So, I've been reading "The Shack" by William Young and even though I've read it about a million times before, it never fails to teach me something new each time. For those of you who haven't read it, I highly recommend it. AND if you don't want me to spoil half the book, you might want to go ahead and stop reading now.
The book is about a father who loses his daughter to a murder and is left with what he calls "The Great Sadness." He begins to question the existence and the purpose of God. He questions his whole "relationship" with Him. One day, he receives a note saying, "It's been a while. I've miss you. I'll be at the shack next weekend if you want to get together. -Papa." To give a little background; the shack was were they found the last trace of his daughter and determined that she had been murdered and Papa is what his wife calls God. Mack (the father) is so mad and confused, doesn't know if the note is from God, the murderer, or someone playing a sick joke on him, but he doesn't wait to find out and heads for the shack. At the shack, Mack has an amazing opportunity to meet God and start a REAL relationship with Him.
What do you think of when you picture God in your head? Most, if not all, would probably say that He looks similar to an old gray grandpa. Mack even compares Him to Gandalf from "Lord of the Rings." Well, Mack is rightly surprised to see God as a big black lady named Elousia. The rest of the book is spent with Mack trying to understand more on God and realizes that he really had no idea.
This book has taught me some many things that I often I thought I knew the answer to, so I'll share some with you!
We are so fast to limit God, to say that He can only be THIS way, or THAT way. In reality, God can be however or whoever He wants. He can be an old grandpa to us, He can be a big black woman, or He could be a short Asian man. We SAY He is all powerful but we don't truly believe it or act as if it were true.
We tend to blame God when something bad has happened to us. We cry out asking why He would let it happen to us. We often to think that God created bad as well as all the good, but that's not true. Bad is just simply the absence of good and ultimately, the absence of God. We choose to be apart from God and bad things happen.
We want God to fit into this perfect mold of forgiveness and this perfect mold of a stern God (only when we want revenge) and this perfect mold of whatever the hell we want. But WE ARE NOT GOD! We cannot make Him be whatever we "need" at that brief moment in our lives.
Papa isn't always Gandalf, and He isn't always Elousia. Papa is who we need, not who we want.
Who do you make your "Papa" to be?
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