The Christian F Word

            Maybe it’s the time of year, maybe it’s the place I am in life but recently I’ve been in a funk.  Things are great, I have no reason to complain but for some unshakable reason I’ve found myself frustrated and bored in my relationship with the Lord.  As I was explaining to my girlfriend, this past summer and fall I grew more in the Lord more quickly than I think I may have ever before.  The problem with growing in the Lord so quickly is that when the climb ends upon reaching a plateau it’s hard to see the plateau for what it is.  It is very easy to mistake a plateau for a slump or distance from the Lord.

With that said, here’s my thought; a good friend of mine once said to me, “When you’re in a funk, get out and love somebody.”  The more I think about these the more wisdom I’m ringing out of it.

I’ve come up with an acronym that explains what is going on inside of us and our lives when we are in a funk.

F: ailure

To

U:nderstand

Because you are

N:eglecting

your
K:ing

            Have you ever read the book of Psalms? If you have, what have you noticed? 

Here’s what I’ve noticed…David was in funks regularly.

He is a man after God’s own heart…but he constantly finds himself in terrible situations.  Whether it’s having Uriah killed to cover up David sleeping with and impregnating Bathsheba, David was far from our idea of a man after God’s own heart.  David lived in the lies of stealing Bathsheba from Uriah, I can’t imagine the weight of this lie, when Nathan (a prophet) comes and explains what he has done and how the Lord has seen it.  Most importantly, God, through Nathan, reminds him of God’s redemptive plan for his life.

            As David writes through the Psalms he seems bi-polar…follow me here:

            Psalm 3: 3-4 “But you, LORD, are a shield around me,

   My glory, the One who lifts my head high. 4 I call out to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy mountain.”

            Psalm 13:1-2 1 How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

And on and on it goes…

…You’re so GOOD God!

…….WHERE ARE YOU!!!

…You’re love is better than life!

……WHHHHHHYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

David constantly and consistently found himself in funks asking the Lord “Where are you? Will you leave me forever?”…I think that we are in the same place.  What I think David did that we do also is that we fail to remember God.  Not just the present-God but we forget, and often forsake, the God who has rescued, redeemed and delivered unwarranted grace-upon-grace.  We are a fickle and rebellious people with lack-luster hearts and fleeting affections to a faithful and relentless God.

Because we forget God, we misunderstand the on goings in our lives.  We blame God for growing distant; we shake our fists, beat our chests and scream towards the heavens, looking for God.  All the while, Jesus is waiting for us, patiently and peacefully, waiting for us to repent and let him draw us near once again.  In our misunderstanding of God’s work in our lives we begin to view the hard parts of our lives as God’s anger or punishment rather than the Gospel truth that they are God’s redeeming efforts for our lives.

If you’ve never read the Book of Hosea, you should…in it; God comes to Hosea telling him that he is to marry Gomer, who currently was a prostitute.  Hosea is faithful to the Lord and marries Gomer(Would you be faithful? I would hope that I would…) Hosea and Gomer have a child and things go well for a while, then Gomer returns to her previous passions and begins to be unfaithful.  Eventually the couple has 4 children, of which, 2 of which are confirmed to be Hosea’s.

Hosea approaches the Lord, shouting and screaming and says “GOD! HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME? WHY WOULD YOU ASK ME TO MARRY SUCH AN UNFAITHFUL BRIDE?”

God’s response is bone-chilling….”Hosea, how can YOU do this to me? How can MY OWN PEOPLE do this to me?”

So I’ve explained our Failure to Understand…and because we fail to understand what the Lord desires, what the Lord intends and what the Lord deserves we finally discover the root of our problem.

We are neglecting our King.

We have been offered life overflowing, living water, life-eternal and yet…we are spiritually anorexic, even bulimic.

We settle for a sip from the Cup of Salvation…we sip enough Jesus that we feel good about ourselves for a few days.

Or we binge on Jesus…we start a “read the Bible in a year-plan” and then by February we begin to lose momentum then we spew all of our newly discovered information about God but leave nothing down for ourselves, for our own nourishment.

Please, please, please hear me here…. I am just as guilty as every, single one of us.  I forget Jesus, I get pissed and shake my fist and beat my chest, asking, “Where are you!” I neglect my relationship with Christ and I forsake my King…and for this, I am eternally sorry and repentant.

So when you’re in a funk,

            Let us remember our King, where he has been, where he is and where he’s taking us.

            Let us drink deeply from the cup of Salvation that He offers.

            Let us live as the redeemed.