Don” Hurt the Lord
Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not
known Me, Philip? —John 14:9
Our Lord must be repeatedly astounded at us-astounded at how
“un-simple” we are. It is our own opinions that make us dense and slow to
understand, but when we are simple we are never dense; we have discernment all
the time. Philip expected the future revelation of a tremendous mystery, but
not in Jesus, the Person he thought he already knew. The mystery of God is not
in what is going to be-it is now, though we look for it to be revealed in the
future in some overwhelming, momentous event. We have no reluctance to obey
Jesus, but it is highly probable that we are hurting Him by what we ask-”Lord,
show us the Father . . .” (John 14:8). His response immediately comes
back to us as He says, “Can’t you see Him? He is always right here or He is
nowhere to be found.” We look for God to exhibit Himself to His children, but
God only exhibits Himself in
His children. And while others see the evidence, the child of God does not. We
want to be fully aware of what God is doing in us, but we cannot have complete
awareness and expect to remain reasonable or balanced in our expectations of
Him. If all we are asking God to give us is experiences, and the awareness of
those experiences is blocking our way, we hurt the Lord. The very questions we
ask hurt Jesus, because they are not the questions of a child..
“Let not your heart be troubled . .
.” (14:1, 27). Am I then hurting Jesus by
allowing my heart to be troubled? . If I believe in
Jesus and His attributes, am I living up to my belief? Am I allowing anything
to disturb my heart, or am I allowing any questions to come in which are
unsound or unbalanced? I have to get to the point of the absolute and
unquestionable relationship that takes everything exactly as it comes from Him.
God never guides us at some time in the future, but always here and now.
Realize that the Lord is here now,
and the freedom you receive is immediate.
(Taken from Oswald Chambers – “My
Utmost for His Highest” April 21)