When God Takes Away Our Toys

"...but when I became a man, I put away childish things..."

Sometimes God takes away our toys. He knows when we have played with them long enough. He sees when we have relied upon them to entertain us too much. He knows when they are stunting our growth and keeping us from moving forward.

He's concerned when our toys have become too important to us and we've gotten into the habit of running to them for comfort--instead of running to the God of all comfort.

God starts cleaning out our nursery of broken, ugly, second-rate toys. He risks appearing unfair in order to lead us to maturity. He does Spring Cleaning and washes all the windows and lightbulbs, too, so that we will see the mess we've made. So that we'll see things as they have become.

And so that we will see Him better as He sits in the corner chair waiting for us to come to Him for loving kisses when Life turns harsh. For friendship when our friends find other friends and no longer want to play with us.

God opens the curtains and turns on the lights to show us the futility and limitations of our own ways.

Sometimes God chases after us with the fun-loving nature of a father. He wants to be our source of joy.

Other times, He waits for us to come chasing after Him. It is in the running after Him through hill and dale that we discover He is sweeter than all the pretty gifts He sets upon the nursery table.


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A special thanks to Jeff for bits of inspiration for this post...

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