Recently our students were challenged to write letters to God as an exercise growing out of a study that was based on the movie “Letters to God.” I thought it would be therapeutic to write a letter or two of my own.
Dear God:
I’m hurting. I feel like faithfulness to you and service for you have been misunderstood by some and misrepresented by others. I don’t understand why you allow suffering in general, but I’m really baffled as to why that suffering is often the result of our best efforts. I totally get that we suffer when we do wrong or if we act unwisely. You have never promised to protect me from my own unwise choices, so I don’t expect you to bail me out when I’m being foolish. But when I’m really trying to serve you, sacrificing time, energy, financial opportunity, and other things in your service, and I suffer for it, I’m honestly just baffled.
It’s not that I don’t trust you; you see and know my heart. Your own Son said, “I praise you, Father…that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants…for this way was well-pleasing in your sight.” Sometimes you simply delight in the simple trust in my heart as you perform the mystery of your will. So I’m not asking to understand; I’m asking for the courage and faith to trust you more as your mysterious will plays out in my life. And if it’s through the fire that you call me to walk, then I’ll go, but you’re going to have to go with me.
I love you,
Pastor Joe
