The God who knocks???

             You might be strong enough to beat someone into submission, but even the strongest person in the world can’t beat someone into trust and love.

             In Christianity, God is described as the all-powerful creator.  As such, he could easily create humans as robots, who submit to his will without fail.  Alternatively, he could have created humans with free will but then cowed them into submission through fear and intimidation.  But that is not what God is described as doing.  Instead, he creates humans with free will and gives them the opportunity to run free – to turn their backs on him and escape.  He does not run after them.  He does not yell at them, demanding that they return and worship him.  He does not reach out his arm and grab them and pull them back in.  If they don’t want to be with him, he lets them have their choices (“…gave them over”).  He is described as calling out for them (“Adam, where are you?”) or as knocking at their door (“Behold, I stand at the door and knock…”).  How can it be that the all-powerful creator God waits for permission to come in?  He is described as being in the “still small voice” not in the “thunder and lightning.”  We can live our lives ignoring him.  We can even shake our fists at him and curse him.  He warns us of the consequences, but does not prevent us from walking away.  He lets us choose our path. 

             There are some who turn back, if ever so slightly, to say “here I am” or to open the door and let him in.  To those who cry out “help!” he is right there, ready and waiting to draw people back.  He says, as one point “…how often I wanted to gather you together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!”  But there are some who give him permission.  They voluntarily, freely submit.  We do not have the capacity to love God or even trust God – we need his help for that – but we can give him permission to transform us.

             This is how I understand the message of Christianity.  God does not beat us into submission.  He allows us to freely reject him.  But to those who turn and cry out for help, no matter how far away they are, he is right there, ready to do what they cannot do themselves.