You asked the question, “I wonder if we have the courage to examine our God for authenticity?” This is a difficult question for me as I have been raised (both in the church and in the culture) to portray my view of God in a socially acceptable way. What I mean is that I have been schooled into giving stock answers about who God is. I came into the church rather late in life, as a 23 year old. The congregation in which I first joined the journey as a Christian would not permit a young Christian to question the published version of God. I remember one of the elders telling me that men should get into commissioned sales because that was the way in which God could bless. I could cite numerous other examples. At first, I accepted this. I found myself toeing the party line, or at least not publicly questioning it.

I believe that I began to question my view of God about the time that Debbie and I got married. I continue to question my view and realize that God is God, regardless of how I regard Him. And I will not, in this life fully know all there is to know. But the blessing for me is that I am recognizing that God is God regardless of my circumstances. Now, onto the hard part for me…

I would like to turn your question on it’s head a little. Instead of asking, “I wonder if we have the courage to examine our God for authenticity?” I would like to ask;
“Do we have the courage to allow God to examine our authenticity?” I keep wondering if I will turst God to the point that I can recognize Him as Abraham did. Yes, God did promise Abraham a number of things. And in response, the book of Hebrews (11:13) states of Abraham, and others like him, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.”

When God examines my authenticity, will He note that I have no regard for receiving the things promised, but that I just live in a welcoming attitude toward life, people and circumstances because I recognize that I am an alien and stranger in this place? I want to recognize God in the grit and grime, in the noise and the bustle, in the hurt and the disappointment. I want to have confidence in his leading so that I can go when he says go even when I haven’t a clue about where it is we are going.

Join the journey, folks. Get out of your position of comfort and status and see what God is doing and where he is going on the edges and in the in-between places.