The Phone Call

      Well, this is the second time I’ve had this phone call in the past week.  “This is ^#&^%#* Duct Cleaning Service and we would like… blah, blah, blah.  While I am actually a big proponent of having ducts cleaned now and then, the reality is that the house I currently dwell in has radiator heating and therefore no heating ducts.  This company keeps wasting their time offering me something I can’t even use, and frustrating me with their calls.  Perhaps I should invite them over for an estimate? (insert evil laugh!!!)

      I wonder how often God feels frustrated with us?  Right from the start He had to have frustrating times.  Imagine Adam and Eve in the garden just after they sinned.  God was watching as they found materials and stitched together their clothes, inadequate pieces that would easily fall apart and rot.  They didn’t even ask help from the One they walked with in the garden.  Then, when the Lord shows up, they hide from Him- the God who can see everything- how annoying.

      I won’t even list all the times the children of Israel, whom God miraculously rescued from slavery in Egypt, tested and tried God’s patience.  The judges, the kings, the prophets, the leaders and all the people throughout the Scriptures continued time and again to frustrate the Lord God.  They’d be relatively obedient for a while and then- boom- it’s like they ignore Him totally.  That HAD to be exasperating.

      Still, it’s difficult to judge others when I look in the mirror.  More than once I abandoned the Lord because He didn’t meet my expectations or timing.  Then there are times I should be spending in His presence that I’m doing my own thing, building my house on the sand instead of the Rock.  How many times was I too gutless to say what He wanted me to, or did something I wasn’t supposed to for my own pleasure?  How frustrated He must get with me at times.  But… no matter how exasperating I’ve been, the Lord has never given up on me.

     Does not God have a perfect right to show his fury and power against those who are fit only for destruction, those he has been patient with for all this time? (Rom. 9:22 TLB)  Yes, He does have the right to repay us for all our sins, yet He pours out His mercy and grace in our lives instead.  He never gives up on us.  For the Lord your God will be with you; he will not fail nor forsake you. (Deut. 31:6b TLB) also: (Heb. 13:5b; Gen 28:15; Josh 1:5; 1 Chr. 28:20)  Mercifully, God doesn’t just ditch us just because He is frustrated with us.

In the words of Matt Redman:

Oh no you never let go

Through the calm and through the storm

Oh no you never let go

Every high and every low

Oh no you never let go

Lord, you never let go of me

Thank you Jesus!