Outstretched Hand

Last night, I felt like I was supposed to write this entry. I got all excited about spending a night with coffee, good music, and writing - something I'm a big fan of doing from time to time. But, I had to stay at work late, so here I am now.

About a week ago, I had this burden that I was praying about. I got to the point where I just needed to hear something concrete. The answer I got was not anything like I was expecting, but then again that's normal for God. The scripture I received to read was Romans 10:21 which states, "But as for Israel He says, 'All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.'" Often times people will read this and think of the wrongs of people rather than God. That's not at all what this post is about, so continue reading.

You see, for a while I'd been wanting to run from something that was causing a bit of pain in my life. There's no need to go into any real detail about the specifics here. Just know, in times past my old nature was quick to tell someone off and cut things off when I felt I'd been slighted. Depending on the case, I'd later realize how much of a jerk I was despite how justified I felt at the moment and apologize. But that wasn't always the case in the past. So I know "me" very well and God's taken a long time to work some of the "me" out of me. He's cool and gracious like that. And rather than allowing me to fall back to my old ways; He said, "No, I just want you to sit tight and rest. Rest in Me and let Me do this." And if you know anything about being in emotional "limbo" it can be extremely uncomfortable. And if you're anything like me, you want to run as fast as you can and head over and past the hills when you're really uncomfortable. But what if God says NO! Well, you're left in the place I was told to sit. Your hands are stretched out and just waiting patiently. And the patience is real, not something you coax yourself into and tell yourself to do when in reality you're actually anxious the entire time. But you just have this deep understanding that things are going to be okay, regardless.

And from this place is where I was praying and had been praying for over a week. In true rest there isn't any room for striving or anxiety. There's no place for trying to make sense of the things that aren't to be made sense of yet. You just lay it down. You lay it ALL down. By laying things down, you don't harshly cut someone off or give them a "piece of your mind" though you may feel justified. And the thing about rest is, it's not even really about you. When you can enter into rest, God can show you His heart, not just what you "think" His heart looks like for a situation or for others. Often what we "think" we know is far from the truth and skewed by religious perceptions and/or our own wounds. In the stillness of rest you get a deeper realization of His heart and His love for others. And if you're wise, you'll let it take over your old ways and transform you.

So with this verse in Romans, I got a brief glimpse of God's deep, deep love for us. He says, “All day long I have stretched out My Hands...” How often is He just waiting there patiently with His hands stretched out waiting for us to recognize who He really is? How much He is for us and not against us. How much does He refuse to just turn His back on us even when we think He will or may even want Him to...despite our mess.

The church often says that God is a holy God and can't stand in the same room as our sin. And He is most certainly and undeniably holy, gorgeously holy. But I think this perspective of our sin making Him have to turn away is entirely wrong. I'd even go to say that it's one of those religious perspectives that the church “thinks” it has “understood,” but has gotten entirely wrong. It's that “thing” that makes people feel like they have to have it all right to even get a glimpse of God or to even approach Him. So they get weighed down and don't even try. But doesn't the Bible say in John 3:16, “He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son.”? We quote this verse so much in the church, but do we even really get the depth of this? This phrase “He so loved the world” just rings deep. Let that really marinate in you (or Selah). He couldn't stand to be apart from us. It wasn't that we needed to get it all “right” so we could get with Him. He literally just couldn't stand to be apart from us. The commandments didn't work. Burnt offerings didn't work. Nothing worked! It was His last resort and He is still holding out His hand.

Like a strong yet hurt lover just patiently waiting to be recognized and acknowledged. Waiting for His bride to turn around and look Him in the eyes. Because He was never the one that turned His back, but it was us all along that was refusing His outstretched hand. He can handle our mess. He just wants us to turn and take His hand...

~K.L.