Customizing God

``See, they had created an idol because they wanted to approach God, get close to God their own way. And when they realized that they could lose God altogether because they were trying to customize approach him, worship him their way, they changed their behavior and decided to worship God however God would allow. Even if that meant they had to stand at the doors of their own tent at a distance, they were going to worship God because they knew how desperately they needed him. [00:51:23] (32 seconds)  #WorshipGodHisWay

Something that rests in the boundaries that we provide for it. Something that exists for our comfort and pleasure and ease. And it's something that feels safer to us, that's that's predictable that we can drain and fence in or shut down if it becomes too much. But reverence is understanding that you don't get a choice. You can't domesticate God. You can't break him in or tame him or restrain him or or contain him. Reverence is learning to stop demanding God be what we want and instead worship who he is. [00:56:37] (39 seconds)  #ReverenceNotControl

And the people of Israel, they were still calling this God Yahweh. They're still calling what they were doing worship. They were still offering sacrifices and building altars, but they hadn't adjusted or customized God. That's impossible to do. They had substituted God's presence with something completely different. They thought maybe they had made some tweaks, but what they were left with wasn't God at all. [00:47:19] (32 seconds)  #NamingIsntPresence

And we do the same thing. I mean, we might not be building calves out of gold, but we're certainly all trying to customize God, changing the parts that we're uncomfortable with or we don't like, and editing what God has to say about things like our political preferences, selective forgiveness, sexual ethics, financial priorities, educational values, parenting goals, marriage commitment, substance use, gender identity, time commitments, judging other people. We want a God that blesses but who doesn't interfere. We want a God that acts on our timeline and commands that things that fit with our desires and our point of view. We we want a God that never challenges our relationships, our behaviors, our politics, our comforts. [00:41:18] (54 seconds)  #GodIsNotAMirror

God saves them by splitting the Red Sea in half, and the people of Israel cross over on dry ground. And then as the Egyptian army chases after them, God collapses the sea, defeating the unstoppable, undefeatable Egyptian army and saving his people. The people respond by singing songs of of gratitude and praise to God, and then God guides them through the wilderness. As he's guiding them, he leads them personally in a giant pillar of fire, a giant fireball at night, and then during the day he leads them in a cloud that stretches from the sky all the way down to the ground. [00:33:44] (37 seconds)  #LedByLivingPresence

One of the greatest dangers you'll ever face in life is is thinking that God has become fully comfortable or that he's comprehensible. You understand him because when he does become fathomable, comprehensible, comfortable, he's not God. He's a golden calf. [00:58:00] (26 seconds)  #GodTranscendsComfort

Tragedy of Exodus 32 is not that the people of Israel worship the wrong God. It's that they worship the right God in the wrong way. Stop trying to customize God to your worship and start customizing your worship to God. [00:58:25] (23 seconds)  #WorshipGodNotYourWay

God sends them toward the promised land, but there's a change. He won't go with them. Not like he had before. That's the cost of compromise of a customized God, is that God no longer is with you when you worship something that's not him. [00:43:57] (23 seconds)  #CompromiseCostsPresence