APRIL 5 “ARE YOU SPIRITUALLY IMMATURE?”



WE know that a mother gets her loving and nurturing instinct from God, but here's where God and the mother differentiate; a Mother ALWAYS comforts, God DOES NOT always comfort. I know we hear Christian songs that make us wonder, "what's wrong with me" where the vocalist sings out, "every time I call upon God he wraps his arms around me" but I don't find that in scripture. What I read this morning illustrates to us a man, a desperate man, who is crying out to his God and he is not being comforted. "at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted." Then the Psalmist goes on to write, "6 I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked: 7 “Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? 8 Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”


I ADMIRE this man because he is able to be honest enough to say, " I cried out to God and he did nothing for me, he did not comfort me, I feel rejected by him, his favor has left my life it seems" but he's end conclusion is not, "I guess God isn't real then or he's wicked" his conclusion is, "I will continue to appeal to him, this is bound to change". Here's a mature believer, he has determined that God exists, no if, whens or but's about it and he has also determined that God is good. This is not a man that is "tossed to and fro in his faith, like a flag in the wind", he is not a man that is "unstable in all his ways" he is man that has determined, God exists and He (Jehovah) is good, end of story, nothing to debate or ponder upon. For us, it's different, every time God doesn't comfort or answer we go into this whole debate in our minds, "is God real, is his nature good". BUT not this man. If only we would all come to the spiritual maturity this man has come to. He can admit, "God is ignoring me, God is not comforting me, his favor has lifted and then say, "oh well, i will continue to appeal to him". I hope my son knows that he can appeal to his father, that although I may ignore him at times, I hope my son knows that I do love him and he can continue to appeal to me, and that for whatever reason I am ignoring him at the time, that eventually, his continuous appeal to me and my good nature, will come together. Our opinion of God should not continuously change based on his response or lack of response. David said, "these are things to lofty for me to understand", God is to big for us to fully understand. Why God is ignoring him he does not know and he does not try to figure out, he simply says, "oh well, I don't know why God has rejected me and not comforted me at this time, but I will mediate, think upon all the good things he has done for me in the past" and then I will go to sleep and wake up the next morning with a right heart and attitude towards this awesome and glorious God, to which I can never fully understand or figure out.

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