Sometimes we wonder why we keep reaching out to God but we don’t hear or receive any response.
We feel as if our prayers go unanswered. As if they fall into an abyss of darkness, a void, a black hole. Or – maybe even we feel like when we offer them, they hit a wall of some sort and they bounce back to us. I’m not sure which is worse – the abyss or the wall, but the bottom line is we all have had times where we feel as if we are reaching out to God but nothing and no one is there.
After Mack had his encounter with Wisdom and began the true healing process, he asked Jesus why it took God so long to reach him with the news of what happened to Missy (that she had not been alone and God was with her the entire time).
Jesus responded, “Don’t think we didn’t try. Have you noticed in your pain that you assume the worst of me? I’ve been talking to you for a long time, but today was the first time you could hear it, and all those other times weren’t a waste, either. Like little cracks in the wall, one at a time, but woven together they prepared you for today. You have to take the time to prepare the soil if you want it to embrace the seed.”
What if we, when we are reaching out to God and not hearing the answers or feeling a response start looking at that as “cracks” breaking through our pain instead of as “nothingness.” It’s interesting that Mack felt as if he were alone and without God all that time, but truthfully, just as in your/my life, God was at work continually, making cracks in that pain.
The words by Jesus to Mack, “You have to take time to prepare the soil if you want it to embrace the seed” are so pertinent.
We want to heal so quickly, almost instantaneously.
As if there had never been any pain.
But – that is unrealistic. Pain, depending on how deep, takes time to heal. And as we dig up those roots and experience that work, we can’t just leave the soil sitting idle. There are things that we must do to prepare the soil for the next planting. This doesn’t happen by accident but instead by great intentionality.
Gardening requires planning and intentionality.
As does healing. It doesn’t just happen . . . we have to prepare our souls for that process. We do that by meditating, praying, reading Scripture, talking to emotionally healthy friends, and also by sitting, waiting, listening for the Holy Spirit to work and speak.
Jesus told Mack, “Just keep giving me the little bit you have, and together we’ll watch it grow.”
“The whole thing is a process, not an event. All I want from you is to trust me with what little you can, and grow in loving people around you with the same love I share with you. It’s not your job to change them, or to convince them. You are free to love without an agenda.”
So our process of healing is by loving. We give what we can to Christ, and then watch the rest (the relief from our pain) grow.
11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us-perfect love!
13-16 This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God. 1 John 4