How do you see God?

"We will never know contentment in Christ if we seek him as a divine referee, however unfairly we may have been treated"   Lydia Brownbeck, Contentment: A Godly Woman's Adornment.

My notes on this quotation read:  Seek Him, not what we want Him to be.  We will never be happy trying to fit God in our box.  He is so much bigger and wants so much more for us than we can ever imagine.  One will only be content if we allow Him to be what He is and accept that.

I have a small scale personal example of this.  During jr high and high school I developed a friendship with someone that wasn't exactly in my normal circle of friends.  It kind of defied all odds.  We only had one class together and only one mutual friend between us at the time.  We didn't go to the same church and our families didn't know each other, so we didn't really have much chance at developing or maintaining said friendship.  But despite all this our friendship strengthened and even flourished.

After high school because of circumstances and choices we each made earlier, we went in separate directions.  However, a dramatic event in my friend's life brought us back together. This time though, was different.  We had both changed, seen different things, experienced things.  And thus our relationship was different. We weren't exactly sure how to proceed and thus made mistakes and demands upon each other that weren't right.  I, in particular, tried to fit my friend into a mold that I thought I needed filled.  Because I couldn't be swayed in any other direction, our friendship ended in a pretty traumatic fashion.  It wasn't until many years later that we were able reinstate our friendship on the proper grounds.

Basically I lost a lot of good years of a treasured friendship because I was trying to fit my friend in a box.  I wasn't seeing my friend for what he was and all he could be for me because I was fixated on one thing.   The same happens in our relationship to God.  We will never see all He is or all He can be for us if we try to fit Him in a box and look to him for one specific idea, job, or request.  If are constantly seeking Him for our purposes and things we want and not allowing Him to work His purposes, we will not be content.  We will not be able to experience all He has for us.  Our perception will be jaded and we have the very real chance of being bitter, resentful, and hard-hearted because we didn't get was we wanted.  We have to let go of our own desires and wants and seek out Him and His desires and wants for us.