God is Frowning

So I just finished a book tonight titled Sex God, another book written by Rob Bell. If you have never read any of his books, I would definately recommend them. His style of writing is so easy to read, although it is a little hard to take it all in during one sitting, so I will probably have to read it again to fully understand it all. But I started reading this book last night and finished it about ten minutes ago, which, reading a book in two nights is like a world record for me.

But anywho, one particular chapter really struck me, really made me view God in a different way. The chapter is entitled She Ran into the Girl's Bathroom. Rob is talking about how one time while he was at a middle school dance, he remembered the stereotypical scene of guys being on one side and girls being on the other side. Then every now and then a boy would get up the courage to walk across the cafeteria (thats where our dances were also held) and ask a girl if she would like to dance. He said that at one point, he too eventually worked up the courage, walked across the 'dance floor' and asked a girl if she wanted to dance. And her response was that she burst into tears and ran into the girls bathroom where she spent the rest of the evening. He took a chance at 'love' and was heartbroken.

We have all been heartbroken havent we? At one point in our lives we have taken the chance to love someone, to get to know them better than friends, only for them to stomp on our hearts, crushing it. And it always seems that the more we love someone, the harder the fall is, the more heartbroken we become.

Love is risky. We step out and take that risk, not knowing what the outcome will be.

Just think of that risk that God took on us. God loved us so much that He gave us the freedom to do whatever we want, even the freedom to love Him, or the freedom not to love Him. And what do we do time and time again? We choose not to love Him. We choose to love money instead. We choose to love food, alcohol, hobbies, sex, shoes, whatever. And this breaks Gods heart. And He loves us more than we have ever loved anybody....ever. So it breaks His heart more than we will ever know. And when do we love Him? When we need Him. When He gives us what we want. How pathetic are we?

Just think of us as being in a relationship with God, he is our girlfriend, or boyfriend, whatever sexual preference you would like. And He just gives and gives and gives. And loves and loves and loves. He loves and adores and cooks us meals and vacuums our floors and asks us how our day was and clips our toenails and lets us watch Ultimate Fighting, because He just can't get enough of us. And all we can do is think about this other person, wishing we could be with this other person. So we break up with Him. That is essentially what we did to Him. We broke up with Him. How do you think this makes Him feel? I guarantee He is frowning....if not bawling His mighty head off.

It says in Genesis 6:6 that God, "regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply wounded." Those are some strong words. But doesnt He have the right to say them?

The reason this really struck me is because it really put God at our level. Usually when I think of God, I think of Him as so distant, so powerful, so impenetrable, maybe even emotionless. Now He has feelings, He grieves, He hurts. Imagine when a boy asks a girl if she would like to dance, who has the power in that situation? The girl does, right? Because she has the power to say yes or no. She has the power to effect how he feels, whether it be thrilled at the sound of a yes, or embarrassed and regretful at the heartwrenching sound of a no. This is astounding to me because that means that God is giving us the power. We have power over God. Now, I know for a fact that God has infinate power, but doesnt this make sense? He is now at our level.

But it breaks my heart to know that we are breaking Gods heart. We are making Him frown. I picture Him sitting on His thrown with a big, sad frown on His face, maybe even a tear rolling down His cheek every once in a while.