My husband and I recently finished a book called, With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God by Skye Jethani. The author beautifully explains to the reader four different "incorrect" ways we often relate to God. I thought I would share it with you, hoping that you might benefit as much as we have in Jethani's analysis of how we experience God.
Maybe you can relate to how we can sometimes live in a relationship UNDER God. (We get upset when we do things the "righteous" way and God doesn't perform the way we think He should). This is like the movie, Bruce Almighty, where Bruce finally gives up and takes all of his aggression out on God because God is not coming through for him.
Or, we can choose to live OVER God. (We think that God basically started the universe in motion and now it's up to us to discover and use the life principles He established to be successful - without any additional relationship with Him necessary.) Think of Thomas Jefferson and his "watchmaker" philosophy....God basically created the giant watch, wound it up and is letting it run.
Or, we can opt to live FROM God. (We live in an age of massive consumerism and we expect that by following God we can get all our material desires met FROM God.) We act like entitled children, thinking that He will meet our every desire, rather than our needs - kind of like a vending machine God.
Or, finally we live FOR God. (We feel like we are put on Earth to serve God's great cause - glorifying Him through our dedication of giving up everything FOR Him - and that we must sacrifice everything to be worthy of His favor. We become defeated because we can't measure up, or there is always a sin besetting us.) This is exhausting and never fulfilling.
Instead, of the four incorrect ways listed above, Jethani argues that all God really desires is a relationship WITH us. He uses the analogy that we are like the trapeze artist who lets go with the hope that someone will be there to catch him. The trapeze artist does this with the hope that the other trapeze artist is competent and knows what he is doing. The trapeze artist starts flying through the air in faith that someone will be there to catch him. And, in the end, the trapeze artist is caught because of the love of the Catcher, God, who catches the flying artist. The trapeze artist could not perform if he was not WITH the Catcher. It's when he is caught that we burst into cheers because of the Catcher.
Remember when your toddler was learning to swim? I remember being in the pool and trying to coax my kids when they were little to jump to me. I would say, "It's ok, I will catch you. You can trust me. I am right here for you. I'm not going anywhere." They would think about it, I would say it again and suddenly they would jump, and I would ALWAYS catch them.
Perhaps, you like me as an adult, quite often feel like you have let go, and you are desperately hoping He will be there to catch you. He will. It is His nature to be faithful, to be kind, to be loving...why? Because He loves you and me and wants to experience life together WITH you. I've talked to people who have experienced great hardship, desperate situations regarding children, husbands, wives, jobs, finances. When we go through these times our paradigm is radically different when we rest in the truth that He is WITH us and He will catch us.
During this season of Lent, we are reminded that He sent His only Son to die for us due to His great love. He wants our very best and yet He asks that we live by FAITH, and not by sight. He asks that we put our HOPE and TRUST in Him to catch us. The rewards are great but we must let go of the trapeze bar in order to let Him catch us.
The next time you are in a valley or in a tough spot, will you let go and start to fly? Will you trust in His love that He will catch you? Try it, you won't be disappointed and you'll sense His great love for you in the arms of the Catcher. None of us will know unless we try, right?
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