Quote:
Originally Posted by Trapped
so sometimes it's easy to get pretty discouraged when you end up in a situation where everything has been stripped away and you have no choice but to fall on your knees and desperately seek the Lord......and He's still not really there. What then?
|
This where I think you are going wrong. How do you know God is "not really there?" What would "really there" mean to you?
I think the problem is faith. Now, I'm not condemning, I'm just making an observation. My remembrance is the LR really doesn't talk about "faith" much. They act like they know everything already. When what they think they know fails them, they are lost. LCers are unprepared for a world that isn't perfectly mapped out for them. Their assurance is partially supported by an insulating system. I see a bit of this in you.
Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
You have to believe God will reward your seeking.
Jeremiah 29:13 "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Deuteronomy 4:29 "But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul."
You have to be sincere and desperate. You can't hold anything back.
Psalm 34:4 "I sought the LORD, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears."
Matthew 7:8 "For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
The problem in my experience with these verses not seeming to happen for me is always an unbelieving or mixed attitude in me. Also, we have to realize that God's deliverance is mostly inward. He frees us on the inside. He himself in us is our salvation. In the end, if we are seeking anything but him and his will, we are going to experience frustrations equivalent to the level of our mixture. This doesn't mean we can't ask for things or actions, but we always have to do so in the context of seeking his will. We cannot bend the Lord's will to ours. That is not what prayer is. Prayer is seeking God's will always, even when it seems to be contrary to ours.
So, before anything, you need to establish a relationship with God based on him alone. Not based on guidance for the future, but just you and him. Is there anything between you? Just talk to him and ask. Do it sincerely and respectfully, but simply and in a real way.
But notice when you do this, for all your claim of wanting the Lord to answer, there will be some trepidation in really opening to him. This is normal, we all do it, but this is the problem. This is the unbelief we have to leave behind. This is where the rubber meets the road. Belief is very, very practical and baseline. Trust is mandatory. In fact, complete trust is mandatory.
If you think God is "not really there" then you have a serious trust problem., and it is what is holding you back.
But he understands this and is very gentle. In fact,
he's so gentle that sometimes we mistake his gentleness for him not being there! But he is and will answer. However, usually not in the way we expect.
Until you establish that basic relationship, seeking complex guidance is futile.
"Not really there?" No, he's really there. You can take that to the bank.
Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."
1 Kings 19:11-12 "The LORD said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.' Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper."