God gives us what we want

Ultimately, in the final reckoning, we will realize that God gives every person what he wants.

That which you seek after, you will receive.

God will not coerce, force, or twist your arm.  He will give you your head, and let you go the way you are pulling or pushing to go.

Over the course of your life, our merciful Father will give and give and give, because He is the Giver.  One of our friends in Illinois told us one day, with a beautiful smile on his face, "God is a giver, not a taker.  When I finally figured that out, it changed everything."  He was absolutely right.  God gives.  God does not take.  And this changes everything.

God gives life.  He provides air, water and sunshine.  He provides bees to pollinate, fruit to eat, and fire to cook with.  He gives us family, friends, stories and ideas.  He gives us a sky full of stars at night, and imaginations to ponder what they mean.  He gives us the ability to ask questions, to solve problems, and to hope for happy endings.  He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not die, but have everlasting life.  Sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, and sometimes miraculously, God gives us everything.

And in the end, God will give us what we want.

If we want to be released from any relationship with Him, set loose to find our own way without Him, He will even give us that.

Throughout our lives, God works to give us the opportunity to choose Him.  He bestows blessings on all people.  He also allows evil to be shown for what it is: a crippling, wasting disease of the spiritual heart.  The deceiver, Satan, now he's a sly one.  When God allows evil to run its course so we will see it for what it is, and want no part of it, Satan whispers to us that this is God's fault, that everything would be so nice, if only God would stay out of it.  This is the dirtiest, rottenest lie there ever has been.  The only reason evil has not completely swallowed us, once and for all, is because God Himself holds it back.

All the beauty and blessings of life, whether you believe in God or not, all that is good comes from Him.  He is a giver.  He gives life, new babies, puppies, goldfinches, mackerels, mountains, sunsets, oceans and rolling prairies.  All the bad things--disease, war, accidents, mildew, decay--come from Satan who is out to destroy God's beautiful creation. Satan wants to destroy us, so he lies to us relentlessly, saying things that are the absolute opposite of the truth:  God doesn't love you.  God wants to spoil your chances at happiness.  God wants to suck all your joy out of you.  All the things he, himself, Satan is trying to do to us, he blames on God.  But people believe him.

In the end, if you have believed Satan, and you think that God is not to be desired above all things, that there are other, better things to be had, and you don't want to throw your lot in with God and miss out, He will quietly let you go.  He will give you the last thing He can give you: the ability to turn your back on Him.

Just know this: if you turn your back on the source of life, you are choosing death.  When you run away from paradise, you are choosing hell.  This is not because God wants to punish and exclude you.  It is because in truth, in reality, God is the source and essence of all that is good, and if you reject Him, you are rejecting everything that goes with Him.  When the final day comes, and God sorts everything out, removing the badness, the corruption, the stain of sin, He will remove it completely.  Nothing corrupt will enter or exist in the New Creation that God is preparing for His children.  Those who refuse to let Him disentangle them from their corruption will be cast away with their corruption.  This gives God no pleasure, so even at the very last moment, He is willing to help.  When one of the thieves crucified next to Christ realized who Jesus was and asked for mercy, Jesus told him, as they both writhed in the pain of death, "Today you shall be with me in paradise."

God does not coerce or force.  God reveals truth to all who are open to receive it, but He does not cram truth down the throats of the rebellious.  God does not coerce or force.

God will give you your way.  God will give you what you want.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today,

that I have set before you:

life and death,

blessing and curse.

therefore choose life,

that you and your offspring may live.

Deuteronomy 30:19