I am sure we all know what it is like when our relationship with someone fell apart because of problems. Perhaps someone we loved found enough problems with us that they no longer relate to us. Perhaps a friendship was broken because problems became insurmountable. It almost seems too common to bother mentioning.
However, it is this all too common pattern that makes God’s way of doing things stand out.
God’s determination in my life is to solve problems in order to have relationship with me. No matter how many problems life (with my help) has introduced to our relationship, God keeps showing that his relationship to me is unstoppable. There is not one problem that will keep him from treating me like his beloved child.[1]
When I look at this from the biggest picture I can imagine, I must begin with what happened outside of the space, time, and matter of our existence. Prior to the beginning, God had already settled love-relationship with a created being that would supersede any problems this relationship would encounter.[2]
Think about it. God being God, he could not set out to do something at which he could fail. His very nature and being as God meant that whatever he would set out to do would succeed, and in a work that would satisfy every facet of his glorious character.[3]
Therefore, if his intention was to have a creature in his own image and likeness, someone who could relate to him as beloved children to their heavenly Father, he would necessarily need to solve any problems such a relationship could encounter.
You know, like when these bratty little children introduced sin and death to the relationship so now God was honor-bound to solve these two great enemies of the human soul.[4]
Which is what makes the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ so significant. Whatever could come between God and his creature has been resolved. Sins are now forgiven.[5] Death is now conquered.[6] Satan is defeated.[7] And this deteriorating creation will soon be replaced with something new in which sin, death, hell, and the grave, have no part.[8]
I keep watching people both reject God, and justify their rejection of God, by presenting problems they consider of greater immensity than relationship with our Creator.[9] They consider that some evolutionary belief, or atheistic doctrine, or self-centered spirituality, or manmade religion, or ego-centric political stance, are so fraught with problems for God that he couldn’t even exist, let alone be the God he claims in his Book.
The truth is that God is greater than his creation, which means he is greater than any problems our creation contains, perceived or otherwise. God’s relationship to his children is greater than the children’s relationship to God, which is why prodigal children will find God waiting for their return with joy rather than acting like us in our propensity to turn away.[10]
This is a good time for us to stop putting problems between us and God as though he doesn’t know what to do with them, and begin (or continue) relating to him in praise and thanksgiving that he makes our relationship with him secure no matter how many problems we perceive. While so many people use problems as a reason to turn away from God, we can be those who use problems as a distinctive way of coming to him.
Is your problem sin? Come to Jesus for forgiveness and get to know him better than you have ever known him before.[11] Is your problem doubt? Come to Jesus for faith so you can enjoy the peace and rest from him that you have never known.[12] Childhood issues? Come to the Father who receives you into his love for all the healing and comfort you could possibly need.[13]
While I have seen so many relationships fall apart because of problems, I have also seen people welcome relationship with God in which that relationship guides them through whatever problems they encounter along the way. Moments in which we are shocked with problems we did not know existed are soon surpassed by testimonies of how God has worked everything together for our good, and consistently led us into an ever-growing experience of his love.[14]
Our hope is not in our own ability to make this relationship greater than our problems, but that God himself has already done so. Let’s bring our problems to him and watch the love-relationship with our problem-solving Father grow and flourish.
© 2018 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)
[1] Ephesians 5:1-2 remind God’s children that we are beloved to such an extent that we can pass on this love to others.
[2] Ephesians 1:3-6 shows how God’s love for his children preceded the creation of his children.
[3] When we step back and look at the biggest picture of what God has done, we find that the light of his glory shines out in every characteristic of who he is.
[4] Genesis 3 introduces us to the way humanity brought sin and death into the world. God was not surprised by this, but had already planned our way of escape.
[5] Matthew 26:28; Luke 24:26-27; Acts 2:38; 10:43; Colossians 1:13-14
[6] I Corinthians 15:50-57
[7] Colossians 2:15
[8] II Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1-4
[9] II Peter 3:3; Jude 1:18, both of which show the problem is not with people’s scoffing against God’s truth, but with their desire to follow ungodly passions.
[10] Luke 15:11-32 is the parable of the prodigal son, showing our heavenly Father’s constancy in relation to his children who are ever wandering in our relationship towards him. Luke 15:1-7 is a similar parable with the imagery of a lost sheep, and Luke 15:8-10 uses the imagery of a lost coin. The lost son of the third parable reinforces God’s joy when his lost children are found.
[11] I John 1:9 speaks of God’s grace in forgiving us upon our confession of sin. Psalm 130:3-4 addresses how hopeless life would be if God held our record of sins against us. However, since with him there is forgiveness, he is held in the highest honor by those who receive this gift.
[12] Romans 10:17
[13] Psalm 147:3
[14] Romans 8:28-30 shows what it means for God to work all things for good in the lives of all his children; Ephesians 1:15-23 is the way the apostle Paul prayed for our constant growth in knowing God and what he has given us in Christ, and Ephesians 3:14-21 is the way Paul prayed for our ever-increasing experience of the love of God.
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