Delving into Religious Deconstruction (Part Four – Sh*t Happens, But God is Love)

By: JANA GREENE

Can we address the subject of God’s will?

I was taught two very oppositional things:

If you are struggling, it’s because you are doing the will of God and the devil is coming after you because you are doing the Lord’s work. If your circumstance is difficult, God ordained it. He is “stretching” and growing you. You are obviously on the right track, carrying out his will.

AND /OR

If you are doing what God wills, things will be easier. There will be a “flow” to it. That’s his way of letting you know you are abiding in his will. You won’t have to fight it. There will be a naturalness and ease, if you are operating in the will of God.

Well, which is it?

And please don’t tell me “the Bible is clear..” because it’s not. It’s actually contradictory on a lot of levels.

It’s a subject I’ve asked pastors about, only to be told to just keep reading the “word,” and God would make it clear. The implication of course being “you’re not spending enough time in the Bible.”

To which I say, how did the early church follow the example of Christ for the first four centuries? They did not have the benefit or encumbrance of a book to tell them how to live. Yet they set the world on fire with radical love. It’s all about the spirit, in my estimation.

Here’s the thing; This is life. Messy, wonderful, excruciating LIFE. Live it.

It is full of natural flow, impossible challenges, unexpected events, bursts of assurance, and waves of doubt. There is no one marker that determines if you are going against the will of the Almighty. In the process of deconstruction, I have learned that sometimes, I will avoid doing the “thing” at all, because all those years I NEEDED constant reassurance from Heaven and Earth alike that I was in his will. The paralysis of analysis, if you will.

If things were going great, the underlying sentiment is that God loves me and is pleased with me. But wait – when traumatic events happen, remember that he “chastens whom he loves,” (or if he just really has a cruel streak.)

And I have decided that my whole theology boils down to this: “Shit happens, but God is Love.”

Perhaps we can stop micromanaging the will of God. Perhaps we can marvel at it, wonder at the mystery of a grace so scandalous, we don’t even need to understand the whole plan to know it’s good. We people-please Abba because that’s how we win the approval of people.

Maybe God’s not testing us.

Maybe he isn’t “allowing” difficult, tragic things to happen in order to build up our strength as Christians.

Maybe the fact that everything is going smoothly just means that everything is just going smoothly.

He walks alongside us on the road to Damascus, and down Main Street at Disney World.

Over the fire and ice, both.

He stays near us when we feel robbed in this life, and when we have been given abundance.

Sometimes we get it wrong. But we will either succeed at what we endeavor, or we will learn from it.

Succeed or learn, guaranteed.

SHIT HAPPENS.

But God is Love.

His will is to love us.

Amen.