It might just hurt...

Of all possessions a friend is the most precious. (Herodotus)

God-friendship is for God-worshipers; They are the ones he confides in. (Psalm 25:14)

Friendship with God is desirable - in fact, it is the best 'friendship' we can find in life. We all know the value of a good friend - someone we can confide in, sharing both our doubts and hopes openly. It is a different type of relationship we have with God, though. We share our most intimate confidences with him - at least that is what we believe we are doing. Have you ever wanted to talk with him about something that was just eating at you, but you were 'afraid' he might react to whatever you want to tell him in a way you might not like? It isn't that you don't trust him, it is that you don't trust yourself to respond to his wisdom in the way that he expects.

God isn't going to ask us to do something that will hurt us. If we are honest, we are afraid what he asks will cause us some degree of 'pain', so we don't discuss the subject at hand. We mask over it as though it weren't there. I haven't found that to work very well in my own relationship with him. In fact, whenever I try to mask over something we need to be talking about, he keeps bringing me back around to that very subject! It is like I cannot escape it until it out in the open with him. He didn't want me to feel 'pain' by bringing that thing out into the open with him - he wanted me to feel his 'peace' and 'grace' to deal with it - openly and honestly.

Yes, it may hurt to be that open with God - but we may just need to let ourselves get a little 'hurt' if we are to experience the health we need. No surgeon promises we won't experience some pain - they tell us they will do their best to control it. God asks us to open up to him, but he never promises us he won't 'meddle in our business' just a bit when we do. If we are honest here, we don't like God to 'meddle' sometimes. We want all the 'perks' of this relationship with him without him getting into those areas we don't want 'meddled with'. God isn't 'meddling' - he is asking us to no longer fear his presence in those areas.

We may not understand this desire for transparency with him because every time we have tried to be transparent with others on this earth, we have found ourselves hurt. If we 'judge' God's response to the things we need share with him by what we experienced in our earthly relationships, we will likely never open up fully. It may cause us a bit of angst at first - being this honest with him - but if we are consistent in maintaining openness with him, his grace will guide us into some pretty awesome depth of relationship 'in' and 'with' him. Just sayin!