Miss Him Yet?

We asked Him to leave; in fact we insisted. Having taken the liberty of packing His bags, fueled by the illusion of our own perceived accomplishments and grandeur, wagging an imperious finger in His face, we demanded that He depart never to return again.

‘Please go’, was the cry of the masses, ‘we no longer have any need of you.’

We treated Him not as Lord, or Creator of all that is, but as some lowly beggar to whom out of the goodness of our hearts, and our benevolent natures we showed charity.

In our mad rush to be rid of Him, we didn’t bother thinking it through; we didn’t bother taking a second to ponder the implications and consequences of no longer having Him in our midst. No, He had become a nuisance, a constant presence that perpetually convicted us of our duplicity, our hypocrisy, our formalism, and our ceremonies absent any spark of the Divine presence. As long as He was present, we could never get the glory we thought ourselves entitled to, nor would we ever get the full credit for all that we’d accomplished. We were done with crediting providence for our accomplishments, preferring instead to credit our own ingenuity and the sweat of our brow.

Never mind the fact that we know in our heart of hearts we are not that ingenious, never mind the fact that we know in our heart of hearts the meteoric rise of our nation would have transcended the land of the miraculous into the impossible if not for the Sovereign hand that guided us and protected us. No, it was us, we did it all, from laying the first brick to finishing the tallest skyscraper, it was all our doing, without the aid of some imagined Deity only the illiterate among us still believe in.

He tried to speak, and we would not hear; He tried to warn us, but we would have none of it. ‘They’re just scare tactics’, we would console each other ‘pay Him no mind. We have achieved greatness of our own strength, and of our own volition, and our greatness will last for generations to come.’

As any gentleman would, he acquiesced to our request, not wanting to overstay His welcome, and with the pained look of rejection clearly visible upon His countenance, He turned and walked away. Had we realized that once He left His blessing would go with Him, had we realized that once He left His protection would go with Him, had we realized that once He left His providence would go with Him, perhaps we would not have been so hasty. We thought we could pull off what no other nation in the history of the world has, expel God from our midst, yet somehow still retain all His blessing and favor.

It was soon after His departure that we realized God doesn’t have to pour out His wrath upon a nation, He does not have to send judgment upon judgment, there need not be any event as dramatic as the plagues of Egypt to cause us to pause in our tracks, all He has to do is remove His hand of blessing and protection from atop a nation. The worst kind of punishment is the punishment we bring upon ourselves, and there is nothing in this world that will so readily lead to chaos, than being left to the desire of our own hearts.

The jubilation of having rid ourselves of what had become an unwanted and unwelcome guest was short lived, replaced by the dreadful realization that He was responsible for more of our prosperity, blessing and wellbeing than we would have ever thought possible, or given Him credit for. Stiff necked as all men are however, as yet we have not humbled ourselves, as yet we have not pleaded with Him to return, to once more make our hearts His home, and bring back the favor and providence we once took for granted. We’ve realized our impotence, this much is certain, but pride is a persistent, malevolent force, and once it has hold of a heart or a nation, it is only with great toil that what it is clutching can be set free.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.