Chapter 6 – The Father's Voice

[Jerry Wierwille]

Quotes
“Most of our life-changing moments are realized as such later.” (p. 99)

“The only thing more tragic than the tragedy that happens to us is the way we handle it.” (p. 106)

“The spiritual life begins with the acceptance of our wounded self.” ~Brennan Manning (p. 106)

Response
“You have to know where you’ve come from; you have to have faced a series of trials that test you; you have to have taken a journey; and you have to have faced your enemy” (p. 101).

God initiates a man by calling him out, taking him on a journey, and giving him his true name (p. 103). God’s initiation is about us finding ourselves, our true selves. Not the false-self we have put up to block our wounds from being exposed. If you have stopped short of enter the journey with God, if you have looked the other direction from what he is trying to show you, if you have mishandled the opportunities to heal your wound, then this is the life that you have constructed, not the life God has called you to live.

If we are forever defensive against the pain brought on by our wound we will never be free from it. We think our false-self is our way. As Eldredge describes it, “the imposter is our plan for salvation” (p. 107).

“There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death.” (Pro 16:25)

In order to show us the path to wholeness and healing, God will deconstruct everything we have built around us to lean on and protect ourselves.

“The Enemy always tempts us back toward control, to recover and rebuild the false self.” (p. 111)

What we rarely realize is that God thwarts our efforts at protecting ourselves. He wants us to destroy the false-self and then let him issue our identification and give us the name he has always had for us. But it is our choice whether we break down our false-self or keep it standing. But, in the words of Eldredge, “We can choose to do it ourselves, or we can wait for God to bring it all down” (p. 112).

When a man knows who is truly is, when he has been through the testing, when he has proven himself, when he has been initiated, and when he knows there is a mission he must embark on, “only then is he fit for a woman, for only then does he have something to invite her into” (p. 114). But if a man is not prepared for the journey, if he is not ready to know his name, if he has not confronted his wound and found the answer to the question, then all his pursuits will lead him away from the woman. He must find himself before he finds a woman, for no woman wants to be part of a man’s journey only for himself. He will continue to try and seek to find but will be left still wanting. Until a man has given up his own pursuit for himself and let God reveal to him his true self, he will drink from every well he comes to only to find he is still thirsty after drinking all he can. In short, as Eldredge says, “It’s the wrong well” (p. 117).

What Eldredge is calling men to do is realize that God was the first love of our ancestor Adam. It was God that gave Adam his name, called him to care for the garden, and showed him his true heart. In order for us to find the healing of our wound, we must return to seeking the answer in God alone. Our heart must once again ache for him, for only he can reveal our true self to us and bring us to the well that will satisfy our deepest thirst.

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