While David was being chased by Saul from wilderness to wilderness, cave to cave, he had plenty of time to contemplate the anger, betrayal, and rejection from his spiritual father. In the book "Under Cover" John Bevere writes about unfair treatment from unreasonable authority. He says, "Those who have been rejected by a father or leader tend to take all the blame on themselves. They are imprisoned by tormenting thoughts: What did I do? and Was my heart impure? They carry the burden of constantly trying to prove their innocence to their leaders. They believe if they could only show their loyalty and value, they would be accepted. But the more they try, the more rejected they feel." I can relate to David. My husband and I have experienced rejection from a spiritual father, as well as from my earthly father. My own wilderness experiences while grieving these relationships have taught me things about God that I would not have learned otherwise. Some being....... God's love was misrepresented. The way Saul treated David was not God's way. God does not forsake His people. This can be a difficult thing to realize if a father/child relationship has taught the exact opposite. Our relationships with our earthly fathers should be a catalyst into our relationship with our heavenly Father, but we are fragile and human and don't always get it right. Although I have been forsaken by spiritual and earthly fathers, I know that God's love for me cannot be shaken. He will never leave me. He will never sacrifice our relationship. He loves me as He loves Jesus and would move heaven and earth to get to me. Conflict between us and God does not threaten our relationship with Him. The word says "Come, let us reason together". God welcomes open, honest, flat-out truth about how we feel and He can handle hashing- out sessions. I think He probably enjoys them more than we know. He already knows how we feel anyway, and wants us to pour our hearts to Him and work out our differences. (I am blessed to have long-standing relationships with another spiritual father, and a spiritual mother. They both regularly counsel and mentor me and offer great wisdom. My spiritual mother was recently counseling me to "get alone with God". I misunderstood her to say, "get along with God". We both laughed as I promised to try!). Walls we build as a result of rejection affects our intimacy with God. Many of us struggle through life because we are afraid to receive and give love. We are afraid of intimacy. Defiencies from parental love or other forms of traumatic rejection can cause us to set up boundaries and walls to keep people out so that we can protect ourselves from the pain of more rejection. These walls must come down. We need to learn to trust God to be our Protector. The walls that keep pain out also keep love out, and can hinder us from having intimate fellowship with God and healthy relationships with others. (Note: I have experienced great healing from father issues through the ministry of the late Jack Frost. He teaches about the "true Father heart of God" and the slavery of the "spiritual orphan". You can find his resources at www.shilohplace.org Another great resource if you need this same healing is a free on-line video at www.fathersloveletter.com ).
" Even if my father and mother abandon me,
the Lord will hold me close."
Psalm 27:10
No comments:
Post a Comment