God's text:
[18] Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD:
[19] that he looked down from his holy height;
from heaven the LORD looked at the earth,
[20] to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die,
[21] that they may declare in Zion the name of the LORD,
and in Jerusalem his praise,
[22] when peoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to worship the LORD.
(Psalm 102:18-22 ESV)
my very loose paraphrase:
God transcendent condescended to redeem the damned for his own name's sake and glory.
my response:
What is the distinction between God's will and my will? In choosing to trust him I don't agree to a standard of trustworthiness but to a Person beyond my comprehension. Not all of his choices will make sense to me or conform to my sense of goodness. The life and work of Jesus are astounding demonstrations of his love. But, that he loved Jacob and hated Esau, that we were born cursed to die, and that some children suffer neglect, abuse, and/or rejection while others are privileged and indifferent, are, in the least, beyond my understanding. And more, God's wrath as I read it in the Bible sparks fear and trembling at the thought of being an object of his holy anger. In the end I am left with a decision to humbly acknowledge or dismiss his sovereignty. What I never can do is assume that since he has proven his goodness to me he is worthy of trust. God is not good. Good is God. I have been offered peace and reconciliation to the living God, but ultimately I must choose whether or not to abandon myself, not to That which is beholden to a finite description of love, but to That which defines love.
I love this post. It is still all about deciding to trust in the fact that God claims to be good even when there are many things, that to our minds, would contradict that.
ReplyDeleteEarly in my life, I went through some years where I struggled with why God, if He was omnipotent and omniscient, could allow the human race to be the pawns in a war He was having with satan. I still do not understand this, but what solved it for me was the thing you wrote about today: The Bible said that God was good. I had a choice then when I was 20: Was I going to believe this and make my decisions accordingly, or trust in my own finite mind and live as if I had the mind of God? I put my petite mind under the umbrella of faith that day and make the CHOICE to trust Him. As the years have shown me, that was a good decision.... a very good decision!
Connie Mac