God in a Bottle

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Matt 7:8)

As a child I came to think of God, early on, as a sort of genie. He did not live in a bottle but up in the sky. And if I was good enough and said my prayers morning and night, made good grades, and minded my parents - He would grant my wishes.

Now mind you, our family suffered a tragedy when my little brother was severely burned at the age of 6. Odd, but in looking back, I was 9 at the time and I never saw my Genie God at fault. Nor, for that fact, did I see our family as having not asked for the right wishes, nor the subsequent calamity as some type of penance for wrong-doing. As you can see my early theology was not only flawed but inconsistent. :)

As I grew older, my concept of God changed. Thank God - literally! I no longer saw him as this Great Granter of Wishes. I became a little more jaded or wiser, and realized that He was not a genie (I am sure He appreciated that). However, with so much practice, the cloak of people pleasing or, in this case, Deity pleasing was way too comfortable. So I continued to wear it.

As I sit here, 50 something, my viewpoint has changed dramatically. God is not stagnant and neither am I. Ask, seek, find is a process. It is God's never changing desire for my greater good and my gradual metamorphosis into someone who can realize that. God never changes but because of my human myopia, He continues to use life, people, and events to bring me into focus. I, in turn, still have my moments of victories and struggles. Some days I feel I am in the groove, seeking and asking, hungry for His attention and His answers. Other days, not so much.

Sometimes I feel like a mule. Legs apart, daring Him to pull on my reins. I am content to sit and munch oats. Or at other times, I flat out turn around and backtrack. All this to say my asking and seeking has changed for the better. Because I do so with expectancy. I have finally realized that what I am seeking is not always what I think I am seeking. Confused yet? If not let me continue...

For I have just emerged from this Doris Day period "Whatever will be, will be". Picture a kind of head to the brow, reclining me, suffering servant picture. That is the purgatory you live in from time to time when God puts an "under renovation" sign over your theology, to that point. You know that theology. The complete and "never to change" theology. When you have finally figured it all out - HA!

So let's go to the dessert scripture. Which is the whip cream on the top, cherry included....

For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Before you get too comfortable, it does not say for everyone who asks receives what they ask for, and they who seek find what they were looking for, and they who knock, the exact door they knocked on will be opened. God is the giver and He is the one to be found and it is His door of choice to open. The closer I grow to Him, the more I know of Him, the greater my love grows for Him. Makes me pretty darn excited to see what He has in store for me next!

I can only imagine the Wise Men entering the home of Mary and Joseph, seeing the object of their journey. Were they amazed, dumbfounded, disappointed? I don't know. But they left their gifts, acknowledging Christ as the One they sought. If they were truly "wise men" they too had figured out the way God works.....