2026 01 11 "Loving the Unboxible God" -Dan Miller

The congregation is invited into a sober, honest reflection on a God who refuses to be domesticated. Rather than promising easy answers or comfortable control, the teaching insists that God breaks human boxes—upending expectations, reshaping routines, and asking for wholehearted response. Scripture is read in its covenantal context: God initiates the rescue at the Exodus and then establishes commandments as an expression of covenant. That initiative means relationship begins with divine action, and human response is properly called to love rather than to master or fully understand.

Using plain stories—an emotionally dry season, a prayer life undone by fatigue, a disciplined organizer whose devotions no longer fit—the preacher shows how God’s sovereignty sometimes dismantles spiritual practices that once worked. This is not evidence of divine absence or incompetence but of a living God who will not be reduced to convenience. Hebrew nuances are brought forward to deepen the point: words for heart, soul, and strength carry richer meaning than modern categories, so loving God with “all” involves thought, emotion, embodied life, breath, and the fullness of one’s gifting.

The call is demanding and hopeful: love God with the totality of who one is, including “muchness” or the capacity and resources God has placed within a person. That muchness is not vanity to hide but a stewardship to bring into covenantal love. Listeners are urged to rethink spiritual metrics—discipline alone is not the measure; responsiveness to a God who initiates and disrupts is. The final invitation is to continue learning, to accept the unsettling freedom of a God who is good but not tame, and to practice a faith that gives mind, heart, body, and strength to the Maker who calls first and loves lastingly.

Key Takeaways

• 1. God is not a tame deity The divine does not fit human containment; goodness does not equal predictability. Expectation of neat control distorts devotion and encourages idols made in human likeness. Recognizing God’s wild goodness frees honest lament, recalibrates trust, and opens the soul to surprise rather than comfortable certainty. [28:47]
• 2. God initiates covenantal relationship Relationship with the Creator begins with divine action, not human merit or initiative. Covenant frames commandment as invitation born from rescue, so obedience is response, not purchase. This shifts faith from performance to grateful accountability rooted in being chosen. [38:01]
• 3. Love God with whole self Hebrew categories bind intellect, will, and emotion together—loving God is not merely feeling or thinking but oriented decision and embodied breath. Devotion leaks into daily choices, moral responsibility, and patterns of living; spirituality cannot be privatized. Cultivating integrated love refashions inner life and outer behavior alike. [42:11]
• 4. Sovereignty reshapes faithful routines God’s sovereignty sometimes disrupts practices that once sustained devotion; such disruption is part of growth, not proof of abandonment. When prayer life, disciplines, or ministries falter, the faithful task is to discern God’s new shaping rather than simply redouble effort. Openness to reformation permits gifts and “muchness” to be reoriented toward God’s current work. [35:24]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [24:25] - Opening remarks and apology
• [26:01] - Understanding vs. loving God
• [28:06] - Aslan and the untameable God
• [29:49] - Moses: free will and divine insistence
• [32:15] - Three life stories: Tom, Sally, Dave
• [35:24] - When God reshapes routines
• [38:01] - Exodus and covenantal initiation
• [42:11] - Heart, soul, and Hebrew nuance
• [48:20] - Loving God with "muchness"
• [51:00] - Invitation to continue learning

1. According to Deuteronomy 6:4-5, what are the three specific areas of our being that we are commanded to use in loving God?
2. Looking at the context of the commandments in Deuteronomy 5:6, what did God do for the people before He established the covenant and gave them the commandments? [38:01]
3. When God called Moses in Exodus 3, how did Moses respond to God’s initiative, and how did God react to Moses' resistance? [30:36]
4. Based on the Hebrew language, what are the broader meanings of the words for "heart," "soul," and "strength"? [42:11], [44:31], [48:20]

1. We are often tempted to create God in our own image so that He agrees with us and fits our expectations [27:06]. How does the truth that God is "not a tame lion" challenge our desire to have a predictable or "domesticated" God? [28:47]
2. The Hebrew understanding of "heart" (*lebab*) includes the center of emotion, will, and thinking all together [42:45]. How does this integrated view change the way we think about "loving God" compared to just having a feeling or an intellectual belief?
3. If God is the one who always takes the initiative in a relationship [39:01], what does that tell us about the purpose of the commandments? Are they a way to earn God's favor or a response to being rescued? [38:18]
4. Sometimes God’s sovereignty disrupts the spiritual routines that used to work for us, such as our prayer life or devotional habits [35:24]. Why might a "living God" allow these practices to fail or feel dry rather than just making us more disciplined? [35:54]

1. Have you ever felt like you were in a "spiritual desert" where the things that used to connect you to God—like certain prayers or church activities—just didn't seem to work anymore? [33:01] How did you handle that frustration, and did you try to "redouble your efforts" or look for how God might be reshaping you?
2. We are not commanded to understand God, but to love Him [26:01]. In what areas of your life right now are you struggling to "understand" what God is doing? How can you practice loving Him even while those questions remain unanswered?
3. Loving God with your "muchness" (*me’od*) means bringing your unique gifts, resources, and your "very-ness" to Him [48:38]. What is a specific strength or capacity God has given you that you might be hesitant to use, and how can you offer that "muchness" back to Him this week? [49:34]
4. Moses tried to resist God’s call by pointing out his own weaknesses and asking God to send someone else [30:36]. Is there a "box" you’ve put God in regarding what He can do through you? How might He be "breaking that box" or pushing you past your comfort zone right now? [29:10]
5. If loving God is something that "leaks out" into our daily choices and how we treat people [43:57], what is one interaction or responsibility you have this week where you can intentionally let your love for God show through?
6. For those who feel "dead tired" or overwhelmed by life's demands, like work or family [34:47], how can you shift from the pressure of "trying harder" to simply being responsive to God’s presence in the middle of your current circumstances? [35:24]