The Gentleness of God
A MESSAGE FROM MONICA:
We met once a month at her house and we’d always sit on the couch that that overlooked her garden and all the beautiful flowers. Her pup would sit between us on the cushions and sleep for the hour and a half we’d talk. I soaked up every single word she said in my Japanese-designed journal, furiously scribbling her every word with my mechanical pencil. Always a mechanical pencil.
Her wisdom ran deep and her gift of insight and prophecy were direct from God. She’d talk and I’d write and then often she’d pause to make a seemingly unrelated comment or ask a pointed question. It most often made tears spring from my eyes and it was as if God Himself were the one speaking. Always as if it were God.
One spring day, as the roses were blooming pink over my shoulder in the garden, I sipped iced tea and poured out my heart over a troubling issue I was facing. My heart was heavy and my mind in discord and she had been espousing all manner of wisdom and scripture related to the issue.
I sat with my head down, tears falling onto my flower-print cocktail napkin and she paused — one of those God-Speaking pauses — and she asked (in more of a statement than a question),
He’s always gentle with you, isn’t He?
I couldn’t identify why my heart felt pierced and my throat suddenly constricted; projectile tears sprang forth as nodded and whispered, “Yes.”
Tears pooled in her eyes as she nodded and said, “He is with me, too.”
She didn’t say any more — just let me sit in silence, being still in the combined presence of holy and earthly love — the weightiness of her comment sitting on my shoulders. Suddenly in my mind flashed a rapid-fire picture movie, images one after the other of times in my life that God was gentle with me. Always gentle.
I had never noticed it before; never considered that My God was gentle — least of all with me, such a terrible sinner — but in just minutes, my mindset shifted entirely toward my relationship with God.
He was always gentle with me.
God — who has every right, power and authority to punish or withhold love because of my sin — always chose gentleness for the higher good of teaching me Who He Is more than What He Does.
God — mightier than any man — brings His strength under control so that I might see Gentleness In Action.
God — Abba Father — displays a heart of gentleness to teach me what True Love looks like; that it’s not a firm hand of discipline and harshness, but of compassion, kind words and agape love.
He was always gentle with me.
I’m fairly certain I’m not the only one He’s gentle with. In fact, if every one of us were to sit in my living room, pillows abounding with iced tea and sleeping pups, I think we could all share times of extreme gentleness of our Father. Times when He blew us away with the tender way He held us — almost like we were the delicate flower in His might palms.
He is always gentle with us. Isn’t He? Always gentle.
Can you think of a time God showed undeserving gentleness with you? How did that change your perspective of Who He Is? Has it made you become more gentle with others? Share by leaving a comment below.