeply theological. Our problem is not that the “good life” has abandoned us, that people have failed us, or that life has been difficult. All of these things happen to us because we live in a fallen world. And if our contentment is based on life being easy, comfortable, and pleasant, we will have no contentment on this side of eternity. We complain too much not because we have horizontal problems, but because we have a vertical problem. You can only have joy when awe of God rules your heart, and you will have it even if others disappoint you and life is difficult. Awe means your heart will be filled recognizing the blessing more than the need. You will be amazed daily by what you have been given, rather than constantly disturbed by what you think you need. Awe produces gratitude, gratitude instills joy, and the result of joy is contentment.
You will most likely complain tomorrow, and when you do, cry out to the Savior for help. Only He can open your eyes to behold His glory. Only His grace can satisfy your heart. And as you cry out, remember that He is so rich in His grace that He will always hear your cry.
_________________________
This article was adapted from a portion of the book Asombro , published by Poiema Publicaciones .
You can download a free sample by visiting this link.
_________________________
Pages 103 to 110
