My son, Chris, and I taking a walk at the Pecos Benedictine Abbey (2003)
The question in the title may make you uncomfortable, but whenver we feel impatient with God, we’re basically saying He doesn’t move fast enough for our taste.
Kosuke Koyama (1929-2009) was a Japanese theologian who “defended a theology that he considered to be accessible to the peasantry in developing nations, rather than an overly academic systematic theology (Wikipedia).” Listen to what he says about the feeling of needing to help God out because of how slow He’s moving:
“The reign of God begins with God’s initiative. God carries us. We do not carry God. No matter how resourceful we are, we are not to ‘carry God’. Genuine resourcefulness comes from the experience of ‘being carried by God’ instead of ‘carrying God’. This, however, is against our liking. We still want to identify resourcefulness with ‘carrying God’. ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’ says Jesus (Matt. 16.24). We are so ‘resourceful’. We do not want to follow him. Jesus is too slow! We want to run before him. In evangelism? Yes. The way of Jesus is too slow, inefficient and painful. Jesus’ resourcefulness is love. Ours is money. We adjust Matthew 16.24 to the high-powered methodology of Madison Avenue. We feel obliged to carry Jesus. He is not as resourceful as we would like. He is not as spectacular as we had hoped. He is not as exciting as we expected. We have to carry him!” (Koyama, Kosuke. Three Mile an Hour God. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1979, p. 35.)
What do you think Koyama means to be the difference between God carrying us and us trying to carry God? What do you think about the experience of Jesus sometimes moving slower than we prefer?
Buy a copy of Three Mile an Hour God: Biblical Reflections
[...] Kosuke Koyama’s book Three Mile An Hour God. I’ve posted other insights from him here in “Unhurried: Is Jesus Too Slow?” and “Living Life at the Pace of Love.” I think you’ll appreciate what he has to say here [...]