August 9th, 2007

Fearful, Frustrated, Frantic

Read Psalm 46 (Summer Observations Con't)

"Be still and know that I amd God!" vs. 10

OBSERVATION 4: We struggle to hold onto a belief in the Providence of God and in so doing our lives reap the consequences.

No I don't believe God makes all things happen. Allow me to explain. I don't believe that all actions are actions from God. I don't believe that God wills extremely evil and sinister actions in this world. Nor, do I believe that God lets bad things happen simply to teach us a lesson. In the world we live, God has created space for life to take place. Within that space humanity is given opportunity to act, choose, rebel, and destroy.

Now wait a minute...does that mean God is not sovereign? That discussion is one that will have to wait for a series of devotionals in the future. However, I will say this for now. God is free to act and respond in whatever way he chooses. God is God. God also exercises providence in this world in a way that shapes it and moves it in accordance with his redemptive, salvific will. Again, allow me to explain...

Throughout the Old Testament story God at times seems to step aside and allow humans to act and react according to their wants, desires, and wills. Having stepped aside, God then seems to step into the midst of those decisions and actions and work to redeem even the most foolish and destructive. The power of God is not determinative nor coercive (making things happen just the way he plans by whatever means it takes), instead God's power is recognized in a faithfulness that refuses to abandon humanity to its own devices. It is a power that is recognized in redemptive love. It is a power that is witnessed through a steadfast determination to bring all things on earth, under the earth, and above the earth under his dominion and grace.

Therefore as I acknowledge the space for which God has created humanity to live, I do not feel that this threatens my understanding of his providence. In fact, it strengthens it. Those who are often quickest to tell me that God pre-determines all things, are often those that seem to me the most frantic, fearful, and frustrated. Their theology usually works until something bad happens, until someone hurts them, until they sit alongside someone suffering terribly, until they lose a loved one tragically...then God's rationale ceases to make sense. They find themselves unable to make the disparity fit. God, if they hold onto their faith, becomes a testing God, an arbitrary God, an angry God.

However, as I read the scriptural story and especially the Psalms, a much different picture of God emerges. Throughout the Psalms, we encounter writers who are quick to admit that bad things happen...sometimes even really bad things. However, they write and and pray to a God that they believe won't abandon them amidst life's destructiveness and despair. They pray to a God, they beleive that despite the rebelliousness and wickedness of humanity can break through in a faithful manner and in some way redeem hopelessness and hurt. They believe that God's greatest power is recognized when we abandon theological musings on the pre-determined actions of God (accepting what can't be explained) and simply trust in the One that has proven faithful time and time again. For them God becomes a refuge, an orderer, a peace-maker, a redeemer, a savior, a life-giver, and a hope-restorer.

OBSERVATION 4: We struggle to hold onto a belief in the Providence of God (because oftentimes tragedy, evil, pain, and loss don't fit into easy conceptual categories--nor do many of our "why's" have answers) and in so doing our lives reap the consequences (we become fearful, frustrated, and frantic).

CLOSING WORDS: Amidst the inexplainable and offensive in life...there is One who refuses to abandon us, promising to never leave us nor forsake us. God is God. He is quite capable to enter into our situations...provide hope where there was none...redeem what was lost...heal what was broken...and guide all of life along according to his redemptive, salvific will. God needs not make all things happen in order to hold all things together. In fact, only as we surrender our need for certainty can we move to a deep trust in God. Only as we are still...do we come to understand that he is God.