In reading Jeremy J. Lundmark’s book, The Fury of God: We Cannot Truly Understand God’s Love Until We Fully Understand His Fury, I find myself seeing the unbalance in our lives. Jeremy states, “There’s nothing wrong with writing on the love of God; however, there is a problem with emphasizing the love of God at the expense of the anger of God” (Kindle Locations 137-138). I find that we all need some balance in our faith and life.
Several times a year I hear, “My God does not do that.” This makes us the potters and God the clay. Personally it is hard for me to describe the completeness of God. I am one of those mainstream Christians Jeremy mentions in his book. Yet I do agree with him that we need balance. When I am doing God’s will I feel warm, but when I move away from what God wants, I lose the light and move into the darkness.
In Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, A Time for Everything, the author brings up the point that life is constantly changing. We see God’s divine design in our lives. We know that we are created and that we will return to where we came from. Our bodies return to dust and our breath returns to God. The author of Ecclesiastes builds a great point that everything around us is always in fluctuation. It is something we have to accept and find a balance with.
In Taoism, life is build around Ying and Yang. We have light and darkness in our lives with a little darkness (doubt) in our light and a little light (hope) in our darkness. Yet all of this sits in one complete circle making it one.
In a discussion with my wife Sharon, she mentioned duty and devotion as something we have as one. At times we have duty in our lives, and other times we have quiet devotion in our lives. Sharon pointed out that when she makes waffles for the grandchildren it is both. Her duty is working with the granddaughters in making the waffle. She makes sure they do it right and do not get hurt. At the same time, her devotion is to her grandchildren shown in her love and discipline.
What good is devotion if you do not go outside? What good is studying the word if you do not go outside and live the word? One thing I used to do was cross country ski. I would ski in a snow storm and on a clear day. I would ski in icy or wet conditions. Yet when the trip was done, I felt God’s glory. Once in a while I would ski out to Dewey Point in Yosemite and look at the Valley floor. What a view of God’s creation!
In our lives we have storms and calm times. Our devotion prepares us for what will come. Following the path and learning from the warm feeling we get from the Creator and the reminder when we go the wrong way.
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