breaking down the box. chapter 1.

breaking down the box. [1]


Multifaceted. Adj. Having many faces or aspects.

Is that a word you use or hear used to describe the Lord? Often? It should be.

I habitually find myself forgetting how comprehensive my God is. And He is.

It is so easy to place our loving God in a box, is it not? It’s so easy to give Him limitations based off of our limited minds. It is simple to say that God handles situations like this in this way. And situations like that, He treats that way.

We often put Him in a box so that we can feel that we understand Him. So that we feel like we know what He is doing. But is that right? Do we really know what He is doing?


God, our Father in Heaven, Savior to those who accept Him, has many names. Jehovah. Adonai. Yahweh. Judge. Shepherd. Stone. I am. Christ. Alpha and Omega. Life Giver. Governor. Priest. These are only a few. The Almighty Lord, Creator of the earth has many faces. Many characteristics.

Romans 1:8 . . . “I am the Alpha and Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Is it fair to say that this God with so many faces, this God from beginning to end, this God who has the power to appear, communicate, and love in so many different ways, is it fair to say He will only do things one way? A certain way? The way we expect Him to?

There are many people who have seen the Lord work miraculously and heal someone’s physical body instantly. Others have watched their husbands, wives, grandparents, children, and friends sit in a hospital, sick or in pain, for months at a time before the Lord brings healing. Still others have watched their love ones suffer until death.

Is that to say those whose loved ones sat in a hospital do not believe the Lord can heal instantly? No.

Is that to say the Lord loves some people more than others? No.

It’s to say the Lord chose to do things differently. According to His perfect plan. Working all things together for the good of those who love Him [Rom. 8:28].

God designed women to conceive children through intercourse, yet He sent His own Son through a virgin.

Matthew 1:23 . . . "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."

He chose to do things differently. In order for His perfect plan to play out, for the good of those who love Him, he chose to do things differently.

God’s Son is Christ, a King. Even throughout the Bible kings over nations were born with riches, adorned in gold and silver, lived in palaces . . . but Christ, a King, The King, God’s one and only Son, was born in a stable, to parents who were told that there was no room for them in the inn. Was that royal treatment?

God sometimes chooses to do things differently. Very differently.

There is a degree of mystery which embodies the Lord that we must accept in order to remove Him from the box which we have created. The box we have placed Him in. The box that puts us in control.

We must begin to break down this box in order to truly experience an intimate and genuine relationship with our Lord.


Do you know my mother? Most likely not. If you don’t, she is a stranger to you. If you do, you may know her well or you may have only met once. If you know her well, she is your friend. If you have only met once, you are acquaintances. But for me, she is my mother. She is one of my best friends.

My relationship with her differs from yours. And I imagine my father, her husband of nearly 26 years, has a very different relationship with her than either of us does.

Does that change who my mother is? Not at all. We each experience a different relationship with her. We all see different sides of her, different characteristics. This doesn’t mean that my mother is a chameleon and chooses to be different around you than she chooses to be with me. She may be shy around you because that is her personality around strangers. But if you know her better, you would not expect her to be shy . . . in the least bit.

Our relationships with her are different.

Our relationships with the Lord are different as well. This doesn’t change who our God is, but only how we experience Him. You may have known him well, ever since your childhood fifty years ago. But I was saved as a child and I have only truly known Him and experienced a relationship with Him for the past 4-5 years.

He may be a Father to you, because yours isn’t around. He may be your best friend because you struggle socially. He could be someone whose existence you struggle to admit to at times. A relationship with Him could be a chore, or something your parents, friends, or spouse has pushed, or even forced upon you.

Does this change who He is? No. We each experience a different relationship with Him. We all see different sides of Him, different characteristics.

Once again, this is not to say our God changes.

Malachi 3:6 . . . “For I am the Lord, I do not change.”

Instead, He has the power to be a Father to the fatherless [Psalm 68:5], a closer Friend than a brother [Proverbs 18:24], and a righteous Judge [2 Timothy 4:8]. He is still God.


There are two chief reasons for our placing God in a box.

One. We want control.

Two. We have expectations.

These reasons work hand in hand at destroying the opportunity we are given to experience true intimacy with Christ our Lord.

Control says God can’t.

Expectations limit His power.

There is a vastness to our Savior which is to be taken a hold of. A mystery, a wonder, which we are to embrace.

Psalm 48:1 . . . Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise.

Rob Bell, a pastor and major inspiration of mine, wrote in his book Velvet Elvis, “If there is a divine being who made everything, including us, what would our experiences with this being look like? The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God. We are dealing with somebody we made up. And if we made him up, then we are in control.”

Everything we come in contact with has boundaries. Purposes. Definitions. Limitations.

Except for the Almighty.

Why is it that we insist upon giving Him boundaries?

Why is it that we feel the need to list His purposes?

Why is it that people demand a definite answer for anything spiritual?

Why must we give the Lord a limit to His power?

The answer is that limitations and boundaries are all we as humans know. They are all we can understand. People spend their entire lives working to improve their knowledge about different things, hoping to finally reach a place where there is nothing else to learn.

You will not ever get there.

That may be a new and humbling thought for you. Though, it may be something you’re completely aware of. If you’re aware of it, do you live like it?


Control.

Some of us are “control freaks” by nature. The type of people who are always heading up projects, whether they are asked to or not. Then there are the type of people who take control by dominating over others in conversation. There are the control freaks who are OCD about how a room looks when company is coming over. I know I’m guilty of each of these scenarios. And these are only a few.

Did you know that people who are not control freaks by nature are still control freaks when it comes to their relationships with others and with Christ as well?

Take a look at the most shy person you know. You wont ever see them dominating a conversation, or intimidating others by how much they can get done when they put their mind to it. But what about when you ask them a question about themselves?

Most often the shy people we know are closed off. They give short answers. Why? It’s a defense mechanism. A way of trying staying in control.

They react to Christ the same way they react to you. With a defense mechanism. A way of staying in control.

Letting go of the control you think you have over your life is what you’re doing when you accept Christ. When you “become a Christian” are you not giving your life over to Him? Does it not mean you are no longer your own?

Giving up control, unfortunately, as we well know, doesn’t just happen when we say that precious prayer. Instead, surrender to the Lord is a lifelong, difficult, every-moment-of-every-day process which we will struggle with until the day we see Jesus face to face.

That does not mean we should give up. This battle is one we must choose to fight. If we are to love the Father, embrace His multifacetness, and live a life of intimacy with Him, a heart that gives up control is necessary.

In order to relinquish control in your life, and hand it over to the Father, control isn’t the only thing you must let go of.


Expectations.

Next to having a need for control in life, the other thing that stuffs the Lord into a box, making Him into something not God at all are the expectations we hold.

We possess high expectations which we do not even realize that we have. We have expectations of ourselves. We have expectations of others. We have expectations of material things. And we have expectations of God. Whether these expectations of God are right or wrong depends what we’re expecting of Him. But the expectations that put Him in a box are those that cut Him short. Those that limit Him to only what we can imagine.

That is where the circle is completed.

We place God in a box ->

Why? ->

We need control ->

We have expectations ->

Where does God remain? ->

The box.

We must tear down the box which we have placed Him in. There will ne no understanding of grace, no growth or change without stepping back and letting God be God.

i keep thinking about what i deserve.

it's just hit me. now. here. in this mess. at age 19. what am i saved from? the list of sin is endless. but ultimately, hell. i hate hell. i hate when Christians talk about hell. i hate how it's used as a "fear factor." OH! IF I'M SAVED, I WONT GO TO HELL! YEAH! no. no matter what is next, after this life, it doesn't change how i live now. that has been my perspective. but maybe it does. maybe the fact that it has just hit me, IS going to change how i live.

i deserve hell.

and CHRIST took the shame. the blame. the pain. and because of my God's amazing grace...this "hell" here on earth is the worst i'll experience. i will never be without Christ. i will never experience separation from God. do -you- realize how freeing that is?

i've been breaking. again. as always. that's what growth is i suppose...well, that's what growth is. i know it. being broken, and being rebuilt, stronger, for one simple thing: my God's glory.

i have to be honest. i have never felt so alone as i have in these past couple of days. whether self-inflicted, or inflicted by others, i've been trapped. it took this misery tonight to remind me of Truth. i've been in tears for hours. my heart has been breaking. ive been in pain. i've felt like a failure. i've felt lost. i felt alone. then there is the whisper.

if i can find His strength, in my weakness, then His glory is accomplished. is that not my purpose?

so a couple things have clicked in my mind. but i'm still in a struggle. i'm in a mess. this world is a mess. my life, is a terrible mess. that's what i make of it. but He sees the beauty, and i'm learning to. it's easy to see at times, but can i see it in the little glory of the present? can i find joy and beauty in this horrid mess i'm trapped in currently? if He can, i can, IN HIM.

the Lord's divine nature has been given to me.
the LORD'S divine nature has been given to ME!

it can be hard to feel so small. yet so freeing. i am nothing. i am nothing without Him. but i have Him! and HE HAS SAVED ME!

If my God is for me, who can be against me?
that, my friends, is the question.