Let God be God.

Thoughts.




How often do you complain? 


How much do you look at others lives in envy?


David in the Psalms did, and he was a man running after God's heart.


But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.
For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from the burdens common to man; 
they are not plagued by human illnesses.


But, what I find really interesting is that instead of growing angry and distant from God because he sees others better off than himself, he writes this:


Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.


That's left me thinking.


Also, when I complain and am caught up in my weaknesses and struggles. The suffering. The circumstances that aren't the ones I envisioned to happen occur.
I am being hindered from seeing things I should be seeing. From viewing life the way God desires me to. 
Check it:
(and this is right after he had seen God save Nineveh with His intense compassion)


But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."
But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"
Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to easer his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."
But God said to Jonah,"Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."
But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. it sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?" (Jonah 4)


So what the heck does that mean?


If I do things... serve others, encourage people, love on the unloveable, whatever... with even a hint of desire that I should receive each of these things in return, I am so hindered to fully be used. Obviously, God is God. He will use whomever He wishes to bring about His plan. But when He choses me, Allyson Willis, to carry out His will and I complain? Wow. 
Am I the only one bothered by this? There is a dying world surrounding me, and I have the gut to tell God I think He's plans are lame and should be replaced with my own. 
Yet. Even when I am angry at His will and timing in some cases and when I storm off, tired of following His plan, He still is at work.
Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head and to ease his discomfort. (verses 5-6)
And he gently tells reminds me of His incredible love and heart for the lost.
But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about his vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?" (verses 10-11)
Our God... is... is unfathomable. 
And that's just the way I want Him to be. I don't want to be able to grasp Him because then I would have the blueprint to being God. There is only one God. 




There are my thoughts for a Friday night. I'm not sure where God is going to take that, in my life or in yours. Just a few things running through my thinker.