Beyond Formulas

Beyond Formulas

My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty.

Psalm 131:1

IN WORD Religion is an attempt to figure out God. It’s natural for us; we want a set of rules and rituals that will get us into His good graces. Even when we’ve been trained in the principle of salvation by grace through faith, we easily revert to practices that we can follow rather than the Person we need to know. We love formulas.

But God is not a formula God. Proud hearts can’t figure Him out and haughty eyes can’t see Him. Ambitious spiritual entrepreneurs will never get a handle on Him. The spiritual gymnastics we attempt just to get Him to answer our prayers—every time—and to bless our careers—every time—and to smooth over all our relationships—every time—will never result in what we hope for. We forget that God operates on a basis of our need and His mercy. Methods will always fall short. Desperate cries to a merciful God will always reach Him.

The way to get to know our God is not through intellectual inquiry or self-righteous behavior, but through humility and a still, quiet soul. That has always been the case. The gentle God of grace asks us to acknowledge reality—the true condition of our diseased hearts—so He can act in a way that we will recognize. Mercy travels incognito in the presence of pride, which thinks grace is well deserved; but when humility sees the benevolence of God, it sees clearly.

IN DEED You may have noticed a tendency to approach God through principles and formulas rather than through humble hope. It isn’t an arrogant pride, just a misperception. Like all of us, you don’t mean to presume upon His presence. You simply forgot: God cannot be figured out, only needed.

Ascend to God on that humble basis, and He’ll never disappoint you. He may delay His help and tolerate your pain for a while, but only for a reason. He will never let you down. How could He? He has promised that everyone who is humble will be lifted up. It’s the only direction for a humble heart to go.

The door of God is humility.

—JOHN THE SHORT