There are two types of knocking on doors in the New Testament. One is in Revelation 3:20, where Jesus knocks on our door. Let’s call this passive, since all we have to do is open the door when Jesus shows up.
The other is in Luke 11:9-10, where we knock on His door. We’ll call this active for obvious reasons.
Now I love when Jesus initiates spiritual activity, but I think we may be unbalanced. Our default mode seems to be to wait around for Him to do something. And when nothing happens, we spiritualize by playing the “God is sovereign” card. But consider some things He has said.
You don’t have because you don’t ask (James 4:2). Draw near to God (i.e. you go first), and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). You can’t please God unless you believe He rewards diligent seeking (Heb 11:6). Always pray (knock) persistently and don’t give up (Luke 18:1-9).
Seems to me we’re supposed to be doing most of the knocking. We need to realize that we have the power, through prayer, to stir up the activity of God. If our spiritual lives are boring, it’s not His fault.
I'm not sure I agree that we spiritualize and play the "God is Soverign" card, though I understand what is meant. I'm sure that you have experienced times when God did not answer either at all (at least as far as you were aware) or in a time frame that we thought necessary. Do I hold Him accountable because He did not "answer" when I prayed and pressed through? Do I have the right with my limited understanding to say that since I did what He asked that He has the right to answer? My faith has not failed because He did not answer. I tire at times of the view that God has the right to answer because we did what He said to do. I find that at times we have swung to the other side of the pendulum and God has becoame a puppet of sorts to answer our every prayer in our timeframe. I find no fear, or lack, or smallness of faith, in concluding that either there was no answer or that I just failed to see it altogether. He owes me no explanation in spite of the questions that would cause me to doubt. Rather I owe him my obedience in spite of my lack of understanding or ability to perceive how He is at work. He is the potter, I the clay. I cannot explain Him, describe Him, define Him or make any conclusion about Him in entirety. I can answer only piecewise. There have been times when He has answered before I have even thought to ask, and there have been times when He has also been very silent. Or has He? Here again, I have come to an incorrect conclusion that He has been silent. For me I will continue to pursue Him, all the while increasing the little experience that I can gain of Him and using it in whatever ways that may make sense with regard toi His character. Otherwise I shall hold my peace and conclude that maybe with time understanding will come and once again He will prove that His ways are truly beyond not only my own, but also my understanding.
ReplyDeleteRoger
Yes, Roger! How about the other Scriptures? If we are to walk Jesus' way, as we usually pray, doesn't that include the Via Dolorosa, the way of suffering? Not that we crave the suffering, but that we know that escape from suffering is not always His way. Books of Peter and of Hebrews make it clear that we suffer because He suffered. It may even be the way of the martyrs, who cry out from under His throne, waiting for their justice to come (and it will) in heaven. Assuming people don't get an answer because they have done something wrong, like not prayed enough or in some pattern, is a bad thing to assume. Maybe their true need was for God to be silent, to draw out the faith and obedience that Roger mentioned. The faith of staying firm for decades whether you got a new message from the sky IS what the young generation cannot yet have. That testimony is what they should be seeking from their elders, who kept a long obedience in the same direction, through decades of pain, wear and tear, and the power of God.
ReplyDeleteSure I've had those experiences, and I understand where you're coming from, but I'm trying to live on what He says over my experience. (Mat 7:8) For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
ReplyDeleteBefore we can open the door to Jesus we have to discern that He is at the door. I pray that we don't ignore His persistent knocking because He comes at a time when it is inconvenient for us or isn't on the order of service. When Jesus enters the room the power of His presence will save, heal, and deliver. It is at the end of the day all about Him isn't it?
ReplyDeleteKathleen Hill