"If we do not feel the weight of the passion, the cross and the death, we cannot cope with the problem of providence without either hurting ourselves or secret anger toward God. That is why the Adam in us has to be quite dead before we can bear this doctrine, and drink this strong wine, without harm. So, beware! Avoid drinking wine when you are still a suckling infant. Every doctrine requires us to be of the appropriate ability at the right age, and of the due maturity." Matin Luther (His Preface to Romans)
I am not going to convince you that predestination is true. That hasn't been my purpose. The only thing I am going to do is lay out the evidence, as found in Scripture, with a hope towards some revelation from God that will help clarify the doctrine of free will against predestination. I stand by what Martin Luther said, that to tackle and believe in God's Providence is dangerous if you aren't ready for it. Attach to that God's silence on the issue of explaining how it works, and we can see where so many would believe it, and so many wouldn't.
I have actually witnessed the secret anger toward God that delving into the topic of predestination prematurely can cause. A friend of mine, who first came to know Jesus about the time I did was introduced to this doctrine several years ago. She did not take it well. When she came across Paul's statement of God's hardening of Pharoah's heart, she just about lost faith. She couldn't believe God would do that, and yet there it was in black and white. Romans 9:16 is one of the verses she struggled so mightily with, which states, "So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. "
To tackle predestination without a proper understanding of our position with God before we are saved can be spiritual suicide. Thankfully for my friend, it was not. In the end, she simply had to trust that God knew what He was doing.
That is the point of today's post, that God does know what He is doing. There is much we can learn from the written Word. But there is much He has not yet revealed to us about His nature. He has His reasons and purposes for that. I tend to believe strongly that much of what He has not revealed we just wouldn't be able to understand. God is holy, "set apart", so absolutely "other" that we cannot grasp the depth nor height nor awesomeness of His Person. He is eternal, and able and willing to give an eternal life to some. Is there a one of us who can relate to this? One would have to be eternal already to relate.
God is not just a God of love. His other attributes DID survive the cross. Some of those attributes we just don't understand yet, and maybe never will this side of heaven. Who can read the first chapter of Job, and understand the reasons God gave Job over to Satan? Who can understand fully the pain in this world, and how God uses that pain to work His will? Yet which of us has not experienced some great pain in our lives, and upon being delivered from it, did not know that God meant it for good?
In the end, the question isn't whether you believe in predestination. The question is, do you trust God, no matter what? No matter the circumstance, the pain, the joy, the love, the hope, or the anger, will you trust God? Or will you turn away because God has escaped the box you built for Him? We cannot explain God. To simply say that "God is love" is not enough, it limits Him, and God knows no limits, just as there are no limits to His love. So we would be better off to stop trying to explain God, as if He needs us to make excuses for Him. We need to remember one truth we know for certain, we are his created beings. That places us lower than Him, by far.
If there has been one thing that has constantly driven me to draw near to God, to love Him with all my heart, it is not that He is love. It is that He is everything I am not, and more. It is the fact that He blows me away, in everything, that He is so far above me that to make comaprisons between us is foolishness. That He knows what I need even before I ask, and that He knows this of every creature that exists, and has existed. This is what draws me to God. His love keeps me, but his awesome power and amazing "otherness", the things about Him I can never touch or fathom, those are the things that draw me. I want to know such a God. That God spurs me on, drives me to be the best I can be in whatever I undertake, without coercion, without guilt at failing.
The first step we have to take is one of trust. The second step we have to take, is one of trust. Every step we take, then, will be one of trust. We won't surrender to someone we don't trust. God is trustworthy, and true. We know that. So it really doesn't matter what the doctrine is, whether it be predestination, or the Triune Godhead, or Jesus being fully man and fully God, it does not matter. What does matter is that we trust God. Then, if there is something we can do, if there is a decision we can make, let it be to trust God no matter what. No other thing will serve us as well as this. Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment