My Siri God

I caught myself doing something in prayer tonight.

I’m pretty sure that I didn’t mean for it to come out the way it did, so thanks for that whole knowing the heart’s intents, God. But after it came out, I realized that it was certainly not an isolated incident.

Sometimes, when I’m talking to God casually (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, mind you), I’ll find myself making remarks something along the lines of, “Please help me remember to…..”. I don’t know why, but this struck me as amusing tonight.

For those of you who are the owners of the iPhone 4s, or are in anyway familiar with this product, you know about something called Siri. You’ve probably seen commercials or heard it mentioned among friends. Personally, I’m too cool to own an iPhone and I rock an Android with a super-classy slide out keyboard (holla!), but I really wish that I was able to download a form of Siri for my phone. It just amazes me and I want it.

Siri is convenient. She is all-knowing and matchless in all of her ways. She will take your obscure request for an egg fu yung dinner and suggest that there are 47 Chinese restaurants fairly close to you. From what I can gather from commercials and an incredibly hilarious episode of Big Bang Theory, she’ll remind you of events and call you by the name of your choice, no matter how completely ridiculous It may be or how much your friends laugh at you.

She’s non-judgmental. She’s chill. She’s your own, super-awesome, electronic assistant.  

I feel like I treat God like Siri sometimes.

I feel like I’ll be talking to him and I’ll bring up a situation that I’m having issues with or need guidance on, and rather than genuinely digging into His word or seeking His guidance, I’ll simply look up at this almighty digitized program in the sky and command, “Tell me how to solve my problem.”

And then I become irate when he doesn’t immediately spit forth an answer and call me Rock God.

A couple of years ago, I started getting into reading all of those interesting, deep theological books with trendy names that you see at Lifeway on the shelves. I’m not going to lie. I still love to read some of them. I have three currently on my bookshelf that I’m always too busy to finish. While having this literature easily accessible and well-written is a beautiful thing, it can also work to one’s detriment if he or she isn’t careful. It’s so easy when reading pretty interpretations to get caught up in the nuance and attempt to reduce God to some equation or formula and think we have him all figured out. It’s not intentional. Personally, I like looking through books because it’s an art form that I can appreciate. Some people find God through music, I find Him through the written word and finding what other people have to say about Him interests me.

But it does happen. And from experience, I’ve found that once you think that you have God figured out, he likes to change things around to show you that that isn’t exactly the way things work.

God is for seeking. God is for longing after. And yes, he does desire to give us good things and is a source of help in times of trouble. But he’s not Siri. And for this I am eternally grateful.

Even if he doesn’t call me Rock God.