Nine Things God Will Never Say to You

Back when I was a pastor in a church, I remember a lady rocking up one Sunday and boldly announcing to me, “God told me that I should make this church my church home.”

And she did.

For a few weeks.

And then she stopped attending, presumably in favor of some other church or none at all. I wonder…. did God change his mind? Or could it be that this woman mistook her own thoughts for God’s thoughts?

My vote is for the latter.

Hearing the voice of God

During the three and a half decades I was part of the evangelical church, I have heard people make some pretty wild claims about what God had supposedly said to them.

There was the guy who believed that God had told him that he would preach to the nations one day. Now, he’s sitting around doing nothing with his life, waiting for the nations to invite him to come and speak to them — like that’s ever gonna happen.

Then there was the lady who prophesied over me that I would serve the Lord in life-long vocational ministry and lead many to ‘saving faith’ in Jesus… whatever that means. Now, I’m in middle management at a logistics company.

And then there was the pastor who told me that God was done with me and I was nothing more than a washed-up old has-been. He was wrong as well. Hella wrong! My laptop has become my pulpit, and the world is my cathedral.

You have to wonder, though… what makes a pastor believe that he is speaking on behalf of God when he tells a guy, “God is done with you?”

I mean… can you imagine God ever saying that to anyone EVER?

Everything I know and believe about God tells me that God is never “done” with someone. In fact, now that I think about it, there is a whole list of things that I think God would never say. If you hear an inner voice say one of these things to you, it ain’t God! If you hear someone else say any of these things to you, claiming to represent God, please don’t believe them.

Here are nine things that God will never say to you.

“You’re not good enough.”

You do not have to be “good enough” for God. In fact, you do not have to be anything in particular for God. He didn’t create you to keep you at arm’s length until you have achieved something or proven yourself. No, he loves you because you are his child. And that’s enough.

“I don’t have time for you.”

God has all the time in the universe. It is we who don’t have the time for God. And it’s in the pause that we often find him. When we stop for just a darn second and breathe, he is there waiting for us. There is a perpetual cosmic invitation that says to us, “Come, sit with me a while.”

“I don’t care about your problems.”

Let me ask you: Do you care about your children’s problems? Unless you are some kind of sociopath, the answer is bleeding obvious. Of course, you do! And would you be sad if your children felt they couldn’t speak with you about their problems? Again, yes! It is in the nature of people to care about the problems of those they care about. It is deeply engrained into the human psyche. It’s almost as if we are made in the image of God.

“You’re too far gone.”

No matter how far we may have strayed from God, He is always ready to welcome us back with open arms. We can never be too lost! Think about the father in the story of the Prodigal Son. He cares little for what we have done, says less about the mess we have made of our lives, and welcomes us with open arms. Then he parties recklessly.

“I’m disappointed in you.”

I am not a perfect Father, but when I look at my own children, I do not see them as depraved and wicked. I actually delight in them. Even when they disappoint me, my negative emotions towards them are brief and momentary, and quickly surrender to the delight that I experience simply because they are my children and I love them.

“You’re not worth it.”

The most enduring and prolific metaphor used to describe God in the Bible is the image of him as a loving Father. Becoming a father, myself, has given me a window into the world of the divine. I realize — if only a little bit — what it must be like to be God. The overwhelming conclusion that I arrive at is that the sacrifices I make for my children are worth it. If the love that I have for my children is just a poor reflection of God’s perfect love, then, by God, we are in good hands.

“I want you to suffer so you can learn a lesson.”

Can you imagine wanting your children to suffer just so that can learn a lesson? You might desire some kind of redemptive purpose in their suffering when it inevitably comes, but you don’t wish for suffering. Neither does God. In fact, when you walk through the dark valley, God’s prevailing emotion toward you is overwhelming compassion. His response to suffering was to come down in human skin and discover for himself what it is like to suffer as a human — just so he could relate to you and me.

“Your doubts and questions are annoying.”

God is spacious and gracious enough to accommodate all of your doubts and questions. In fact, he invites them. One of my favorite parts of the Bible is where God invites the prophet Isaiah to have a conversation using the phrase: “Come now, let us reason together.” In other words, “Let’s chat. Let’s talk things through.” And if God invites us to reason with him, that makes him profoundly reasonable.

“I don’t love you.”

Not only will you never hear God say this to you, but by his very nature, God is incapable of feeling this way about you or anyone else. Think about it…. If God is love — and that is the prevailing descriptor applied to God in Scripture — he must be true to himself.

He loves you. Always has. Always will.

. . .

The Last Word

As I read back over this list, I thought to myself… “You know, Dan, this list is not all that profound. Some might even consider it a bit cheesy or corny.”

I don’t care! I’m going to hit the publish button anyway!

Someone out there needs to hear these things today!

You are enough for God
He has all the time in the world for you
He cares for you more than you’ll ever understand
You’re never “too far gone”
And he is not disappointed in you
You are never alone
You are absolutely worth it to Him
He walks with you in your suffering
He is big enough to hold your doubts
And He loves you, no matter what.