I've been thinking about something a lot lately.

There are so many people who question God's love. And I think it comes down to this: they don't believe God is doing what's best for them. So they ask God:

"What are you doing?"

"God, why isn't this working out?"

And I get it. I've asked those questions too, especially when things are hard and you don't understand what He's doing.

I was listening to a podcast the other day, and something stuck with me. The guy was talking about the potter and the clay (that image from Isaiah and Jeremiah) and he said, "Do you want to be a potter, or do you want to be the clay?" And then he made this observation: the clay doesn't ask the potter what he's making.

The clay doesn't question it. The clay just sits and trusts. It trusts that the potter knows what he's doing, that he has a vision.

And I thought about how many of us are sitting on the spinwheel of life, asking God, "God, what are you doing with my life? What are you doing in this situation? Why is this happening to me?" Over and over. Especially when things get hard.

Here's what I've noticed in myself. When I'm going through a difficult season, I find myself asking God questions. I

"God, I don't understand"

"Why aren't things getting better?"

"Why didn't you allow this? "

"Why are you allowing that? "

And while I don't think it's bad to talk to God (He does want a relationship with us, He does want us to pray) there's a point where our questioning stops being about seeking Him and starts being about doubting. Doubting that He knows better. Doubting His will.

There's this idea you've probably heard before: Is God your God, or is God your genie? Because if you want to be the potter, then you don't really want a God. You just want a genie. Someone to grant your wishes.

A lot of people say they want God. But what they really want is for God to do what they want. They want Him to work things out the way they see fit. To make life easier. And I think that's where a lot of confusion comes in. There's this misconception that if you love God, life should be easier.

I used to think like that too.

But here's the thing: life is hard. We're the ones who messed it up. We sinned. Adam and Eve introduced sin into the world back in the Garden of Eden, and we've been living with the consequences ever since. And so it's not just supposed to be easy because you love God. That's not how it works.

Now, don't hear me wrong. Yes, life with God is easier in one sense. You have His presence. You trust Him. He gives you a peace that passes all understanding. But that doesn't mean life is easy. It doesn't mean things go smoothly, or perfectly, or without problems. You still have challenges. You still have battles.

You still go through deep turmoil. Life is just hard.

Some people say they want God, but what they really want is for God to fix their problems and make everything perfect. Yes, God will do that. But not in this world. We're living in the already-but-not-yet.

He's making things better, but He's not making everything perfect until after He returns and establishes the new earth. That's what Revelation points to. But for now, in this age, life is still hard. And that's not a sign He doesn't love you.

Which brings me to the second thing: do you want to be a potter, or do you want to be the clay?

The clay doesn't ask questions. It doesn't sit there and question what the potter's doing. It simply trusts. It stays moldable. And when the pot gets marred (when it gets messed up) the potter doesn't throw it away. He reworks it.

In Jeremiah 18, God showed the prophet this. He went down to the potter's house and watched him reshape a vessel that had been ruined. And God told him, "Like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand."

Here's the hard part: you cannot assume you know what God is doing. You cannot assume that you know better. If you think you know better than God, you're saying something that's impossible. You're saying you're omniscient. Are you all-knowing? No. You're not. So how could you possibly know better than God?

You can't.

My question is this. If you're not omniscient, if you're not sovereign, if you're not omnipotent, if you're not all-present (if the answer to any of those questions is no) then God knows better than you do. So stop trying to figure everything out. Stop asking Him what He's making. Focus on being moldable.

On trusting Him. On relying on Him. On loving Him.

Which gets me to the third thing. And I think this is the most important one.

Here's what I've noticed. We keep trying to get God to prove that He loves us by working things out the way we want Him to. We ask, we pray, we hope, and when God says no, we interpret that as indifference. As if He doesn't care. As if His love is conditional on Him granting our requests. But that's backwards.

God's love isn't something you earn by being obedient enough or faithful enough or by praying hard enough. John wrote it plainly: God is love. Not that He has love, or that He shows love sometimes.

God IS love.

Which means His love for you isn't dependent on your circumstances or on Him giving you what you want. His love is already there. It's already real.

But here's the thing we have to reckon with. Are you going to accept God's love? Or are you going to keep demanding He prove it by doing what you want? Because those are two different paths. You can't have a God who loves you and a God who always gives you what you want. Those don't exist in the same person.

Think about it like a parent.

Your kid asks for something that's not good for them. What does real love look like? Does it mean giving them everything they ask for? No. Love means saying no. Love means saying, "I love you. This isn't good for you. This isn't safe. I have something better."

And yeah, the kid might come back and say, "You must not love me." But you do. You love them too much to give them what they want.

That's what God's doing with you.

When you pray about something and God says no, it's not because He doesn't love you. It's because He loves you too much to give you what you want. Because what we want is so fickle. It changes all the time. We don't know what we actually need.

And here's the strongest evidence. In Romans 8, Paul put it this way: "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" Look at the cross. If God did that, if He sent His Son to die for you, how could you ever doubt that He cares?

How could you ever think He's withholding something out of indifference?

So the real question is this.

Are you going to accept His love? Or are you going to spend your life demanding He prove it in ways that make sense to you? Because His love is already given. The cross proves it. Your job isn't to make God love you more. Your job is to stop trying to make Him prove it and just receive it. Trust it. Live in it.

And honestly, that's hard. When things are really hard, you discover what you actually believe.

Do you believe God loves you? Then act like it. Trust Him. Stay moldable.

And stop asking the Potter what he's making.