"Wake up, Lord! Why are you sleeping?" These lines in the Psalms, calling out the Lord for sleeping on the job, are some of the most startling, daring, and risky in Scripture. The poet cries out to rouse a drowsy God. My earliest research in the area of psychology of religion concerned attachment to God, how attachment-related dynamics describe our experiences of God. For example, attachment bonds can be haunted by anxieties rooted in fears about the attachment figure being available to us or abandoning us. When we worry about the availability of the attachment figure we might grow excessively clingy or needy. We might become jealous and never want them to leave our sight. We might grow angry when the attachment figure isn't as responsive or attentive as we'd like.
This was a very helpful writing for me. I am presently in a “Winter“ season and have desperately wanted to wake up the Lord after my leg amputation and mild ocular stroke. Yet I am also experiencing deep communion with Him, including a recognition of his Lordship and control. Thank you for this article in which I feel more permitted to combine my complaint with my communion.
Is a full text version of your 2007 “Winter“article available?
I’m also a little envious of the sweet communion that you describe, but I wouldn’t want to get it in the way that you did . . . but if I live long enough, I’m sure that I will, and I also pray to God that I do. If you start posting on your substack, I’ll subscribe to it.
I wonder if when Jacob wrestled with the man who wouldn't tell Jacob his name but who Jacob concluded must have been God . . . if Jacob was actually just wrestling with himself? I think that Jacob did wrestle with the so-called Angel of the LORD who cheated and put Jacob's hip out of joint when He couldn't prevail against Jacob . . . but then, I wasn't there. So, what do I know? Except that I do know this that I often confuse myself with God. Hell, doesn't everyone?
Your post just inspired this one in me, Dr. Beck . . . and I also just bought the artwork that I used in my post. It was kind of expensive for my budget, but I really love it. https://themjkxn.substack.com/p/god-cheats
This was a very helpful writing for me. I am presently in a “Winter“ season and have desperately wanted to wake up the Lord after my leg amputation and mild ocular stroke. Yet I am also experiencing deep communion with Him, including a recognition of his Lordship and control. Thank you for this article in which I feel more permitted to combine my complaint with my communion.
Is a full text version of your 2007 “Winter“article available?
Praying for you, Brother.
I’m also a little envious of the sweet communion that you describe, but I wouldn’t want to get it in the way that you did . . . but if I live long enough, I’m sure that I will, and I also pray to God that I do. If you start posting on your substack, I’ll subscribe to it.
Thank you…your piece gives helpful light on what I’m wrestling through right now…
I wonder if when Jacob wrestled with the man who wouldn't tell Jacob his name but who Jacob concluded must have been God . . . if Jacob was actually just wrestling with himself? I think that Jacob did wrestle with the so-called Angel of the LORD who cheated and put Jacob's hip out of joint when He couldn't prevail against Jacob . . . but then, I wasn't there. So, what do I know? Except that I do know this that I often confuse myself with God. Hell, doesn't everyone?
Your post just inspired this one in me, Dr. Beck . . . and I also just bought the artwork that I used in my post. It was kind of expensive for my budget, but I really love it. https://themjkxn.substack.com/p/god-cheats