“The sorrows of our lives are in great part his [God’s] weaning process. We give our hearts over to so many things other than God. We look to so many other things for life.”- John Eldredge
As John Eldredge continues the Fall section of Walking with God, he states we’re vulnerable as long as we tie our happiness to things we can love. In fact, the author notes a propensity in himself and everyone he knows- a stubborn inclination to view the world in only one way. That way? A chance to live a happy life.
Yet, the first and greatest command is to love God with our entire being. And God’s given us many good and beautiful things in our fallen world. John explains how to reconcile those two thoughts. He writes:
“We are created to enjoy life. But we end up worshiping the gift instead of the Giver. We seek for like and look to God as our assistant in the endeavor. We are far more upset when things go wrong than we ever are when we aren’t close to God. And so Gold must, from time to time, and sometimes very insistently, disrupt our lives so that we release our grasping of life here and now. ”
Usually, the author notes, this disruption comes through pain. However, our first reaction most often consists of getting angry with God. This only serves to make John’s point. We don’t really look to God for life. We’re surprised by the course of events because we fail to see “the process of our life as coming to the place where we are fully his and he is our all.”
In conclusion, John makes a point to stress that he’s not suggesting God causes all pain in our lives. But pain does come, and we must deal with it. For example, what does our pain reveal? How might God redeem our pain? Most importantly, John urges, don’t waste your pain.
Today’s question: How has God used the sorrows of your life as a weaning process? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Our desire to have a nice little life”
