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At times we might feel somewhat like Patch. Possibly, we, too, will dare confront God in loving faith, as we try to make sense of our lives. We can do this, assured God participates in our hurt, for God is one with all things.
Jesus invites us to a bold entrance into the Presence of Grace. There, we can find grace.
14That is why we have a great High Priest who has gone to heaven, Jesus the Son of God. Let us cling to him and never stop trusting him. 15This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin. 16So let us come [Greek, Proserchomai, draw near] boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.
*Hebrews 4.14-16 (NLT)
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Ironically, Patch, in his despair faithfully laments to God, the same way the Psalmists prayed and sang laments. His contending against God, much like Job, expresses love for God. His doubting God was made possible from faith in God. If he did not love and trust God, he would have never gone to that cliff and challenged God. God, in a simple gift of nature, answered the prayer of Patch. God had no problem with Patch confronting God.
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Faith allows us to see a thread of hope woven throughout each life experience. We can live with hope, for we know there is reciprocity to our faithfulness. And, like Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and Patch on the edge of the cliff, we are assured that our disappointments can lead us to an honesty that expresses deep love for God and longing to trust that all will be well, even when all may seem not well.
We can, out of deep affection, through a love smothered with hurt, faithfully lament, argue with, and blame God. We will find, then, God loves us so much that God would never want us to be other than fully honest about all we think and feel in regard to the experiences of our lives in union with Grace.
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