Contemplations on the Divine

Mirror Love

God created us in His image. We forget that. We forget that we are the a reflection of divinity. We try to fit God in our image rather than the other way around and we have a limited view of God. We see his mercy but not his justice, his wrath but not his grace. Imagine being in a dark room where you try to see. You refuse to reach out and use your other senses to get a feel about where you are and stubbornly stare into the dark till your eyes start to water. Perhaps your pupils dilate and you have a better idea of where you are. May be you see indistinct shapes that you see as potential obstacles or supports but you do not feel it to see which is what. 

Living in God's will is a pretty good thing but it is living in the dark. You do not get to see everything crystal clear. God doesn't paint a glowing Red flag against something that can be harmful to you. Neither does he add a Neon sign to indicate the path He wants you to take. God is perhaps the most chilled out Dad in all creation because He knows that no matter what kind of a pickle his child manages to get in He can rescue because He is all powerful. However there is one thing He cannot rescue His child from. He cannot rescue His child when it is hiding from Him. Of course there are exceptions like that of Jonah. But that is an exception rather than the norm. God doesn't really like playing hide and seek because He is all knowing and He knows you don't want to be found and He generally respects your wishes. 

When Jonah hid from God he had a fixed agenda: to flee from the presence of the Lord. Admittedly it was perhaps the most futile agenda in the history of futility, to flee from an Omniscient entity. But God did not take offence. Firstly He is an indulgent Father and secondly the lives of a lot more depended on Jonah's preaching. 

Now the Ninevites or the Assyrians were enemies of the Jews. Perhaps Jonah had often prayed for their destruction and that was at hand. But never would he imagine that God would choose him as a vessel of salvation for them. To Jonah he was the salvation of God to the people he wished dead. So he chose to deprive the people of himself. Jonah didn't deny the Sovereignty of God but assumed that God's plans were based on his cooperation. 

We often go about doing our daily chores like a typical Godly person and sometimes feel guilty about not doing enough. But then there are times when we start seeing ourselves as the vessel for God's purpose. We are. But we are not the only one. We cannot place ourselves on a pedestal just because we are the child of God. Only God is to be worshipped. But sometimes we do a good deed believing that it is God's will in us bringing it about. We are giving God his due but still we are focusing on the fact that it was our hand that brought it about. We are placing ourselves on an altar even if it is below God. 

God can bring His plans to success with you and despite you. There is no place for a mirror love in a life that is dedicated to God.