I have been hearing this from others and thinking it about for myself. I should not be viewing God as a transactional God. My faith should not be viewed as, “Oh, I haven’t seen God recently and I haven’t seen some amazing miracle, so therefore he isn’t here with me.” No, that is not what running the race well means. I shouldn’t base my faith and trust only when I see God do something exceptionally amazing, but a lot of the Race will be filled with hard times. Hard times that aren’t filled with seeing God as much as you thought. I’m not saying that God can’t do those things, but rather a lot of growth does come through the hard and the trust and hope you have in God.
Think of this: You are standing in front of a vending machine. You put in your money and select the item that you want. You then watch that item fall to the bin and you enjoy it. Now sometimes that item will not fall and you are left maybe angry, trying to bump or dislodge your item.
Sometimes it is very easy to view God as a vending machine. You do your Bible, go to church, serve others, stay from sin as much as possible, and many other things. You look to God for a good life, something to show for what you have done, and maybe for him to “come through” and do a miracle. You look for a transaction for the things that you do.
But, what happens when we don’t receive a transaction for those things? We get confused where and who God really is. We forget of the things that he has done, and rather we question the character of God and his love.
The hardness hits and we try to run from it. However almost all of the time, most growth comes from being in the hard with God. We can go through the hard and painful things, knowing that God is the same; who he was, is, and is going to be. He is the one who gave his son as a sacrifice for us all.
If that isn’t enough, then what is?
