The only thing

“May the peace of God be with you," she says, her voice low, "even in the midst of trouble."
"Why would it?" I say softly, so no one else can hear. "After all I've done..."
"It isn't about you," she says. "It is a gift. You cannot earn it, or it ceases to be a gift.” 
― Veronica Roth, Insurgent

At first glance this quote, from the second book of the Divergent series, seems simple enough. But in order to realize that it isn't you have to know the character who questions God's love. Tris, a young girl of 16, is a pro at trapping herself inside her own emotions and assuming that the world plays out accordingly. 

There are many emotions that come when you have to step away and realize that God is not controlled by your emotions or your intentions or your desires. He is not a product of those things; He is not encouraged by them. He is not threatened by them. He is not defined by them. He is above them and before them. 

You cannot control God. You cannot get what you want from Him by wanting it bad enough or crying for it enough or being broken enough. You cannot mimic people of the Scriptures and assume that the reason things played out for them the way they did is because of their actions or lack thereof. 

The only thing you can do, THE ONLY THING, is die completely to yourself and then trust. And the only way these two things will happen is by the grace and mercy of God, of His own accord. 

But the good news is, this God man, the one who is not motivated or controlled by your emotions or desires, well, He is the one who did this: 

And He loves you with an everlasting love. Always. Always and forever. And though we flail like pathetic helpless children, still He loves us and somehow He saves us from ourselves.