The Bible portrays God as one who graciously and relationally empowers, not as one who autocratically overpowers.
Background:
From the beginning, God empowers rather than overpowers. One should read the opening Genesis texts as
ancient Near Eastern nature-of-life, explanatory texts, which are often based
on common, phenomenological observations, but which have been rewritten from
the Israelite, God-given worldview. [Note:
The most beneficial reading, then, is to observe what the Israelites, who were late
comers to the ancient Near East, changed.]
The texts are not to be read as the literature of modern science. Still, there are a couple of interesting
texts in which an ancient concept about the natural world is significant for
today:
“And God said, ‘Let the land produce
[a command form] vegetation…’” (Gen 1:11).
“And God said, ‘Let the land bring
out [a command form] living creatures…’” (Gen 1:27).
The notion is that the land had been equipped and empowered to be an agent in the procreation of life. I am not interested in relating this concept to modern biological constructs of how life originated. Also, on a phenomenological level, one can see how people observed plants sprouting from the ground. However, I am intrigued by the theological notion of the natural world being empowered by God to cooperate in procreation rather being than overpowered. That is because this concept is especially true of humanity created in the image of God (to represent God)2 and commanded to be fruitful and to share in the ruling creation (1:27-28).
A second “creation” text, which begins at Genesis 2:4, reveals how humans – Adam himself coming from the “dust” of the ground (2:7) – were to care for the land in companionship (2:8,15,18,20b-24). However, it also explains in narrative form how such divine empowerment became – and continues to become – corrupted when humanity no longer serves its Creator but rebels in desire to usurp God (the temptation of 3:4). The result is that sin/chaos encroaches on both realms: not only does human procreation becomes laborious and the equal partnership between Eve and Adam broken, but also the ground becomes “cursed” so that working it become laborious; and, to it humans return as they experience their mortality (3:16-19).
Application:
To be honest, I would like for God to overpower the world of nature, as well as
those with whom I live in tension, and, sometimes, even myself. I want a smooth, non-laborious life. I tire of the struggle. However, the character of God’s sovereignty
(kingship) is not that God overpower and control the natural world to do all
that it does. The natural world, an
interplay of order and chaos without which life as we know it would not exist,
generally “takes its course.” In the
same way, God does not overpower us such that we must do God’s will. Rather, God desires that we willfully obey
God as our Creator and King, something that begins to take place as we “seek
God.” It is then that God empowers us to
face the labors of life and our mortality.
That is all I need. That is the
foundation of contentment. That is the
ground of hope – that which I do not see, but that of which I am certain (Heb
11:1).3
Jesus, I cannot manage in this life that you have entrusted to me
without You. I do not ask that you
remove the labors of life for me. I ask
that you empower me to serve you faithfully throughout the labors of life that
you might be glorified as Creator and King even to the end of my labor. Amen.
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1. This concept ties in with the previous devotion, “God Is Not to Be
Found in the 'Why? but in the 'Where?' (Oct. 14, 2024)
2. See entries on the “image of God,” Feb. 1, 2024, Oct. 3, 2024.
3. See entry on Hebrews 11:1, Sept. 13, 2023.
With you 100%
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