This morning, we took the kids to a new playground around the corner from us - so much fun. One thing I'm not sure about yet, though, is that to get to their bumpy slide, you either had to scale a rubber rope, or climb a series of plastic tyres arranged near each other, but certainly not in an easy manner to climb.
Josh wasn't real keen on the idea - he desperately wanted to get to that slide, but freaked out climbing up the tyres. I helped him (eventually) get up there, using the usual tactics ("I've got you", "look at me, don't look down", etc), but he really didn't enjoy the process, only the end result. Of course, once he'd been down the slide, he had another few goes at getting up there, with varying levels of success (the fact Rachel scaled up there (with Ali's help) fearlessly seemed to have little effect on him...)
What I was thinking about, though, was whether God wants us to be completely dependent on him all the time. Now, I know God wants us to depend on him, not on ourselves, others, our career, etc, but let me explain. My purpose in helping Josh up to the slide was to teach him how to do it on his own. He really didn't need me to hold him there, balancing him (I was happy to do it, though), and it was actually holding him back from being able to do something I knew he could do. So, I started wondering about whether God's growth in us is about us learning to stand on our own, to do the things he's enabled us to do - not that we do it on our own, we have his Spirit empowering us, certainly, and Jesus promised he would be with us always - but that God wants us to grow in our security enough to be able to climb and slide, knowing he's with us.
I'm not sure - in some ways it seems like a negative thought, that we wouldn't need God, and I'm not trying to justify us depending on our own strength. I just wonder whether we go too far the other way sometimes, and because of that, miss out on doing some things God knows we can do.
Hi Nath. I think you are onto something here. I am reminded that in the creation story in Genesis 2, God leaves the man and the woman in the garden on their own (so much so that God has to call for them when they are hiding). Now, God as given them instructions about what to do (and what not to do), but God lets them get on with the life they have to live, without being there all the time.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, I'm aware of times when it seems like God is saying to me, "I've taught you how to do that, and now I want you to get on with it. Don't keep coming to me saying "what now?"."
I think that part of the "free will" that is God's gift to us requires us to be mature in our life - which is what you are saying about Josh. He cannot enjoy his life to the full if (after he has learned from you) he doesn't let himself do what he can. We cannot have life in all it's fulness until we are so confident of God's presence (=love, power, teaching, guidance) that we can step out onto the climbing tyres on our own.