Seasonally, I go to this online chat/drawing game site (it's like an online Pictionary) to have a little fun challenging myself at drawing (as, at my own initiative, I usually draw the same old boring animals). I meet a lot of strange people there, not surprisingly - nice people, rude people, rule-abiding people, rebellious people, polite people, foul-mouthed people, etc.. I've learned to either ignore or leave a room when something less appropriate happens.
Today, as I stepped into a room, I "overheard" a conversation between some people who were talking about someone very casually, very ordinarily. I didn't think much of it at first but as they went on, a word caught my eye. One of them mentioned the name "god". It sparked my interest so I read on and they proceeded to talk about someone whom one of them had met and this person was a mess and has been a mess since his son died.
Here's the case: I knew there were a couple of players on the site that had nicknames involving the word "god" and I assumed, at first, that one of them was the subject of this conversation. But as I continued to read, they were not talking about "a" god, they were talking about God and this son they referred to was God's Son, Jesus Christ.
I had no idea how to respond, so I listened incredulously as they as they not only referred to God as a human-like being, but as someone who was so messed up, so broken over the death of his Son that he had to go to a person for counseling. I can hardly remember what else was mentioned and personally, I am glad I don't remember, because a one-time experience of that conversation was enough to boggle the mind.
I may not remember the details, but I remember what I felt and thought during the time. I was... stupefied. I just couldn't, and still can't, comprehend that I had just sat through a conversation where people talked about my God and were reducing Him to a torn, messed up man who acted like he had no hope in this world. I couldn't comprehend how they casually joked and teased about God and they laughed! They laughed.
I was stunned, literally.. and I was crying, inside, because my God, whom I know is sovereign and all-powerful, the Creator of everything, was being ridiculed by His own creation. Not just rejected, but ridiculed.
I was burned up, I was annoyed, I wanted to shout at them, rebuke them and teach them a thing or two. But someone wise once said, "Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing". It dawned on me that these people (and they are not alone) do not know God, they do not realise what they do. I don't know whether they acted purposely or out of ignorance, but either way, shouting at them wouldn't have done any good. So I left the room. If Jesus, in the position He was put, had the grace to ask God to forgive those who mistreated Him, I figured I need to learn to be as forgiving as He.
One thing I do know for sure at the end of the day is I know who my God is and what He isn't is a hopeless, crushed man who seeks other people for sympathy, counseling and therapy. He does not talk to men and mourn over the loss of His Son because His Son, Jesus Christ, is risen and living. I know God is self-existent and He does not need us, but He loves us. He does not seek hope, He is hope. And incredibly, despite His sovereignty and power, He is also the grace who loves us and saves us.
