Who He Is and What He Does

We are, so to speak, victims of circumstances. We measure our world by our circumstances and experiences, or, more precisely, by our perception of them. So we look around us, see what is going on, and say, “Therefore…” and draw conclusions. And we are often mistaken. We ascribe motives to the events we see that we often cannot know. To actually know them, we would need to know the intent of the heart, or at least have a very good understanding of the person. “Why did he or she do that?” is often a question we ask ourselves, and we are often relatively sure we know the answer when we should not be.

Here is an example for clarity. I asked my wife why she had done something in particular. She heard the question, inferred the reason behind it, and answered that instead. “Why did you put that ingredient in the recipe?” “Oh, you didn’t like it?” No, I was not objecting; I was asking. It was an educational question. She assumed an intent that was inaccurate.

This is particularly true of God. We look around us, see what God is doing, and ask, “Why is He doing that?” We usually answer that question from our own perceptions rather than from the truth of His character. There is a distinction between what He does and who He is. If we evaluate God’s actions based on our own experiences and thoughts, we are not likely to assess accurately why He is doing what He does. “Why did God allow such a dear person to die so young?” If you assume that death is bad, that the person was important, and that your understanding of “bad” places this event in that category, you will assume God did something “bad.” And that will be a mistake.

We are not dancing in the dark on this topic. God tells us about Himself. We know that He defines love (1 John 4:16), so what He does must be from love. We know God is faithful (Psa 36:5), so it must be in good faith. We know He is just (Deut 32:4), so we know it must be right, correct, and righteous. You see the process here. If we factor in what we know about God—who He is—it will inform how we understand what He does. And when we understand first who He is, then what He does and why, it reorients our own thinking.

What we often do, however, is the reverse. We look at what He does and judge it by our own understanding, and often find Him wanting. We do not question our judgment; we question His character. And that is a fatal error. “You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made would say to its maker, ‘He did not make me’; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?” (Isa 29:16). We do not get that option.

We should be diligent to pursue knowing God before we endeavor to judge His actions. When we begin with His character, we are steadied in moments that would otherwise confuse us. We may not always understand His purposes immediately, but we are not left without a foundation. We have His Word, His perfect revelation about who He is. We have His love, faithfulness, justice, wisdom, and goodness which become the interpretive lens through which we view His works. That does not remove every hard question, but it does keep us from the greater error of accusing God when our own understanding is partial. The more clearly we know Him, the more clearly we will learn to read His providence. And that will make things much clearer.