A lot of teaching tells me that if I just pray more, read more, go to more meetings, etc. God will do bigger and better things in and through my life. I’ve even been told that a lack of prayer has sometimes been the cause of people’s diseases going unhealed, or of someone being denied various blessings.
These beliefs cause me to question… Is God that powerless? Is He really dependent upon me in order to heal the sick or give good gifts to His children? And if so, doesn’t that make me – in effect – more powerful than God?
Who’s God, anyway?
My reflections on this topic touch on the fringes of a conclusion. I think God is God and these situations resolve as He sees fit, regardless of my coercion. Yes, it is good to pray, read, or whatever in order to align with His mind and His ways. That’s a privilege He grants us… but it doesn’t give us His powers or make us God.
You sound like a Lutheran – and I agree totally. That is the faith that has brought me through the pains of this Earth. Having gone through several years of pains from a divorce, a drug addicted son, and so on — I find that I am not as ready to proclaim my faith verbally — not as sure of myself in such knowledge – but I do believe the He holds me and not the other way around. During my darkest minutes — that belief is what held me – because I did not feel I was holding on very well and had it depended on me, it would have been a problem. But I see God has much greater than our imagination can absorb – and probably very different than we imagine as well. We know so little of love and devotion — yet He IS such wonderful things — how can that be?