The original title of this post was pretty boring. I couldn’t come up with anything better until this one which seems relevant. So here you go, and thanks for reading.

Ghosted by God

Most people have heard of the 5 love languages, they are:

Words of affirmation.
Quality time.
Physical touch.
Acts of service.
Receiving gifts.

Its a good way to put into words how you express love. I’ve never read the book but I like it & I think it seems pretty accurate.

That got me thiking, I wonder what God’s love language is? And how can we speak His language? That would be awesome to be able to communicate with God using His own love language and it’s not that hard to figure out, it’s pretty straightforward actually.

God’s love language is trust

Its how God receives love from us…He loves to be trusted.

In fact, he loves that more than hearing you sing hymns, more than when you wear that cross around your neck, and even more than when you go to church on Sunday.

He loves it when you trust Him just on a Tuesday. He loves to be trusted.

I think that we as humans often equate love with comfort, I know I do.

But God equates love with trust

Think about it. It is so easy for us to confuse our human definition of love with what divine love is.

For us love is an action but to God it is His essence – it is who He is.

God is love.

Remember that cliche? Its more true than you could ever imagine.

There’s a big difference between God’s job and our job. See, God’s job is to provide the outcome; your job is to handle the process.

The longer you think you can control the outcomes in your life, the more frustration you are going to experience in this journey of faith.

How many of us were taught that faith was a way of controlling your outcomes? It was like,

“If you pray this and do that, then you can expect this…”

But everybody here has had something that made all that fall apart.

That thing in your life that caused you to question the very nature of faith. Right?

What was it for you? For me it was the loss of everything in my life I had hoped for – a wife, raising our children together, worshiping together, growing together. Admittedly much of this came after Salvation, but the outcome was the same.

I hate to say this but it’s like we view faith as a form of bargaining. By which we get God to keep our schedule.

So many times I found myself begging God, “Please don’t let this happen..”

I have news for you, if I’ve learned one thing on this journey of faith & redemption – it’s that God will not be bargained with. God will not be moved just because we get uncomfortable in a situation. No matter how desperate we get.

Faith is not a means of controlling the outcome.

We say “God can do anything,” but in that very same breath that you say, “God can do anything,” there is something in your life right now that God will not do. And even maybe something you see he did for somebody else – but he has not done for you yet.

Do you know how many times I’ve heard preached in church about how God took away this person’s depression, or this person’s addiction etc.?

And yet here we are suffering in the midst of it – begging God to take this burden from us. According to what I heard in church, He pretty much moved His mighty hand over their life, and they were cured! Praise God! Their depression, their addiction, their hardship was gone.

And that’s fine. Praise to His glory for that..

Well, what about me? Waiting. Month after month. Year after year. Begging. Pleading. Nothing. Maybe my faith wasn’t strong enough? Maybe I did something to deserve this? Where are you God? I need you!

What I felt is what I know others have felt,

If God really loved me, he would.

If God really saw me, he would.

If God was really strong like they say he is, he would.

If God really had all power in his hand, he would.

Here’s the thing – we feel like this because we never see the fundamental truth – that the love of God is not proven by the way we feel his presence, but how much we trust Him when we don’t..

Does that make sense?

Back then it sure felt like He must have abandoned me to put me through all this…Why God?

Many of us have had so much pain, so much loneliness. So much not going right.

What I learned is, our love of God is really proven by the way we deal with the uncertainty of life when we cannot see Him moving.

The love of God is not only proven in the times where I thank him for my blessings; but the love of God is also proven in my life when I cannot feel Him and still praise Him for my blessings.

And by faith I praise Him..

Because He is God. Even when I don’t sense God, He is God. Give him a praise – not for what He does but who He is.

You know we’ve all said, “Hey Jesus, did you get my message?”

“Hey, Jesus, I’m depressed.”

“Hey, Jesus, I’m all alone.”

“Hey, Jesus, I can’t pay my bills”

“Hey, Jesus, my child is sick.”

“Hey, Jesus, I need you to fix my relationship.”

“Hey Jesus!

“Straighten this out….”

Have you ever felt like you’ve been ghosted by Jesus? Have you ever prayed a prayer that seemed to hit the ceiling and bounce right back?

Think about this – Maybe it seems like Jesus left you on read (spoiler alert – He didn’t), or ghosted you – because He loves you.

Not because he was too busy, but because he loves you that much

See the problem is we have all these clichés about what we think Jesus or God is supposed to do for us.

But God is not a convenience store we can go into and pay with a prayer and walk out with what we wanted.

After years of feeling like I was left on read – If that is how you feel in your life right now, it’s not because God isn’t listening…

It’s likely God is more interested in changing you first than He is your situation.

Just know that if God has you in a season of suffering, He will never give you any more than you can bear through faith.

I wrote a long post about ( surviving the storms ) of our life and the outcome and blessings we receive afterwards so I won’t go into it here.

Sadly, we often equate God’s love with the circumstances of our lives.

If you look to the circumstances of your life for the proof of God’s love, you are looking for His love in all of the wrong places.

What we have to realize is that what we do in painful situations is view things strictly as they are happening. And there’s no insight in that.

Because if we truly had insight we’d realize that afterwards, and in the hindsight after the storm has passed that:

“…in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (ROMANS 8:28)

The insight of hindsight is really powerful, but we don’t live our lives with the insight of hindsight about every situation do we?

Hindsight will come. It always does.

Be patient. Wait. Trust.

Trust God & trust the process..

Never put a period, where God puts a comma.

What I mean is that some things in your life will make sense after the fact, that don’t make sense at all right now.

I have lived this. I know this to be true.

I am so thankful for some advice I got recently, and I want to share it with you if you are going through a season of pain:

I want you to see yourself worshiping.
I want you to see yourself grateful.
I want you to see yourself restored.
I want you to see yourself better.
I want you to see yourself free.
I want you to see yourself delivered.
I want you to see yourself healed.
I want you to see yourself with a testimony.

Take courage. Your hardship, your season doesn’t end in a period. It doesn’t end in failure or disappointment, but in the inevitable glory of God.

And you will see His glory not in the hereafter, but in the land of the living.

Do you know what faith and fear have in common?

They both require you to believe in something you cannot see. So which one will you choose today?

Trust in Him. Believe in Him.

Amen