I am a Romans 8:28 Christian. “For we know that ALL things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.” I have, it appears, tested this throughout all my adult life and have come to know it is, indeed, true. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that God cannot redeem. Once I came to understand my true relationship to God as a ‘son of God’, an heir with Christ, one whom He loves unconditionally, I trusted this promise and it has given me great confidence in God’s plans for my life- Jeremiah 29:11- to prosper and not to harm me, to give me a future and a hope. I have often felt that I have put God’s redemptive nature to a test, not by intention, but by my stupid sheep-like inability to learn from my mistakes and from His Word that has caused me to make the same mistakes far too many times.
Today I was challenged by a statment I heard a dear spiritual director make as he was speaking about Psalm 23. He said, “God said HE would LEAD me. He did not say, ‘Go and do whatever you want to and I’ll clean up whatever mess you make.'” Perhaps I have trusted too much in Romans 8:28. Not too much for God’s redemptive nature, but too much for my own proper spiritual formation. Perhaps I am failing in the call to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the transformation of my mind and heart. I am my own obstacle to living a life in grace. If I trust too much in God’s ability and willingness to redeem whatever mistakes I make, there is little demand on me to quit making them. So, now I see that God desires that I be more attentive to His voice, more patient in waiting to see what He would have me do, less willing to rush in where angels fear to tread. My willingness to rush forward in any given situation is not an expression of my confidence in my own ability so much as it is an expression of my confidence in God and His ability to make good come out of whatever happens as a result of my efforts. I recall reading once in ‘My Utmost for His Highest’ that we can become a terrible strain on God by the demands that we make, the immaturity that we persist in demonstrating. I suspect I have been a great drain on God by my trust in His redemptive nature. It has resulted in a spoiled-child inconsiderate, even demanding, behavior toward God on my part.
Now that I have been shown this failing in my character, I will be seeking to give it to God to do what He alone can do and what He does so well- redeem it.
