Perhaps one of the most frustrating parts of the Gospel or good news of Jesus is that God didn’t choose to rescue us by ridding the world of evil, but rather ridding us of evil. We would like the suffering, the struggle, the darkness to go away and leave us in peace. Peace is defined by the absence of chaos, rather than trying to define peace in the middle of the mess. We also decide that God is acting only when the situation turns out as we wanted it to, with the least discomfort.
The truth, though, is that God ached for relationship with us, relationship that we had rejected in Adam and Eve way back in the garden. We want to blame Eve quite often, and think we would have made a different decision. But at the heart of every person is the desire to be their own god, controlling their own destiny and being powerful in their own right. They rejected relationship with God. I want to think that I would have chosen walking with God in the garden over the fruit that would make me like God, but in reality, God knew I wouldn’t have. None of us would have.
So, He sent a part of Himself in Jesus to make a way, and to make a different decision. He chose to humble Himself. He was God, but chose to empty Himself of that power, and become a human—the opposite direction of the humans trying to be god unto themselves. Everything that Jesus did on earth was because of His connection to the Father and the Spirit—the union of the Godhead was perfectly demonstrating the union He wants with us. He wants to participate in each part of our lives, empowering us through dependence and connection to Him, rather than us empowering ourselves through intelligence or independence. It feels all backwards for the American culture of pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. But it’s a relationship that God desires—not a dictatorship or slavery.
When Jesus was born into this world, I can imagine the whole earth sang. It would have trembled with the presence it knew was walking on it. But again in humility, Jesus didn’t come as a grand king or emperor, but rather as a weak baby. The stars told of His coming, the shepherds heard the angels rejoicing, and Mary and Joseph knew this was special. But really, nobody knew exactly what was the come next. I bet most of the people of the day who believed Jesus to be the Son of God expected Him to take over the government and take them back to the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—where God lived with the people of Israel in the ark of the covenant, or in a temple. But He had a totally different plan.
Jesus died on the cross and took all the sins of the world. Just let that soak in for a second. Every one of the sins ever committed on the earth. The whole darkness of it covered Him, and He came willingly to this place to sacrifice Himself in love. And then He defeated it. Light blazed through the darkness, and the darkness could not overcome it. Jesus conquered death, defeated evil and offered the gift of freedom from all of it to each person. All the person need do is accept this gift.
There’s no list of to-do’s in order to receive the gift. There’s no right way to accept it either. It just requires humility, to realize that you can’t be your own god. You can’t save yourself, no matter how hard you try. You aren’t trying to be good—you need to be freed from the slavery of the darkness.
Upon acceptance of that gift, a person is transformed spiritually, becoming alive to the things of God. We really want that to be the point where He eliminates the evil completely and sets us in comfort. But that’s not His plan, as His greatest goal for this earth is for us to know Him. One does not know someone without struggle. The people I have the deepest relationships with are ones with whom I have been through some hard things. God doesn’t promise to rescue us out of every trial, but rather rescues us in it. That means that sometimes the trial sticks around for a while, that sometimes we still feel like a prisoner, and that sometimes we have to wait a long time for something to change. This does not mean, however, that God is not acting. It does require us to give up our ideas and goals as if we were our own god.
In the middle of this struggle, though, God does promise peace that surpasses all understanding (that’s peace that makes no sense, in Texan), love that always pursues and woos us, worth that is given to us in a way that can not be taken from us, and power from the very Spirit of God who chooses now to dwell in us as His temple.
My friend Amy told me a story about how someone had been obsessively talking about darkness to her. He wanted to prove how powerful it was, and scare her. Her simple answer made me laugh. She reminded him that when they walked into the room in which they were talking that morning, they turned on a light. And the darkness all had to run away. Not a bit of it was able to stay in the presence of the light.
You may feel like you are stuck in a struggle. You might feel like darkness is taking over. But remember that you don’t have to be your own god—you don’t have to have the answers or be able to figure anything out. Instead, you just bring the Light. You get obsessive about who Jesus is, and who He is in and through you. You rejoice in the peace, joy, love, compassion, wisdom and power His Life within brings each moment of the day. No, you don’t have enough for tomorrow, but that’s because God craves relationship with you. He wants you to walk with Him, looking to Him for every step. He knows that in doing that, you will have what you need for the day, even when it looks completely hopeless.
I hope that today you can stop for a moment and consider the great gift God has given in allowing us not to have to be our own god, but rather to take Him at His word that He will be all we need. He loves you so much, and aches for relationship with you. Won’t you come to Him with all your troubles and lay them down at His feet?
Those who walked in darkness have seen a radiant light shining upon them. They once lived in the shadows of death, but now a glorious light has dawned! Isaiah 9:2