“Stop expecting what has never been promised” said my Pastor one Sunday morning.

As part of my spiritual formation, I have been taught (and taught others) that when difficulties come our way, we should go to the Word of God to find the related Scriptures that speak to that type of situation … and if God has promised a remedy for the difficulty, to speak it over yourself/your situation. Or in other words, “claim” it.

For example: 
for sickness, go to the healing scriptures and claim your healing
for financial lack, go to the blessings scriptures and claim provision
for unjust treatment, go to the justice scriptures and claim God’s protection

And I believe that, and I still do that.

And then I don’t.

Because God is not a genie in a bottle, serving at my beck and call to fulfill all my wishes. There is and will always be suffering in this world. Some prayers don’t get answered in the way we want them to be. Life can be hard, and still be in the will of God for us.

~

Last summer I began listening to a podcast called “Rule of Life” by Practicing The Way, examining nine ancient spiritual disciplines. I have been slowing moving through the disciplines of Prayer, Fasting, and Solitude & Silence. As an accompaniment to the podcast, I am also re-reading “Invitation to Solitude and Silence” by Ruth Haley Barton.

And I am learning how to be with God in a more authentic and honest manner, bringing to Him all that I am … and all that I am not. This poem speaks to that tension.

The Whisper Of Your Voice

Deep within the hidden places of my heart

I slowly transition away from distraction.

I slow down, I lean in.  I quiet myself enough to listen.

.

A wave of despair arises,

Borne of unanswered prayers.

I acknowledge it and let it go.

.

My heart aches, this world hurts.

I have put on apathy as a cloak of comfort.

I remove it and surrender to what is true of me in this moment.

.

My am weary, battered and bruised.

I’ve run hard and fast away from this place with You.

But I am here, and in the stillness I hear You say:

“Will you yet trust me child?”

@puttinghopetowork

Prayer:

“O God, gather me now to be with you as you are with me. Soothe my tiredness; quiet my fretfulness; curb my aimlessness; relieve my compulsiveness; let me be easy for a moment.

O Lord, release me from the fears and guilts which grip me so tightly; from the expectations and opinions which I so tightly grip, that I may be open to receiving what you have to give, to risking something genuinely new, to learning something refreshingly different.

O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me. Amen”

(Ted Loder, Guerillas of Grace)

Related posts: 

The Valley of Dry Bones and Failures

2018: A Year For Hope (Week 15)