#hawknelson

Is God really good? I mean... really? As Christians, the answer we are suppose to say is “Yes”, and this answer should come with no hesitation. As a matter of fact, we sing songs about just how Good He Is. 

We sing songs about Him being a good, good Father. One of my personal favorites currently is “Goodness of God” by Bethel.

These songs are great. Poetic. And we claim they are full of truth. But are we biased? Instead, is that just what we want to believe.

This week I read something that shook me. The lead singer of a band I like made the public announcement that he no longer believed in God.

Jon Steingard of Hawk Nelson made the declaration on his Instagram page that he no longer believed in God. I was shocked when I read it. They are a group I have seen in concert a couple times while opening up for other groups and even got to meet them after a concert for a picture.

As I read his post, I have to admit that I noticed the sincerity in his writing. On a side note I was also pleased to see the number of Christians (particularly other artists) who reached out to him with love and support instead of shunning. But I was also troubled by the number of people who reached out with similar stories of no longer believing in God because of similar feelings as his.

Jon spoke of growing up in the church, but never really enjoying going. There were many issues he spoke of, but never once did I get the impression his lack of faith was because of what he perceived God not doing something for him. No, instead it was his trouble reconciling if God was truly good. If we are to take the Old Testament at face value.

Look, I know what it says in the Old Testament. I know the things that we don’t see as good coming from God. There’s a lot of death in there. It’s almost as if the God of the Old Testament is different than the one in the New Testament. How can the two possibly relate? 

I think this is a question the Church doesn’t like to address. 

I think when the Church does address it, we have tried to do it with the misunderstanding that those who hear already accept the sovereignty of God and for those of us who accept that fact, then we don’t question it.

There are great many who don’t accept that statement. There are also many followers who struggle with it, but there is this misconception that we cannot question God. 

Now Freeze!

When I say we cannot question God, that doesn’t mean we get to tell Him how to do His job, although I have tried this approach often... but that is a discussion for another day. What I’m saying is God welcomes our questions and concerns when we go to throne with them with the intentions of better knowing God.

I feel like I had one of those experiences of God revealing things to me this past Sunday afternoon during my studying. I have a place I go when I want to be alone with God. Only a couple of people who are very close to me know about what this place means to me. As I was driving there, I just had this feeling of expectance. I just had this feeling God was going to speak to me. How? I wasn’t sure. I’m still not sure. But He was going to. And He did. 

I began reading Matthew. I had to see proof of an instance of Jesus “breaking” the old way, the way we see God in the Old Testament, when we see the argument of a cruel and vengeful God. Chapter 12 we see the Pharisees upset when they see Jesus and the disciples working in order to eat on the Sabbath. There is much to the response Jesus gives, but one statement in particular he gives:

“I tell you something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.”

-Matthew 12: 6-7

I had a note written which beside it that simply said: “Hosea 6:6-This fulfills that verse.”

“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

-Hosea 6:6

Where is the mindblower emoji?

There it is. Thank you. Ok, maybe you’re not quite getting that yet. But I did. Suddenly I was hit with this realization that the sacrifices that man made to appease God, they were never what God wanted. Never what He desired. He desired love from His creation (that being us).  

Now look, I understand this and the rest of what I’m about to write doesn’t answer every question. Maybe for you it doesn’t answer any. Maybe it’s just a personal revelation I had for myself. I’m not sure. What I began to understand from this was what God’s desire was from the beginning, something even deeper than just fellowship with us. It was for all of creation to love Him. Not just a select few. He wanted it from all. The sacrifices came as a way to somehow meet God where He was the best we (or they) could. The sacrifices could never be enough. They had to go away so we could simply love God. 

We could love Him!

We wouldn’t have to do things to reach Him, make sacrifices. No. No more. 

God desired our love and desired for us to understand who He is: “the knowledge of God”. I admit, we won’t understand all of His ways. But I just can’t buy the argument from the church we have to trust God blindly on every account because He is God. Yes, we are to trust Him. But I also believe there are things that would greatly impact our faith for the worse, that would lead us astray, I believe in those tings He seeks to have Himself revealed for those who seek.

Key statement being... for those who seek.

I don’t believe God is in the business of having people prove their worth by how much faith they have when they don’t have the answers. Does this please God? Yes. I believe so. But I believe what pleases Him more is when we don’t have the answers, and we take those questions to God and in the process we seek to understand them and understand Him, and we keep our faith in the silence, during the seeking. 

Second mind blowing moment you ask? 

What we refer to as the Love Chapter (1 Corinthians 13) isn’t just a description of how we are to love others. It’s a description of how God desires us to love Him as well.

* “If I speak in tongues of men and of angels.... but don’t love...”- God doesn’t want our big words, our big declarations. Jesus said as much when he talked about how to pray and how to seek God. 

* “If I have prophetic powers... if I have all faith... but not love....”- Jesus warned that many would come to him saying all the great things they did for him and in his name and would tell them to depart because they never knew him.

* “If I give away all I have... my body to be burned... but have not love...”       - Salvation is a free gift, given by grace, not by works so no man may boast. If we had to work, then it would be a return to the sacrifices and they would never be enough.

* “Love is patient and kind... does not envy... does not boast...”- We wait patiently for the Lord. We wait for HIs answers, for Him to lead. We trust. Because of our love for Him, our love for others is better. We do not envy to be like God. We aren’t worthy. We aren’t good enough. That’s a hard truth. We do not boast as if we are worthy of love. We only boast because He does love.

I could keep going and going. I understand this doesn’t answer everything. I’m still in the process myself of seeking. I’m still searching to understand why God called for the total annihilation of some nations for rejecting Him while giving others an opportunity to repent. I’m still seeking. 

What I do know is God gives all mankind an opportunity to repent, as big as that book we call the Bible is, there is still a lot of God’s works and commands not in it. I believe every nation, every soul had opportunities. I believe God sought after them. While the Jewish nation is God’s chosen people, I also know that even in the Old Testament there were many believers that He used and that worshipped him. Not being an Israelite was not a death penalty in the Old Testament.

2 Timothy 2: 23-24

23 Don’t have anything to do with arguing. It is dumb and foolish. You know it only leads to fights. 24 Anyone who serves the Lord must not be hard to get along with. Instead, they must be kind to everyone. They must be able to teach. The one who serves must not hold anything against anyone.

With the creation of social media and the internet, it isn’t too hard to find yourself in some dumb argument. In today’s political climate it seems everyone is chomping at the bit to argue with someone and prove their point. The problem is arguing doesn’t serve any good. As our scripture, today says it is dumb and foolish. It leads to not just fights, but hurt feelings. It can lead to the destruction of a marriage, the loss of a good friend, or it can make you so blind you don’t see how cruel you’ve become. 

I’ll admit it isn’t easy to avoid all these dumb arguments. Why just today I got sucked into one about a parenting article. What sucks me in is when I get emotionally upset over what the fight is about or if I come to the table emotionally riled up from something else. In my case, I had a stressful morning with the kids and this internet argument was an unintentional way to blow off steam. While I admit now that my initial comment was a bit judgy I am at least thankful I didn’t say anything cruel or intentionally insulting. So how are we supposed to achieve avoiding dumb arguments, be kind to everyone, and not holding anything against anyone? In a world where it’s us versus them mentality isn’t this impossible?

It may be impossible but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. The Bible asks the impossible of us. It demands it, but the cool thing is that when you fall short God will pick up the slack and help you back on track. I have found a few helpful things to keep in mind that can help you avoid those arguments and take a step in the right direction. 

1. Remember God Loves Diversity

God loves diversity. He purposely created people that would think, look, and feel differently than you. It was meant to be a gift, but many of us treat it like a curse. Diversity if used properly can be channeled to help you grow into a stronger, kinder, and more accepting person. Everyone on this earth was created by God and many are lost. It’s best to remember that diversity is a gift. You don’t have to agree with everyone and you aren’t supposed to. You are, however, supposed to love them anyway. 

2. Remember to Take a Breath

Many of these foolish arguments are born out of both sides coming off of an emotional high. We are so emotionally attached to our view that we stop seeing reason, stop assessing new information, and shut out anything to the contrary. How can you grow if you aren’t willing to listen to a different viewpoint and really consider what is said? Sometimes when we feel ourselves getting emotional about something it can be best to take a breath and calm down. If it is a topic that is so emotional for you that you simply can’t look at other opinions objectively than it may be best to just walk away. As your mother probably told you, “If you can’t say anything nice then don’t say anything at all. “ 

3. Remember Everyone is a Loser

When it comes to these dumb arguments it is best to remember there is no winning. Both sides have already made up their mind and nothing you say will change their mind. Logic goes out the window. Facts become meaningless and it is only a matter of time before insults start flying. The moment you engage with the intention to prove yourself is the moment you already lost. 

4. Chances are You Are Wrong

This last one can be hard a one to swallow, but if you hope to channel diversity and grow then you need to approach these tricky conversations with the thought in mind that you are probably wrong in some aspect. The thing is none of us are completely right. For example when a couple goes to a psychologist for counseling and they both state their side of things the psychologist already knows that both of them are wrong. They know both have fault and responsibility with where they are at in the relationship. The psychologist knows the answer is somewhere in the middle and the key to saving that marriage is to get them to meet in the middle. You see to grow you have to be willing to admit when you are wrong, be willing to apologize and meet in the middle. If you remain rigid you will become brittle and shatter. 

5. Last but Not Least Ask God to Talk For You

In situations where you come along and see a senseless argument well on its ways and you can see real hurt being thrown on both sides, it is understandable to want to jump in calm things down. The thing is it can be hard to do right without getting sucked in yourself. So first before you jump in to diffuse the situation take a moment to pray and ask God to give you the right words to tell them. You’d be surprised what might come pouring out of you. Most often I find I wasn’t thinking that but it somehow came out anyway. Be prepared for backlash because, when God uses you to speak some truth sometimes someone, is upset by it and again be prepared to be wrong. Sometimes we try but get the message messed up.  

Prayer: 

Lord help me to avoid foolish arguments. Give me an open mind and heart so I can be kind and loving to your children. Help me see the beauty in diversity. Help erase the divisions in my mind and instead see everyone as a person. Help me to be a light for you. Guard my tongue, my anger, and steps. Amen. 

Song of Meditation: