“God is so disappointed in me.” 7 Common Lies about God, part 3

Well it’s easy to see why this one is so prevalent. Who hasn’t felt like they disappointed God and let Him down, and now the Ground of Existence is bummed about the way that you are?

You know who else felt this way? Pretty much everyone. But specifically, the first two people in the Bible, Adam and Eve. It seems from the limited text that the first emotion they felt after disobeying God was shame. It’s very important to notice that in Genesis 3, God doesn’t come down and shame them; they do that to themselves. They are the ones who run and hide, while God (who already knows everything) comes down to walk the garden with them. 

Then, God asks them questions and they point fingers. 

Yes, there was a price for their disobedience, but the effects are amplified by two things, as I see it: Their shame and their dishonesty. 

They felt guilty, they became aware that they were naked, and they hid themselves. Then they shifted blame as soon as God started asking them questions. 

It hints to me that, if we can get a handle on our shame, dig down into why we feel the way we do, then we will feel closer to God (But you won’t actually be closer to God…because He’s everywhere…and already very near to you…it’s only us who do the running from Him…).

And that if we are able to be honest about ourselves, our shortcomings, our screwups, et al., we will also heal toward God. Perhaps this is why the fourth step of Alcoholics Anonymous (and all the 12-step addiction recovery programs) is to make a scathingly honest moral inventory of our shortcomings. There is power in being radically honest with ourselves and coming to see ourselves, and God, more honestly.

We will usually come to find that we are more disappointed in ourselves than God is, and that God hasn’t gone anywhere.

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100 Days of blogs, day 5

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