I am a coaster junkie. I could ride a good coaster back to back innumerable times, without feeling the least bit sick. I love that feeling in the pit of my stomach. You know the one, the almost feeling like you’re going to hurl, and your butt lifts off the seat of the coaster, the only thing holding you in is a thin bar of metal and maybe a seat belt. Love it! However I am not one that enjoys emotional roller coasters. I’ll stick to Goliath, thank you very much!
That being said, I have often thought that being a true Christ Follower is the very definition of an emotional roller coaster ride. Sometimes I am so open to what He has say to me and other times my own voice and the voices of others drowns Him out. I can feel the emotional high of just total oneness with God and then I can wander so far away, I feel like the Israelites lost in the desert.
When I start to feel like that, I find comfort in the Psalms. To hear David, a man after God’s own heart, wonder “How long, O Lord, …will you turn your face from me forever?” gives me great reassurance. It is not my faithfulness that saves me from myself; it is His. Think about it, King David, a Biblical super hero, and he felt abandoned and alone at times.
Don’t hear me say that God has ever left me or David or you. He never does. But given our freewill, we tend to be the rebellious teenager. “I know more than Him, He just doesn’t want me to have fun.” Man I thought those same things about my mom when I was in high school, and find myself acting like that as a grown woman to the One who created me! If that doesn’t sound like pride and disrespect, I don’t know what does.
If we’re not careful, this can become an opportunity for the evil one to plant fear and doubt in our hearts. Satan wants us to hold on to the times that we wander and assume the guilt and punishment due us. But Jesus does not want that for us. He wants us to feel and be truly free! When we find ourselves slipping away, like we’re on the descent of a huge hill on Goliath (which I haven’t ridden yet) we have to get some momentum. Wallowing in our pity will get us nowhere, we have to channel that low into a high. Tap into the One who can sustain you and start up the hill again.
How can we do that? Talk to Him. Maybe you are talking to Him, but if there is sin in your life it separates you from God. Now don’t get all excited and start saying Hail Marys or enter a confessional booth at your local Catholic church. Confess your sins, yes ; but to God not a man. You don’t have to make it up to Him for Him to listen. Just go before Him.
The way to avoid the roller coaster ride of a Christ Follower is to talk to Him daily. Save the thrill seeking for your next trip to Six Flags.
