1 Last week we saw how Jesus has used primary revelations of God to stimulate a hunger in man for more than the revelation, and how that hunger is literally our personal container to catch deeper revelation of the experience of God. We saw that God sometimes even uses denial of blessing in order to increase the awareness of the value of His gifts in our hearts. Hunger for God is critical to our appropriation of the progressive revelation and personal experience of our God.

2 This is why an honest appraisal is so critical to moving more deeply into experiencing the Christ Life and more into dependency upon Him. You will be more like a self-sufficient Pharisee, telling yourself that you are at least much better than “so and so” if you are not conscious of your many needs and weaknesses. It is only those who are actually pleased to take comfort in their weakness, who use it as their invitation to be totally dependent on Jesus, who actually discover the power of weakness. Now do you see why Paul said in 2Cor 12:9 that he “gloried in his weaknesses so that the power of Christ might rest upon him”? Have you learned how to appreciate and to ascribe value to the weakness that your independent flesh HATES, and why it is your greatest asset? As we consider this today, can you think of elements in your life where you value weakness, and where you hate your weaknesses?

3 Counseling almost always begins with “how to get others to do what we want, how to show them how and where they are wrong”, because as we all know, everybody, if they are reasonable people, will always want to do what we want them to do. So – with our new found HUNGER and DRIVE to know God and to experience Him, and our new value in WEAKNESS and contempt for SELF- CONFIDENCE let’s take another look at how we look at life, and the things that drive our flesh nuts. But this is not what we experience, and the sour realities of life fill our hearts with failure and complaints!

4 What kinds of complaints do Christians have about the Christian life? We can know for certain that any complaint we would have about the Christian life is exclusively due to the lack of our understanding of God, what He is like, and what we are relative to Him. God doesn’t do the things I ask of Him. He doesn’t protect me from pain and loss. He doesn’t help me do things I think are good. He promotes things that are bad or painful. You would think that with all of that power He has that He would be more helpful.

5 “If God loved me, He would show it by giving me what I say I need!” How do we see these complaints from our perspective? God doesn’t do the things I ask of Him. He doesn’t protect me from pain and loss. He doesn’t help me do things I think are good. He promotes things that are bad or painful. You would think that with all of that power He has that He would be more helpful.

6 “My poor children think they know who they are and what they want, apart from Me.” But how does God see it? God doesn’t do the things I ask of Him. He doesn’t protect me from pain and loss. He doesn’t help me do things I think are good. He promotes things that are bad or painful. You would think that with all of that power He has that He would be more helpful. “They are slaves of their own fallen perceptions, addicts of the Tree of Knowledge.” “I have to free them by delivering them from how they think.”

7 If we are to know the God who created us, the One who has such amazing plans for us on this earth, then we are going to have to realize them on His terms, not our own. We can know for certain that any complaint we would have about the Christian life is exclusively due to the lack of our understanding of God, what He is like, and what we are relative to Him. Do you realize how critical that statement is? Can you identify your own personal responses to God and the feelings that drive them? Let’s take a look at another life.

8 “The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Mt 19:20-23 What happened here? Does this man have a complaint about what Jesus asked him to do? Clearly he does, but what is the root of his complaint? Jesus wants to take away from him something he thinks is critical to his existence. But why does he think his money is critical to his existence? There is only one true answer. He does NOT know God! He doesn’t think that God would provide for him what he has already provided for himself! Have you ever stopped to realize how many things of life, such as the love/appreciation of your child, mate, or friends, that you don’t think you can live without?

9 “The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Mt 19:20-23 No information is available on this man except that he was wealthy and wanted to be established in God’s Kingdom. We know that he had it all figured out because when the Lord tells him what to do to gain what he requested, he walked away! He thought knew better than God. He bet the success of his life on what he thought was the power of the Tree of Knowledge and thought he was “like the Most High”. He thought he could make his own life determinations. He thought his “knowledge” made God an option, rather than a necessity.

10 He was hungry for self-provided, self-maintained and monitored, self-guaranteed security, for control over his life and choices, but he had no freedom to meet God in RISK. Did he walk away because he loved his stuff, or was it more that he loved his stuff because he had no clue concerning God, himself, or how God would have cared for him had he simply believed? He wouldn’t have walked with Shadrach into the furnace, or with Daniel to the lion’s den. He would have bowed before the idol and he would have prayed in his closet to assure his security. And if we truly desire to possess what God wants to freely give us, then we need to look at the measure of our hunger for Him against our hunger for predictable lives, for pleasure and comfort. The passion for our own will on our own terms can shut down the gifts of God in our lives on this earth.