Mt 7:21-29 When God Doesn’t Makes Sense“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”
At first glance, this saying from the Lord may appear to mean that those who say much about Him, may not be doing much at all for Him; and therefore, will not be entering the Kingdom of heaven. We know actions speak louder than words, right? But then the Lord turns right back and says, “Many will say to me…Did we not do mighty deeds in your name? I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’” So what must we do? What must we say? Well, the Lord is in the details. He desires that we follow Him - with all our heart, our mind, our strength and our will. It is important to Christ that we do our Father's Will, not our will, even if that means getting hit and hit hard!
The Lord knows perfectly well what it feels like to get hit hard, to be abused at the hands of others. And still, he demands that we are faithful to His Holy Will, even when it doesn't make much sense.
Abraham’s wife Sarah had borne him no children. So she gave to Abraham her maid, Hagar the Egyptian, to be his concubine. But in the end, Sarah became jealous of Hagar and abused her. When Hagar could no longer take the abuse, she ran away. But the Lord’s messenger told her: “Go back to your mistress and submit to her abusive treatment…for the LORD has heard you, God has answered you... I will make your descendents so numerous that they will be too many to count.”
Why take all this abuse? Why submit to this type of treatment? Is the Lord a masochist? No, not at all! He knows that we are stronger than we think, and that He is stronger than we think! He answers our prayers, the ones that are worth answering. Good triumphs over evil, always! This is an historical fact, and it is an act of faith. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good” (Ps 106:1b).
When we say that God doesn’t make any sense, it means we have risen and fallen into two sins (temptations): arrogance and ignorance. The rise and fall of all sins!
Regardless of the negative and abusive people that surround you, there is no excuse for not being holy. No one can prevent you from believing in God. No one can take away your faith, hope and love, except for you. “At the end of our lives, when we come face to face with God, it would be childish to blame others for our lack of spiritual progress” It doesn’t mean we shut the doors around us. But when there is a problem, we should solve it. Can we do something positive? If the answer is yes, it would be a sin of omission to do nothing…There is within us something indestructible that is guaranteed by God’s faithfulness and love. (Pg. 72, Interior Freedom by Jacque Philippe). “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…” No one can take that away from us. No one!
Also, we have to be careful to not worship idols. What or who are our idols? They are whatever fills a gap that was created during my childhood. In our relationship with other people we naturally seek that which we lack, and especially what we lacked in childhood. Disappointment in a relationship with someone from whom we were expecting a lot (perhaps too much) can teach us to go deeper in prayer, in our relationship with God, and to look to him for that fullness, that peace and security, that only his infinite love can guarantee. Disappointments in relationships with other people oblige us to pass from “idolatrous” love to a love that is realistic, free, and happy.” (Pg. 70, Interior Freedom by Jacque Philippe)
When God or my life doesn’t make any sense, I have to admit to myself that I am not making any sense! Faith in God means to stop acting irrationally and immaturely. Of course this is a hard saying. Who can stand it? St. Peter knew the answer to that question: Where else are we to do? Where else are we to go? Only [the Lord] has the words and deeds that lead to eternal life.
