Soon the talk turns to women. Now this is a topic I can enjoy talking about but most of the guys I'm with don't have a clue how to treat women. They seemed shock that I don't care for porn but at the same time no one dares to really challenge me. I speak and I speak with authority. I later tell others about it and while working alone in the store think about it.

 

You know guys, we've tended to think women should be safe. We should tame women and women shouldn't be a challenge. That's a bunch of nonsense. A woman is to be chased and pursued. That's the problem with porn. There's no challenge. A woman exposes all to guys she doesn't even know and requires nothing of them. What glory is that?

 

Yet while we do this with women I also think that all of us sometimes do this with God. We've actually tamed God. I remember writing an article where I spoke on prayer some and a great friend of mine wrote back telling me how he finds it hard to pray also. Why is it so hard to close our eyes and just concentrate and talk to God?

 

My idea is that guys especially are action oriented. We like to do something where we know something is going on. Guys don't do peace talks first generally. A guy's first idea will usually be to go bash some heads in. It's guys that make action movies like the Matrix and Terminator sell big mainly. Women can enjoy them but most of the audience I'm willing to bet is male.

 

But prayer is hard for that reason. We don't often feel like we're doing anything and its led me to consider that maybe we've tamed God. Many of us can sing that great passage from the hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy" that says "God in three persons. Blessed Trinity." We know it. We say it. We believe it. Do we begin to think about it though or is it just something we accept?

 

Picture the excitement of God as a triune being. Excitement is built on interaction and God has interaction within himself. He is the most exciting being in the universe. He is fierce and wild. Oh God changes not according to Malachi but what if that nature that doesn't change is fierce and wild?

 

C.S. Lewis pictured God as a lion in his Chronicles of Narnia. This is a great image. Too many times we picture God more like our housecats instead. We can boldly approach the throne of grace but how many times have we forgotten that it is a throne we are approaching?

 

We often say "God is on the throne." I agree with this. God is on the throne but have we not often made him passive on this throne? We forget God is active on the throne. It's like the video games I play. If I'm playing an RPG and my party encounters some monsters and I decide to drop the controller and go out and get the mailbox, by the time I return, I could find I have a dead party of adventurers on my hands.

 

Why are they dead? Because I wasn't active with them. If God wasn't active with this universe, this universe would be dead also. That the universe is vibrant and moving and expanding and growing shows that God is alive as well and is active. While God isn't expanding and growing, he is alive and full of life and energy.

 

Habakkuk had the proper view of God ruling. He told us that God is in his holy temple. Let all the Earth be silent before him. Picture a courtroom where people will be talking before the trial starts and in walks the judge and takes his seat. The people grow quiet. The judge is present. Be silent.

 

But how many times have we stopped and thought, "God is on the throne. Be silent." I've had prayers like that. I've had prayers where I didn't know what to say. I just sat there and thought about God because I had no clue how to approach this truly awesome being. This is nothing to take lightly. This is the creator of Heaven and Earth we're talking about.

 

Picture what Jesus said about Satan also. "I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven." This isn't Satan walking around in Heaven and tripping over a cloud and down he goes. This isn't God saying to Satan after he rebels "You may show yourself to the door." This is dramatic action. This is God dealing with a threat and he deals with it very seriously.

 

No matter what your eschatology aside from full preterism, if you believe Christ is going to come again and slay evil, then you are not looking forward to a battle with pea-shooters. You are looking forward to all-out war. This is gonna be carnage here as Christ rampages through the legions of evil.

 

And with all of this think of the mystery of this God acting. We know God is spirit and he has no form or body though he took one on in Christ and maintains that body. Picture this though. God has no eyes but he sees all. He has no mouth but he speaks the universe into existence. He has no ears but he hears everything. He has no body but his soul hates evil. Dallas Willard in his book "The Divine Conspiracy" even points out that God doesn't even have a brain but he is the greatest mind of all.

 

Think about things like that for a little bit. How does God see without eyes and see all? How does God think without a brain? Now someone might say "Well we'll never fully understand that." I agree but that doesn't mean we should never try. I will probably never understand the OT like Paul did but does that mean I'll stop studying it? I may never be as good an apologist as Ravi Zacharias but I'm sure gonna try. A basketball player may never be like Michael Jordan but he's sure gonna try. Let's not allow our inability to justify us getting lazy.

 

Yes friends. God is alive. God is active. God is on the throne. Let all the Earth tremble before him.

 

In Christ,
Nick