It’s
a part of human nature but it never ceases to amaze me. Throughout our lives
there are many instances where we like to think we’re in charge. We feel like
we can control our lives and that we’re at the top of the food chain, so much
so that reality itself is contingent upon our decisions. Our lives are often
guided by this arrogance as are our entire mindsets, despite the fact that
we’re often shown how little control we really have. Never the less, we work
our way back to thinking that our actions and decisions are the final say in
countless areas.
The biggest, and perhaps most
critical, area where this ugly superiority complex rears its head is when it
comes to God and our interactions with Him. When we take a look at Job, one of
the oldest yet I believe to be most powerful books in the Bible, we see this
problem display itself clearly. In this book, Job goes from having it all to
losing everything from family to fortune, all in an incredibly short period of
time. The whole thing leaves him reeling and the majority of the book is a long
debate that Job has with a few buddies over why he just lost everything and
what he can do to fix it, as shown in Job 22:6-11 for example: “you must have lent money
to your friend and demanded clothing as security. Yes, you stripped him to the
bone. 7 You must have refused water for the thirsty and food for the hungry. 8 You
probably think the land belongs to the powerful and only the privileged
have a right to it! 9 You must have sent widows away empty-handed and crushed the hopes of
orphans. 10 That is why you are surrounded by traps and tremble from sudden
fears. 11 That is why you cannot see in the darkness, and waves of water cover
you.” The whole thing is quite remarkable as they go around and
around thinking that they know God and why He has let things happen the way
they have. Finally, Elihu, a younger guy who has been sitting there listening
to the others go on and on takes a stand and essentially tells them how
ignorant they all are, such as in Job 35:6-8: “If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many,
what does that do to him? 7 If you are righteous, what
do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand? 8 Your
wickedness only affects humans like yourself, and your righteousness only other
people.” Then, God comes in and lays down the law big time on Job,
starting in Job 38:2-3: “Brace
yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.” God is even
sarcastic throughout His rant and shows Job just how incredibly oblivious he
really is, starting in Job 38:4-5: ““Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you
understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!”
(which makes me think of the Wonka meme btw, had to make one: http://memegenerator.co/instance/39599244)
There are
a couple times throughout this tirade by God that Job tries to withdraw himself
and say that he’s just going to shut up now but God isn’t finished with him
yet. In the end, Job has what he lost and then some restored to him by God and
he’s able to go on knowing now just how little he really knows.
The reason I enjoy this book so much
is because it’s still very applicable today. We can see all over instances where
people assign things or events that happen to God, good and bad, and then we
say what they mean or what has to happen because of it. In fact, often times we
even take it a step further and use these things or events to determine our
faith and decide whether or not we even believe in God’s existence. Our faiths,
beliefs, and opinions change so rapidly and are so fickle, it’s astounding that
we’re even able to function and hold a well-reasoned conversation or debate.
For example, say you found ten bucks on the ground one day and you used it to treat
a friend to lunch or maybe you put it in the offering plate at church. Must
have been a blessing from God who is all loving and wanted to show His love by
leading you to finding that ten bucks. Or maybe the opposite, maybe there was a
plane crash or a school shooting which had dozens of casualties, so now we have
to question whether a loving God really exists because He let these things
happen….wait, what? Since when can we assign what we call good or bad things or
events to God in such a way that either has us praising Him or questioning His
existence? Say that ten bucks you found belonged to someone who really needed
it but accidentally dropped it and now they’re going hungry for the night while
you’re out spending it. Or maybe that plane crash or school shooting leads to a
lot of people coming to Christ or a whole slew of new regulations that prevent
such things from happening again. Well now what? That thing that was a
“blessing” was bad for the other guy because he started questioning God’s
existence and ultimately left the faith, all over the notion that a loving God
would never let him lose that ten bucks and go hungry. And that horrific event
that had you questioning a loving God’s existence was a great thing for dozens
of others because they came to know Christ. My point of this is that it’s a
matter of perspective from our human standpoint and we really have no clue what
God was doing here one way or another. We quickly like to come out and announce
that something was a blessing or a curse though and declare that we know what God
was doing in whatever the situation may be, even though we really have no clue.
Let’s take this a step further and
apply it to certain things that happened that are talked about in the Bible.
For example, in a recent discussion I was in, people were discussing God’s
good-ness and talking about the tenth plague in Egypt when the firstborn children
are killed. In regards to this story, one said that they didn’t think they
could believe in a loving God who allowed this to happen or even was the reason
for it happening. Points were made back and forth all over, but the one I kept
stressing was that it didn’t entirely matter. What I mean by this is, sure our
own personal faiths and relationships with God are something that we for the
most part control, but our decisions regarding belief in God doesn’t affect His
existence. Our personal belief in an all loving, all powerful, etc. God doesn’t
change the objective fact of His existence or non-existence. It’s hard to draw
a direct comparison, but that’s like saying you believed in the sun and thought
it could only do “good” things but then you got sunburn so now you choose not
to believe in it. There are many flaws in this comparison, I know, but my point
is not the details of the comparison but the fact that the sun’s
existence/non-existence doesn’t hinge on your belief in it. Its existence is an
objective thing that doesn’t change based on how we’re feeling that day. Same
thing goes with God; his existence isn’t hinged upon whether or not you believe
in Him. Along those same lines, His actions aren’t hinged upon whether or not
you approve of them. Now, take all of this and go back to Job. Look at what God
told him when he questioned God’s actions and whether they were right or not.
God basically slammed him and told him that he simply could not comprehend what
He was doing. God’s actions and existence didn’t depend on whether Job still
liked Him or not. God invites us to be a part of what He’s doing, but that does
not in any way signal Him turning over the keys. We are the creation, not the
creator, and we cannot think that we can grant ourselves that kind of power.
Now, in discussing all of this, I’m
not saying I have the right answer or that I have some new further objective
way to prove to non-believers that God does in fact exist. We’re already for
the most part staring at the same objective pieces of evidence, we just have
that whole different perspective thing going on again. What I am saying is to
really consider what you’re saying when you say something along the lines of
how you can’t believe in a God who would do x or would allow such and such to
happen. At the end of the day, or at the end of your life as it may be, your
belief or not in God doesn’t change the fact of His existence or not. I must
stress again, as I often do, that it also doesn’t change the consequences of
our choice that He so nicely laid out before us. So, when you’re thinking about
God and whether or not you believe in Him because of something He may have
done, check your arrogance at the door and remember that you’re not in control,
He is, and that you will never fully comprehend an infinite God with your
finite mind.
Just a thought...
Just a thought...
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