Abandon 'Comfortable'

We parents are the Priest of our home – whether we feel qualified or not.

Often, our feeling qualified comes down to our sense of God being close to us.

When His voice seems too quiet we question if He hasn’t left us. We imagine Him more like a fickle friend – who easily abandons us at any offense – rather than our Father who always loves us, unconditionally.

When God is quiet, when we can’t see His face, we doubt if we can lead. Being a spiritual guide feels hypocritical. Leading others in prayer or worship feels empty and false.

But consider this:

Our Father may be closest to us in these times. The reason we can’t clearly see His loving gaze may be that He has pulled us into a tight embrace. Pulled us so close to His chest that His voice sounds muffled and his face is out of our line of vision. This feels disorienting. It isn’t what we’ve been taught a God-relationship should feel like.

When God’s voice sounds muffled, or when we can’t see His face, we panic. We go back to those things which used to give a sense of hearing and seeing Him: book study, spiritual conversation, small groups, volunteer work…

We crave a more “relational” distance – a more comfortable exchange.

However, it may be our Father wants us to learn a new way of being with Him. A lesson in being drawn near, rather than drawing near.
This can be a difficult season of growth – even if the end result is good.

Here is how one Christian tried to define these two ways of being with God in the seventeenth century:

When we live in Him, we employ every possible means to achieve a complete surrender to Him: reading, self-analysis, spiritual conversation, instruction, examination of our progress – everything is charted out and given framework.

When God lives in us, we are abandoned completely to him. Nothing else is provided for us except himself. He is everywhere present. But nowhere we expect. No book offers help. Conversation with friends or mentors seems not to edify. It feels like being abandoned. We are aware of our needs and wretchedness, but we don’t know from where or if any help will come.

But when we learn to abandon ourselves to Him, He sees nothing better in us than this total resignation. And will provide us with every insight, advice, and example of the good and the wise – often in unlooked for places.

– Jean-Pierre Caussade [paraphrased]