Your God is Too Safe - Discussion 1
I hope you are enjoying this month’s Christian Book Club book “Your God is Too Safe” as much as I am. I would like to hear what you think about “Borderland”. What does your Borderland look like? Buchanan talks about the ambivalence (feeling two different ways about the same thing) we feel towards God. Can you think of ways you are ambivalent when it comes to your relationship with God? Could you relate to any of the people that he describes (James, Daphne, Jean, or Ben)? How do you feel about the story of Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6. How does what happens to Uzzah impact how you feel about God? I love the fact that Buchanan quotes CS Lewis from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In my book the quote begins at the bottom of page 31. “Is he safe?….Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good”.
How about the lady who says “I am religious to. The family always asks me to pray for the weather when we go golfing”? What sort of impact are we really having on this world if we have marginalized God because of our own fears that He is not safe? Is our idea of a safe God keeping us from knowing God at all?
I look forward to your comments and questions!
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Comment by Wendy on 4 May 2008:
“He knows we rejoice more in winning a game of pinocle than we do in the news that hungry are fed, the lost are found. So Jesus doesn’t entrust Himself to us. But we return in kind. We don’t entrust ourselves to Jesus.” pages 23-24
How very true. This reminded me of Revelation 19:12
“His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.” I’ve always believed that Jesus kept this name for Himself because He knew we would defame it. There is just so much He is going to trust us with and unfortunately I do the same with Him. His plan is so much better than anything I could dream of coming up with but I sure like to keep control and only give him part of me.
The stories (James, Daphne, Jean, or Ben) reminded me that I need to realize what I see on the outside of people is not what is really there. We ask people how they are doing and hope that all they say is “fine” and just go on. Do we really want the ugly truth? Do we really want to know a person’s heart and troubles? Not usually because that means I have to stop and care.
The story of Uzzah makes my heart heavy. He should have known what God’s instructions were but he did his own thing. Then I believe God had enough of it and showed His holiness at the cost of Uzzah’s life. There are plenty of times in my life that God has had it with me and has knocked my feet out from under me to get my attention. Not sure why I don’t learn from it.
I love the fact that I am supposed to dance before our God. I’ve learned over the years that He delights in me (ME!) and I need to delight in Him. One of my favorite songs is “Undignified” by David Crowder Band. It is taken right from 2 Samuel 6:22 where David is dancing before the Lord and tells Micah “I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.” This might sound silly, but have you ever been asked “besides Jesus, who do you want to meet when you get to Heaven”? Well, this passage spoke to me years ago and I can’t wait to dance on the golden streets with King David! He understood that God is not safe but He is good. (That by the way is one of the best quotes ever!)
AW Tozer says it best (taken from page 34) “We take refuge “from” God “in” God. Only a God we fear and yet do not need to be afraid of can make our slow hearts burn.”
What a paradox….our God is awesome!
Comment by stephenlawes on 4 May 2008:
Hi Wendy,
I appreciate your comments. Your talk about dancing reminded me of a meeting I was at in 1996. In that year the Promise Keepers held a meeting for Pastors from all over the country. There was about 40,000 pastors in the dome in Atlanta. Jack Hayford was speaking and he talked about this encounter he had with God where He felt like God was asking Him to dance and he argued with God that he couldn’t dance, but finally he did. When he demonstrated his dance to us, the place went wild and the Spirit of God fell, and there was this incredible roar of cheering and worship, and I actually thought maybe Jesus was coming back right then. All from a simple dance before the Lord. It is one of my fondest memories.
Comment by Sarah on 7 May 2008:
I think I can relate to Uzzah’s story. I understand what it feels like to not be able to enjoy God’s presence because I am so busy making sure everything else goes right.
I love what Mark writes about the situation on page 30. He writes, “God is not safe. God is not a household diety, kept in our safekeeping. And - be warned - God’s safety is not our business. Our role on this earth … is not to keep the Almight from mishap or embarssment. He takes care of himself.”
Comment by stephenlawes on 7 May 2008:
One of the big situations in being “in” the ministry is trying to find a balance of not only having a ministry relationship with God, but also a relationship that exists outside the context of “ministry”. If the only connection you get with God stems out of your “ministry” then your relationship will lose it’s freshness. It would like being married to a business partner and having no life outside of work. There would be no intimacy.