Following Directions

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. -- James 4:8

I can easily believe that if I draw near to God, He will draw near to me.  The question is how do I draw near?  James answers, at least in part, in the next sentence:  turn away from those things that keep us divided and polluted.  Jesus says, And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you  (Luke 11:9).  That is, ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking.  Don’t be discouraged because you stumble.  Don’t turn away because no one seems to be at home. 

It is said that we will weep over our sins here for a while or long in eternity.  There is nothing wrong with being broken when we are broken before God.  If we have something that was put together incorrectly, it will be wrong always until it is taken apart as a broken thing and put back together the right way.  If something in us in wrong, it will be that way until we are opened up that the thing may be turned right.  Only God can do that. 

That’s a lot of what I do with my writing here, especially this year.  I’ve made it into a sort of confessional where I look at the parts that aren’t right and instead of denying that I’m messed up or thinking that it is just the way I am, I give God space to disassemble and reassemble.  The truth is that I really didn’t think about it making much difference.  Then, all of the sudden, last weekend, an aspect of my life that had been painful and difficult for years, clicked back into place. 

I’m still thoroughly twisted but that was something I thought was broken beyond all hope of being fixed.  It wasn’t, and I’m still not sure if I had anything at all to do with putting it right – it certainly wasn’t much.  So there must be hope, always, for anybody, for any situation.  

Some dis-assembly required.