On July 22nd we already touched on this topic in our reflections, but we wanted to deepen this very important point once again.
It is part of a spiritually ordered life to meet the Lord and all that he has created in his love in the right way, or we could also say to give the appropriate answer. This is very important to God himself, as we can see from the following lines:
“If you love me with the trusting love of a child, then you also grant obedience and respect to my Church and my representatives. And it will not be that kind of respect which you feel now, and which distances you from me because I frighten you; that false kind of respect which you now have for me is an injustice to justice, a wound on the most sensitive part of my heart, a forgetfulness, a contempt for my fatherly love for you”.
True authority, as exercised by God, is not a form of rule based on fear. It is based on truth and love. Everything God does comes from that foundation.
The right attitude towards such true authority is openness and trust. From this then comes the right obedience. A reflection of this can be discovered in the undisturbed relationship of a child with the Father, if the Father exercises the authority entrusted to him by God in the right way. Everything else are deviations and distortions that do not fully reflect or even can pervert the wise order in which God wants to guide His children.
Even if, unfortunately, such deviations happen often enough with us human beings, they can be ordered again in our relationship with God. The condition for this is that we get to know God as he really is.
In today’s text our heavenly Father gives us an insight into his heart. He speaks of the fact that false fear of him and a false respect touches the most sensitive part of his heart.
Why is this so?
It is because of the love of God, which is always God’s motivation. Yes even more! Sacred Scripture testifies: “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.”(1Jn 4,16) Love always wants the best for the other. If in our human weakness and capacity for error – despite good intentions – we are not always able to recognize what is really best for the other, this is not the case with God. That is why there can be a fundamental and unrestricted openness towards God, because with God we are not only sure of love, but also that there are no errors.
So, from God’s side, everything is given so that man accepts his love and lives in it. The Father’s heart, which is open to us, knows no shadow.
The anxiety and the false however, objectively denies and rejects this love. The false fear gives the impression that one must protect oneself, that there is danger, etc. But this is an injustice towards God and a very distorted image. It wounds God – as he himself testifies – in his love for us. This is why God speaks of atrusting love of a child. This reflects the true relationship with God.
In the following lines of the Book of the Father, which I quote again, God shows us how this false fear and the false respect is misused.
“What still grieves me about my people Israel and today’s humanity is the misunderstood respect for me. The enemy of man has used it to drive people to idolatry and to divide the Church. And he still uses this wrong respect and will use it again and again against you to remove you from the truth, from my church and from me. Oh, do not let yourselves be seduced by the enemy any longer, believe in the truth, which reveals itself to you and changes you in the light of this truth.”
If we still feel anxiety of God in ourselves or traces of mistrust, and for this reason God cannot yet give us a complete gift, then we should express these feelings in trust before God in a prayer. Then it is advisable to ask the Holy Spirit to touch this distrust or false respect so that this dark area can be touched by God’s light. It is so important to find true trust in God so that on the one hand we do not hurt his love and on the other hand we wake up to a life in his safety.
Harpa Dei accompanies the daily scriptural interpretation or spiritual teaching of Br. Elija, their spiritual father. These meditations can be heard on the following website www.en.elijamission.net
