"Woe to him who strives with Him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' or 'Your work has no handles'? Woe to him who says to a father, 'What are you begetting?' or to a woman, 'With what are you in labor?'" Thus says YHWH, the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him: "Ask Me of things to come; will you command Me concerning My children and the work of My hands? (Isa 45:9-11)To which we routinely answer, "Yes ... yes we will command You on what You do." Oh, maybe not in words, but that's what's in our heads. God must meet our expectations ... or else.
God is baffled by that idea. We live it all the time. We complain when He doesn't answer prayers the way we want. We are upset when He allows tragedies we would not have disallowed. We're miffed He doesn't give us more. When Mary was told she would be with child, she asked, "How"? When Zechariah was told his wife would be pregnant, he questioned the veracity. Mary was blessed and Zechariah lost his ability to speak. Because Mary expressed questions, but not doubt. Not "What are you making?" but "I don't understand."
It astounds me -- and if I'm pointing fingers, they're at me as well -- how many times we tell God how badly He messed up. I've literally asked, "Why have You made me this way?" (with suggestions about how He could have done better). Self-identified Christians tell me, "If that's what God is like, I want nothing to do with Him" when it's exactly what God says. Romans says natural man "exchanged the truth about God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen" (Rom 1:25) It says, "they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened" (Rom 1:21). Let's not be worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. Let's not be futile and foolish. We're His creations. We really should learn our place. It's at His feet, not on His back.
2 comments:
I once heard someone argue that they don't agree with Calvinism because it makes God the author of evil. I think he failed to understand our position, but it made me want to ask, "God claims to purpose our evil intentions for His good plans. How does your Arminian view answer that claim?" He's not in the background making mud pies out of our filth, but is active in every decision we make, guiding us where He wants us, somehow without violating our free will, but never out of His control or plan.
We all regularly hear those sorts of things, and marvel at the arrogance of the created to remonstrate with the Creator.
I do think that it is appropriate to "complain"/question/push back/etc with YHWH to a degree. We don't always understand, and many things do seem pointless and we do have the ability to respond to those. However, even in those types of responses, we still need to realize that He might not give us the answer we want, and continue to praise Him.
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