I just think sometimes we jump too easily to “human choice” and “evil exists” as explanations for why bad things happen without fully considering the implications of what such a belief means about God and the world we live in.
It’s certainly not very comforting or helpful to tell the person who has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer that this is really a “gift from God.” It’s not helpful to tell the person who has just lost a child in an automobile accident that “this was really God’s will... God has a plan.” Truth is, God weeps and aches for the pain and brokenness we experience and God weeps over the pain we inflict on others. And yet if human choice or random evil is the only explanation we have for why bad things happen, then what we are really saying is that we live in a universe that is in large part out of God’s control.
It’s one sort of problem to wonder what kind of a God might cause such awful things as murder, hurricanes, and cancer. But the alternative is a God who sits on his hands and just lets random stuff happen – a clockmaker God who winds up the machine and lets the world spin out of control and only occasionally intervenes. True, we don't believe God is passive all the time. We think that God is in charge lots of the time, or at least some of the time. But is it really any better to have a God who lapses in and out of involvement in the world?
I think the problem is that we believe God is far more impotent than God really is. We’d rather take the world on our own and deal with our “own” problems and just consult God when we get in a pinch. It cramps our style to bow to a God of the universe who is completely sovereign, wholly loving, and ultimately beyond human understanding.
3 comments:
So these "bad gifts" from God, what is their purpose? To punish us? To make us seek Him? To prune us? What exactly is a "bad gift" from God? Once identified as a gift from God, is it really bad, or is it like a parent correcting their child. Maybe we need to step back and define what "bad" means. I do know that too many broken and lost people believe that "bad gifts" from God are given to them because they are bad. An example of this was my mom. As she struggled with Parkinson's taking control of her body and reducing her to a point of not being able to feed, dress, sit up in a wheel chair without a harness or bath herself, she stated many times that she was "bad" and God was punishing her. Some gift, huh.
I agree, no human can truly understand God. We do get glimpses through scripture and prayer. At this point in my walk with my God, I don't accept that He gives "bad gifts". To me a "bad gift" has no redeeming quality. It does not encourage, nourish, strengthen the person. There is no hint of the fruit of the Spirit in these gifts.
When life takes us places we don't want to go, God is there. He puts people, songs, scriptures, dreams, prayers to allow us to breath one more moment until we are no more in our human form. Sometimes we are so overwhelmed with the event that we forget to see what "good gifts" are given to give us the strength to take the next step. At times this is truly one moment at a time. A day is behind our comprehension.
Yes, God is in control. Yes, God is amongst us at all times. Yes, God is active in our lives. Yes, God reaches out that none would be lost. Yes, God is the God of the universe, the creator of all things. The One who keeps order in the chaos of our lives. He never leaves or forsakes His children.
A shrimp's heart is in it's head.
I can't help but wonder...
Many sermons ago you quipped something like this: “…God is in control…we are not going to discuss that today. ‘God is in control’ is a sermon series in itself.”
I have eagerly anticipated this series since your quip.
Is this blog entry the beginning of the series?
The notion of “God is in control” by its many forms such as “gift from God”, “God’s will”, “God’s plan” is a great deterrent to faith.
My step father on the death of his first wife was told by a well meaning woman of their church that “her death was God’s will.” He could not and did not believe that his wife’s death was God’s will. My step father never again set foot in a church to worship.
So what does it mean for “God to be in control”? Is God in control?
Of your three descriptions of God at the end of your blog, I comprehend only one, “...God…ultimately beyond human understanding.”
Waiting in great anticipation…
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