Entitlement

Lessons are painful. You all know the story of Job, right? He's this wealth-ridden, righteous man. God blesses everything he does. Then one day, Satan decides to prove a point and asks God if he can test Job. Job loses everything. A few of Job's friends sit with him to console him. Thus a book of the BIble was born!

Well, after roughly 35 chapters of Job's friends acting as if their wisdom were above God's, God speaks to Job. He does so for several chapters.

Seriously, its just pages and pages of God saying things like...

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
⁵ Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
⁶ On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
⁷ while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels^[a] shouted for joy?

Job 38:4-7

Hmm. Point taken.

It sunk into my skull a bit farther today. God really IS in control. Now of course, I knew that. What I seem to have forgotten is that I'm not.

Besides the fact that I fail miserably every time I try to force my will on my life, I also get selfish. I feel entitled to the things I love. If I have to spend a day without Meg, I feel like I've been robbed. Which wouldn't be so bad, except that I never go out of my way to thank God for the days I do have.

If someone dares not thank me for something I did, it eats me up for days. And then I go months and months sometimes without stopping to thank God for the little things He does. Like, you know, feed me and give me breath. Inconsequential things like that.

What's wrong with me? The author of history itself is offering to guide and lead my life and what do I do? I tell Him I can handle things on my own. Then I screw it up. Then I blame Him for how bad my life has gotten. All because I didn't trust Him in the first place.

No wonder God seems a bit frustrated in those verses. Honestly, I'm surprised He bothers to get our attention. We're so fickle.

This attitude of entitlement is so engrained in us that it seems impossible to get rid of. But it isn't. What we need is humility. I need to realize how feeble and finite I am. How pathetic my attempts at righteousness are. I really can't do anything right.

Thankfully, God isn't asking me to. He's asking me to trust Him and follow Him. He doesn't even expect perfection! He knows we'll sin. (He did pay for it already...) He's already forgiven us to the point of not even recalling it. Is it really too much to ask for us to try to follow Him again, even after we stumble? I don't think so. I think its incredibly merciful.

Its mercy I don't deserve, but that's what love means. And Jesus loves me.

(This I know.)