GET REAL
By: Micaiah Wesler
His talk is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords. (Psalm 55:21)
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8)
Let’s talk real talk for just a minute. One thing I have found out about the Lord is that He is the most real thing I’ve ever encountered. We talk about people being real or fake; God is the realest. I once heard a message about holding onto offense. The speaker began to talk about how we can be offended at people and not let them go from our offense. Then they began to talk about something that changed my life. You can be offended at God. Yes. It’s possible and it happens to many believers. I realized that very night that I had been offended at God. Whoa! What a crazy concept. It was very true though. Things weren’t going as I thought they should and I was very frustrated and offended at God. That being what it was, I was doing the good “faith-filled-Christian" thing: declare scripture until your circumstance changes! Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t working that time because, secretly, I was offended at God. In truth I was offended, but I didn’t want God or anyone else to see how I was really struggling because it felt so wrong to be offended at God. At that point I stepped into the world of being two faced. I had the true and real me that was hurt and offended. Then I had the “me” that I showed publicly and tried to present to God.
I couldn’t figure out why God wasn’t showing up anymore in my prayer time. His presence seemed to be distant. I couldn’t hear Him easily. I was declaring scripture and telling the Lord how amazing He was and how faithful He has always been, but I was being fake in all of it. I was attempting to use scripture as a Band-Aid to fix a deeper issue.
After hearing this message and discovering it’s possible to be offended at God, and being confronted by the need to release the grudge and unforgiveness that I was holding against Him unfairly, I went home and got brutally real with God. I laid it all on the line. I told the Lord everything I felt. Every little, ugly detail of how I felt. I felt that He had let me down because He didn’t meet my expectation in certain areas. I told Him that I was hurt, upset and offended. I ended in repentance for holding these things against Him and that I knew He was truly faithful and would never forsake me. I also ended with the realization that I had nowhere else to go. I had given my life fully to Him and have no other place to turn but Him.
Immediately the Lord’s tangible presence showed up. I knew right away that the Lord so hated fakeness that He refused to touch it. He doesn’t have any dealing with fakeness or being two-faced because He is too real for that. He is truth. He does not bless lies. I was offended and slapped scripture on it to try and get by. God refused to touch it until I got brutally honest and laid it all out there for Him. At that point, He came and fixed everything like He wanted to do the entire time!
You might be reading this and realize that you are actually holding an offense against God. It’s a scary thing to admit. However, I promise if you go to God and lay it all on the line, as brutally honest as you can-- as ugly as it is-- God will show up. He isn’t scared of you being real, offended or angry, but He certainly won’t bless fakeness. Get real with God. He refuses to work with fakeness but you’ll be surprised how quickly He likes to work with people who are completely real with Him.
His talk is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords. (Psalm 55:21)
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8)
Let’s talk real talk for just a minute. One thing I have found out about the Lord is that He is the most real thing I’ve ever encountered. We talk about people being real or fake; God is the realest. I once heard a message about holding onto offense. The speaker began to talk about how we can be offended at people and not let them go from our offense. Then they began to talk about something that changed my life. You can be offended at God. Yes. It’s possible and it happens to many believers. I realized that very night that I had been offended at God. Whoa! What a crazy concept. It was very true though. Things weren’t going as I thought they should and I was very frustrated and offended at God. That being what it was, I was doing the good “faith-filled-Christian" thing: declare scripture until your circumstance changes! Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t working that time because, secretly, I was offended at God. In truth I was offended, but I didn’t want God or anyone else to see how I was really struggling because it felt so wrong to be offended at God. At that point I stepped into the world of being two faced. I had the true and real me that was hurt and offended. Then I had the “me” that I showed publicly and tried to present to God.
I couldn’t figure out why God wasn’t showing up anymore in my prayer time. His presence seemed to be distant. I couldn’t hear Him easily. I was declaring scripture and telling the Lord how amazing He was and how faithful He has always been, but I was being fake in all of it. I was attempting to use scripture as a Band-Aid to fix a deeper issue.
After hearing this message and discovering it’s possible to be offended at God, and being confronted by the need to release the grudge and unforgiveness that I was holding against Him unfairly, I went home and got brutally real with God. I laid it all on the line. I told the Lord everything I felt. Every little, ugly detail of how I felt. I felt that He had let me down because He didn’t meet my expectation in certain areas. I told Him that I was hurt, upset and offended. I ended in repentance for holding these things against Him and that I knew He was truly faithful and would never forsake me. I also ended with the realization that I had nowhere else to go. I had given my life fully to Him and have no other place to turn but Him.
Immediately the Lord’s tangible presence showed up. I knew right away that the Lord so hated fakeness that He refused to touch it. He doesn’t have any dealing with fakeness or being two-faced because He is too real for that. He is truth. He does not bless lies. I was offended and slapped scripture on it to try and get by. God refused to touch it until I got brutally honest and laid it all out there for Him. At that point, He came and fixed everything like He wanted to do the entire time!
You might be reading this and realize that you are actually holding an offense against God. It’s a scary thing to admit. However, I promise if you go to God and lay it all on the line, as brutally honest as you can-- as ugly as it is-- God will show up. He isn’t scared of you being real, offended or angry, but He certainly won’t bless fakeness. Get real with God. He refuses to work with fakeness but you’ll be surprised how quickly He likes to work with people who are completely real with Him.