I think what we have here is the reality of many ... most ... perhaps all of us at some point or another. It is the issue with theodicy, a defense of God's goodness and omnipotence in view of the existence of evil. We see it when we question God's command to "strike Amalek" and "kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey" (1 Sam 15:3). We experience it when we read of Nadab and Abihu, burned to death by God because they offered "strange fire" (Lev 10:1-3) or Uzzah who was struck dead for merely trying to keep the ark of the covenant from falling (2 Sam 6:6-7). We know it when a loved one dies or a sweet friend gets cancer or an innocent child is killed in a tragic accident. It's not the questioning, "How can these things be?" It's the angry, "That's not fair!!"
We believe, deep down in our core, that we deserve better from God. We believe that God owes us. Sure, it varies. Some of us expect more from God; some less. But we know deep down that God's not supposed to allow bad things to happen to good people. So when God does things like ordering Israel to "save alive nothing that breathes," but to "devote them to complete destruction" (Deut 20:16-17) or allows a child to die of leukemia or ... fill in whatever atrocity you'd like ... we seem to want alternately to blame God or to defend God. So you might hear, "If your God is like that, we want nothing to do with Him." Or it might be, "No, those passages in the Bible were primitive ideas using God to justify genocide" or "Uzzah wasn't struck down by God; he died of self-induced trauma and the writers only thought it was God." And so on.
And God answers,
Will you also set aside My judgment; will you condemn Me so that you may be justified? (Job 40:8)Justice is defined as that which is right. Injustice is that which is not right. For bad things that happen to people to be not right, it would require that they be good people. When French President Emmanuel Macron got slapped in the face this month, a news commentator suggested "he got what he deserved." We understand equal response. Bad for bad; good for good. So when we question the justice of God, we do so with the idea that those who have suffered didn't deserve it. We set aside His judgment and condemn Him. Why? Because we deserve better. We justify ourselves.
At creation, the wages of sin were death. All sin required the death penalty. In the garden the only sin was eating one particular fruit, and God said, "In the day that you eat if it you shall surely die" (Gen 2:17). But God showed mercy. The Mosaic Law held many violations that require the death penalty, but that constituted an increase in mercy since it was a step down from all sins requiring execution. Now we're under grace where we are saved by faith apart from works. It is amazing mercy. And we miss the point. We think that God owes it to us somehow, that He must forgive and He must ensure our comfort. If people actually go to Hell for their sin, God's not fair! We condemn God to justify ourselves. But God says, "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one" (Rom 3:10-12). And if we keep that in mind, the magnitude and glory of His grace and mercy exceeds comprehension.
How can bad things happen to good people? Easy answer: They don't. There are no good people (Luke 13:1-5; Rom 3:10-12). So the question really becomes, "Why does God save one? Why would God save me?" And His mercy and His grace are magnified. It is there that we get a glimpse of "the riches of His glory" (Rom 9:22-24).
No comments:
Post a Comment