It’s an intentionally provocative title, and we “true believers” will find it pointless ... but ... do we? It seems to me that any of us can get tripped up when we encounter circumstances that we find uncomfortable (or worse) and think this is not what God had in mind. And I think we’re not alone in that. Think about Jesus’s disciples.
We looked recently at the story of Jesus and His disciples in the boat in the storm. His disciples panicked, and it only got worse when they discovered their rabbi was sleeping in the back of the boat. “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38). Jesus calmed the storm and asked, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40). And, of interest, they were scared in the storm, but “filled with great fear” when someone actually stopped the storm (Mark 4:41).
In fact, the running theme of the Gospels includes this idea that the disciples never quite caught on. They knew He was the Messiah (Mark 8:49) but didn’t get what He was doing. He wasn’t acting like the Messiah they expected. He went to Tyre and, when a Gentile woman asked Him to cast out a demon from her daughter, “rightly” referred to her as a dog … and then healed her daughter. He didn’t go down to Jerusalem and declare Himself king, but instead spoke to them of dying. They were … almost outraged. This wasn’t how the Messiah was supposed to act. Dying was not part of the plan. And when He was arrested, they ran. This was definitely not how a Messiah was supposed to act.
Jesus told them that He said and did what the Father wanted Him to say and do (John 14:10). Either He was mistaken, or He actually did. And since He wasn’t mistaken, it’s clear His disciples were mistaken. After three years of literally walking where Jesus walked and learning at His feet, they didn’t get it. Why, then, would we expect to understand so much better than they do?
It’s easy to stand outside of circumstances and situations and nod and say, “He does all things well.” It’s easy to agree that “God works all things together for good” (Rom 8:28) when He's not doing anything unpleasant. But in the heat of it—facing the giants—it’s another thing entirely. That’s where the rubber meets the road. That’s where faith is tested (James 1:2-4). And you should decide in advance whether or not you’re going to let God be God and do what He deems best, or you’re going to be the “wise one” and tell God how to do His business.
4 comments:
Whenever I hear a Christian say that when they get to heaven they're going to ask God why He did X instead of Y, implying that God didn't do the best thing in that situation, I want to take a few steps away just in case lightning strikes. We so often think we know better than God in this or that situation. We don't often outright say it, but that is what sin is, God isn't giving me what I think I need, so I'm going to get it my way.
And you should decide in advance whether or not you’re going to let God be God and do what He deems best, or you’re going to be the “wise one” and tell God how to do His business.
Well, I am not that “wise one,” that’s for sure! As it happens, I just finished reading, Hope for a Despairing World: The Christian Answer to the Problem of Evil by Anglican scholar Philip E. Hughes (previously mentioned at your 10/2/26 post). It is a book that, while doctrinally dense and faith-enriching, easily makes the reader realize their finiteness before a wise, long-suffering, and sovereign God. Even knowing much more of the picture of redemption than the disciples did, I still feel that I am in the same boat (no pun intended :) with those who “didn’t get it”--not due to lack of faith but from my limited understanding. And considering the scope and scale of the work that God is completing in this current cosmic setting--from the creation of man, to the redemption of man, and on through to the judgment of man--we humans are graciously privileged indeed that we have been granted (via the Scriptures) any knowledge of His plans and His purposes in them. Possessing barely an inkling of cognition relative to the entirety, I am hardly in the position of questioning Him about any of it!
Therefore, regarding your post’s “intentionally provocative title,” how could I, a mere created being (and not a particularly prodigious one, at that), deem to know what God’s “job” is?! Should I begin to “tell God how to do His business,” as you say, I would do well to remember the vast, insuperable distance between my thoughts and His thoughts (Isa. 55:8-9).
It's interesting in the Christmas story how two people received two startling promises from God and both ... questioned God. Zechariah said, "How shall I know this?" (Luke 1:18) and Mary said, "How will this be?" (Luke 1:34). Zechariah couldn't speak until the promise was fulfilled and Mary was blessed. Apparently it's okay to ask God questions as long as it's with the proper attitude. In your "Why did He do X instead of Y?", I can see "I'm just curious, God ... tell me what You were thinking" and it would be okay.
Like you, I cannot afford to deign to know what God's job is (except what He has said), but it's so easy to slip into this idea that we have a good idea and maybe, just maybe, He might benefit from our wisdom. That is, there's a distance between my head ("I could not possibly know what is best and must trust Him to do it" and my heart ("I'm pretty sure I have a good idea of what's best.") Trying to move what's in the head to the heart is a lifelong effort.
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