What do you think Peterson meant by ‘neurotic dependency’?
“Maybe whiny insecurity, coming to God as our therapist (??)”
Offer a scenario depicting a way this could happen:
“An idea, plan, event, etc. that really feels like God’s will fizzles, gets canceled, causes controversy, etc.”
God‘s goal is not children scared into silence, but those who trust their parent, even with questions unanswered.
God is not insecure about His masculinity.
Please look up each of the following verses and note specific ways God parents:
Deuteronomy 1: 31 “He carries His children.”
Deuteronomy 32:18 “He fathers and gives birth to His children.”
Isaiah 46:3-4 “He upholds, sustains, carries, and rescues.”
Isaiah 49:15 “He loves and remembers like a mother [does with] her baby and beyond.” Isaiah 66:13 “He comforts His children like a mother.”
Which segment speaks most personally to you? Why?
“Isaiah 49:15 – the women on both sides of my family, have strong, long-living bodies, which outlast their minds. I dread the day when my mom has no idea who I am, but I know God will never forget me.”
Dearest Rachel –
It’s a little surprising to, every so often, come across a day’s study like this one with so little in terms of questions and answers. Especially in this day and age, when the question of staying as calm as a child in its mother’s arms seems increasingly more difficult. And the one line you underlined about God’s identified masculinity looks that much more curious, now that everybody is obsessed with pronouns these days; how do we see Him as a ‘mother,’ when He Himself makes it abundantly clear He is male (despite the theorization by so many modern theologians)?
Of course, being the All-in-All, the Omnipotent, and the Omnibenevolent, He should easily be able to embody the best of what any of us have to offer. He made both man and woman in His image, and gave all of us characteristics of Himself, so it shouldn’t surprise us that some of these characteristics that we associate with one gender or the other are part and parcel of His personality. Indeed, they were His before they belonged to any of us, regardless of gender. That doesn’t mean it’s not a little difficult to wrap our heads around, but that’s on us, not Him.
Meanwhile, I remember your concerns about the endurance of your family members – and, more to the point, how their minds would go long before their bodies did. I can’t imagine what it was like to watch your Mom slowly forget even who you were – and at this point, that hadn’t happened yet, it was a mere theoretical (despite the fact that everyone knew it was coming) – the fact that my folks still have it together means that I still haven’t experienced that moment as directly as you did. At least, even as you contemplated staring into that abyss, you could take comfort in the knowledge that our Heavenly Father wouldn’t forget you.
To be sure, I always thought that the real fear behind watching your mom decay was seeing your own future before you. I was never quite sure if your brain exercises, like sudoku and other types of puzzles, were done out of actual enjoyment or in part an attempt to stave off the fate you seemed to be destined for, judging from what happened to your grandmothers and, eventually, your own mother. Maybe that sounds selfish, but it certainly would have been going through my mind as I saw it happen – and it’s not as if I have any genetic relations (that I know of) to compare against. Of course, that’s all moot at this point, now; you avoided dealing with the trials of old age by not getting to it in the first place.
At least, in His direct presence, you’re probably much calmer than those of us down here, who can’t sense Him as well as all that, blinded as we are by the cares of this world, among other things. Perhaps, along with keeping an eye on us and wishing us luck – which we still need, don’t get me wrong – we should ask for some means to sense Him better, and thereby arrive at that same level of calm that we ought to have, given that He is, after all, in control, despite what our own minds tell us.
Letters to Rachel 