Think about
this: Have you ever defied God? Have you ever looked at a circumstance and said
to God, “No. You can’t do this. I won’t allow it.”? Would you even dare to do
something like that?
We spend so much time in church
learning to be reverent and deferential toward God that we can forget that
there is more to faithful obedience than being God’s yes-man or yes-woman. We
expect our faithful speech to be full of praise and gratitude and thanksgiving.
In recent times we have become obsessed with saccharine faithfulness. We have
praise and worship services that gloss over life’s difficulties. It’s headline
news when a saint like Mother Teresa or a church leader like Pope Francis or
Canterbury Archbishop Justin Welby admits to wrestling with God over daily
struggles of faith and discipleship. Our prayers are full of chatter about
thanking you so much God, and loving you so much God, and being so amazed at
how wonderful you are God.
