A Divine Appointment

I am currently re-reading the Shack. Have been fascinated at the buzz this book has created. Young has stirred-up something significant even if he has made many uncomfortable, even mad. I am re-reading because of a men's group that I am, who wanted to read and discuss. This read I am moving through the book with a little different view. I came across something last week that jumped off the page.

Papa has invited Mack back to the shack. While pondering, if God would send a message and even if he had why would he want Mac to return to the shack. Mack ask this question. "And why the shack- the icon of his deepest pain?" I would argue that if you get nothing from this book this is a question worthy of thought.

Young tackles many big ideas in this book. But none more important than this idea of God meeting us at the deepest place of our pain. If I ask you today, " what is the deepest wound of your heart?" What comes to mind? Is there something that comes quickly but you push it back and search for something a little more comfortable. Something that maybe does not hurt quite as bad. Maybe you know exactly what the deepest pain is and that thought brings strong emotion and the idea that the pain and heart ache you feel will never go away.

Why would God want to meet us at that place? Why would a loving God want us to revisit that pain and heartache? Maybe you have even thought. "How could a good God have ever allowed that to happen to me?" Where was he when this happened and why did he not step in and do something, anything? All of these are fair and good questions.

On the other side maybe you have chosen to believe, bad things happen to good people every day and that is just how it is. I just need to have faith and get over it. Be strong, don't question and just move on. No need to dwell on the past it does no good. I will somehow just pretend this never really happened and move on. I guess at some level I understand this attitude as well. It is basic survival. A kind of pain avoidance.

But what if God wanted each of us to revisit our own personal "shack". The icon of our deepest pain. Not live there, not go there and stay forever, but go there so we could find healing and wholeness. 

I believe it is at the place of our deepest wound, that we can find God. It is at this place we can discover once and for all that God is real. We can discover at this place of helplessness and vulnerability that God is in fact good. I think if you strip everything away that really is the question we and the world are asking. "Is God good?" "Can God be trusted?"

The place of our deepest wound would suggest that he is not good, that he can not be trusted. That he will not show up when you need him the most and will only disappoint. I get why people would believe this. But I know if you are brave enough to visit you own personal shack and when God shows up and he will, something changes in your life. The reality of the one true living God starts to heal. You discover that he can be trusted, that he is faithful. You are given new eyes and a new heart. 

So do you have a divine appointment? If so, be brave, walk into the pain believing God will meet you there. It will be risky, hard and painful. How is that for encouragement? Is is worth the risk. And much better than the alternative. 

If you have visited you own personal shack, tell others about it. People need hope, they need to know the reality of a living and loving God. At some level this book Young has written has given people hope. You story will do the same. Share it!

Peace, todd