Mere Humanity. Royal Father.

Picking up the mail, I open a not-so-nice note left by my neighbor: Another test to check my anger at the door. This loving your neighbor stuff is not quite as easy as I always seem to...(re)think! Especially when blatant injustice is knocking at your door. I move to the Eastside all excited about seeing people healed and redeemed and ready to love with all my heart...and yet, at the first obstacle and test of love, I recoil.  SO HARD!  And I struggle with feeling like such a huge disappointment to God...already. I am severely reminded of my mere humanity. And yet, I am moved.

I am moved and reminded to place my trust and faith in a God who intimately formed our mere humanity and who freely offers the life source of love...overflowing with immense power...sovereign control.  He so desires and needs to be in the dead center of our lives...head over every thought, decision, and response so that it is his love that we are pulling from and not our tainted and limited portion.  In our human weakness we have the decision to be ruled by our short-sighted emotion or to choose trust.  To faithfully drop our load in the hands of our Papa (Who, by the way, knows a little something about injustice!), and who, I believe, takes delight in fighting for us. Like a dad with his child who is getting mistreated...our Creator takes joy in defending us. How many chances do we miss seeing and allowing God's powerful glory to be put on display when we try to fix problems without him?

I have become thankful for this trial (ask me tomorrow and that may be different;) ). But, honestly, the challenges have led me to know my Father a little bit more...see him a little bit clearer than yesterday.  It has reminded me of the necessity and power of intercessory and unceasing prayer. Did you know that we, yes, as mere humans, have the attention of the Artist of the universe? We have the ability, with our prayers, petition and conversation with the Lord, to sway his mind...to unleash the angel armies...to bring down heaven to earth?! Why would we stop praying?!  Let us not...no, not ever, become satisfied with who we know God to be. His greatness goes beyond our comprehension and there is always more. 

And when we cannot hear the answer, may we not give up knocking and asking...for we cannot see the dent we are making and the next prayer just may be that needed prayer that pushes past Satan's attempts at disarming us and unleashes the breakthrough we've been fighting for.  God uses us. Not only in our strengths and gifts, but also in our weakness. He calls forth the most unlikely to display his glory and to offer his accepting and redeeming heart to a world that throws it away and calls it waste. My God puts his hand in the "trash" and digs out the discarded and dead heart, only to breathe life into a now beating vessel of beautiful love. That is my God.  A God who longs to be known.  A God who calls mere humanity his chosen people.