Thistles and Thanks

sov·er·eign

   [sov-rin, sov-er-in, suhv-]

noun

1. A monarch; a king, queen, or other supreme ruler.

2. A person who has sovereign power or authority.

3. A group or body of persons or a state having sovereign authority.

Every Sunday morning, around 10 in the morning, maybe a little later, millions of people across North America tell God how much they love him.  People thank him for what he’s done, for the world around us, nature, jobs, family, friends. We list off all of the blessings that he has given, we consider the works of his hands-
well, we consider some of the works.

It is a very pleasant exercise to thank God for the trees, for the sunshine.  It is very comforting to remember all of the things that have clearly worked together for the good of us.  It makes for a nice environment on a Sunday morning, that’s for sure.

 A nice environment for Sunday morning, a nice breather in the busy week, a Sabbath?

Indeed, it is very easy to find the words of thanks, of gratitude, of praise, when talking to God of good things. These words are on millions of fridge magnets, and picture frames across the continent.
This North American church is a people fostered to know that all good things come from God.
And it’s true, they do, James sure thought so.

Keep that in mind while we talk about something else for a bit.

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We learn from Abraham that God is our friend. 
Several times that friendship is referenced as a template for us to mimic.   Now that sure complicates things doesn’t it?  Friendship is a messy game.
 Devotion to humility, but also to honesty - with God? What a confusing thought!

The very definition of “friend” implies not only a mutual understanding, but a balance.  “A person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard”.
If God were a deity void of personality and interaction, I know I would sure have an easier time feeling small.

Let’s imagine for a moment.

If my friend gives me a gift, I will be grateful. I will thank him, and I will smile upon the gesture, knowing just what it means, an expression of love, a tangible representation of his appreciation of me.

If then, that same friend comes to me, and hits me in the face, and I find myself cut and bleeding on the floor, how then do I respond? I doubt that I would be very pleased…

If the gift-giving was a tangible representation of appreciation, is the punch to the face not equally (or more) tangible, carrying an equally strong message?

In any friendship, for the sake of our relationship, I would need to respond with honesty in both circumstances.

If I never thanked him for the gift, he would be hurt, and that would damage our friendship (perhaps he would even hit me).

If I never approached him after being hit, then there would be a wedge between us, causing us to live in denial of the true gift of the other person.

It would be unfair for both of us for me to respond with honesty and gratitude after receiving the gift, if I did not also respect him enough to consult him honestly after being hurt by him.

A friendship requires honest, honest communication.

...and we learn from Abraham that God is our friend.

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Let’s return to the original discussion.

It’s easy, and important, to thank God for nice things.  The North American church does very well to satisfy the need of gratitude in a relationship with the Father.

But that’s not the whole story.

If only we could thank God for the good things, and just accept that life is going to be tough sometimes, but it’s not God’s fault, because he couldn’t do anything about it...
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
If we let God speak for himself for a moment, we hear him say that

“I form the light and the darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster, I the Lord, do all these things”.

Now we have reached some dissonance that we desperately want to reduce.

Surely God was not in control of that Tsunami that hit Japan! It could not have been our Jehovah that shook Haiti to the ground! The rotting of my family was not God’s design!

A polite God has no place in a world of pain.

We know that we want to thank God for the sunshine and dew drops each morning, for the birds and children playing, but we don’t want to think of him as guilty of anything.
It would make this thing we call faith so much simpler to have a powerless god, but it would ruin our understanding of a sovereign God.   

 No, we cannot call ourselves friends of God, if we are not willing to be just that,
and friendship requires honest communication.

The kind that says “I don’t get you at all, you must be out of your mind”
The kind that says “You really have a twisted way of loving us”
The kind that says “Oh God, I believe, please help me believe”




Every Sunday morning, around 10 in the morning, maybe a little later, millions of people across North America tell God how much they love him.  People thank him for what he’s done, for the world around us, nature, jobs, family, friends. We list off all of the blessings that he has given.  Do we really consider the works of his hands?

We learn from Abraham that God is our friend. To be a friend of the Creator is a very big responsibility. There is no political correctness in this fight of faith. True reverence is honest, before it is polite.

Thank God he has big shoulders. He can take it.

And yes, he is a good friend.