Recently I have been trying to understand and acknowledge the balance between God being both my loving heavenly father whom I have a close relationship with and also being the Sovereign King of everything as I bow down to Him sitting on the throne. As Christians, it is very easy for us to focus in on one aspect of who God is and forget the rest. It's easy for me to only see him as a loving father and close friend that I forget how powerful and full of authority he is. I can also be so focused on him sitting on the throne and only see how sinful and imperfect that I am to the point where I become afraid of Him and his power, recognizing that I am nothing without him.
The second of the two is the perspective that I have had recently and honestly, I have been begging God to bring me in closer and remind me how he is my father. Today while waiting for a friend to grab lunch at Chipotle, I was sitting and watching this new dad with his little girl outside on the restaurant patio. As I was watching them I could feel Gods presence showing me an example of how he interacts with us as his children. Incase you don't understand why I believe that God is my heavenly father, take a look at John 1:12, "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." Jesus came to earth to be received by us in order that we could become Gods children and have a relationship with him. But back to my observation of the father and young daughter, she was probably only two or three years old and was in her own little world as she explored and touched everything on the patio. As all this was taking place for maybe five to ten minutes, I made four observations:
1. The little girls' dad just sat back and watched her play instead of controlling what she was doing.
I have to remind myself every day that I am not Gods puppet, he doesn't control my every move. Because he doesn't control me, he allows me to go through pain and hard times so that I can grow. He also allows me to experience his joy and love while living life to the fullest.
2. While he didn't keep his eyes 100% focused on her or talk with her the WHOLE time she was playing, he did stand close enough to her so that he could intercede if he needed to or she could turn and run to him.
Sometimes, like most of this semester, God is silent in our lives. He can either be quiet because we have a strong enough relationship that he trusts we know what to do in certain situations or he is waiting to see what we do as he tests our faith. But being silent doesn't mean he isn't there. As I go through my life day by day, trial by trial, joy by joy, he is always walking with me. Just because he isn't talking to me or I don't hear him doesn't mean he isn't with me, because he is. And I trust that he will intercede when he needs to or be waiting with open arms when I turn and run towards him.
3. He leaned over and whispered in her ear to direct her towards something more fun than what she was occupied with.
Often times I get distracted with something I am doing that I miss out on bigger and better opportunities ahead of me. Or I get too comfortable with where I am at and don't see what else God has to offer. Just like the little girls' dad did, our heavenly father will sometimes whisper in our ear to direct us to something much greater in a different direction while we are distracted by what is in front of us. We have to remember that he can see the much bigger picture around our lives.
4. He pointed her in directions on which way to walk to get back to the car as she was running all over the place instead of just picking her up and carrying her.
As I go through life, I want to keep on the path that leads to Jesus. However, sometimes I get distracted and start running around. While I love when God just picks me up and carries me back to the right path, I also love when he points me in the right direction and lets me experience the journey.
I'll admit, sometimes I get frustrated that I can't hear Gods voice audibly, like how cool would that be?! However, I am grateful that he loves to use analogies and symbolism to speak and relate with us. God is good; all the time. And all the time; God is good.
