"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?" (Psalm 8:3-4, NRS)
Recently, when reading 1 Cor 8:4-6, which comments on false so-called gods and idols that are “nothing,” I recalled a couple of conversations in which people sadly held a false concept of God. The god to which they have been exposed is responsible for all the negative things in their lives and in this world. Of course, some people might try to provide some comfort by saying, “God has a purpose for this event X and will use it for your good” – a misunderstanding of Rom 8:28.1 Neither concept is biblical. Moreover, this false god turns people away from God, and I do not blame them.
How is this false god constructed? (Note: I have commented on this issue before, but the harm done by Christians presenting a false god moves me to comment again.) This false god comes from accepting a theological definition of “sovereignty” that is an abstract, philosophical concept that proclaims that everything that happens is because God determined it.
What are the biblical corrections? First, the biblical image of God’s sovereignty comes from metaphorical language used by the ancient biblical writers to communicate one facet about the nature of God. The image of God as king, who has a kingdom, who reigns over this universe, is an image from their ancient Near Eastern culture. When using that metaphor, they never would have thought that kings were responsible FOR everything that took place within their rule. Rather, a good king was to be responsible TO what took place within their realm. That is, kings were to bring about righteousness and justice within their domain. Their point is that God is ultimately in charge of righteousness and justice. God, also, has specifically commanded God’s people to work for those goals.
Excursus on theodicy
I know that I have not explain the issue of theodicy, why
bad things happen in this world. I
cannot, because the Bible does not fully explain it. What it does show us, in the beginning of
Genesis, is that God speaks (continually) into chaos and brings order into it
so that there can be life. Life as we
know it in this cosmos, then, is a delicate balance of chaos and order. Although the Bible does not explicitly state
the following conclusion, it appears that this balanced condition not only
allows the cosmos freedom to “evolve,” but also gives humans the freedom either
to respond to their Creator or to rule their own lives. Neither a controlling weight of chaos nor of order
would allow such freedom. Moreover, I
trust that the sovereign, righteous God/KIng will lovingly and rightly treat
all those who have perished in one way or another due to the chaos in the
world.
Second, and more to the point is another corrective: another biblical image is that God, the Creator, condescends to be with people during their trials. In this life, God does not end chaos as is promised in the future, new heaven and earth; but neither is God removed from it. Supremely, the witness of the Incarnation is that the true God humiliates Godself to take on human form, to suffer, to be tempted in all ways that people are tempted, and to die on a cross. As Hebrews tells us, this perpetual high priest Jesus sits on a heavenly throne to intercede for people because he understands their trials and their temptations (e.g. Heb 4:14-16). Our Creator cares about us and will lower Godself to the dust and the ashes (the physical nature of humanity, Gen 18:27) to be with us (see Ps 113:5-7). The “good news” that Christians have to tell people is that Jesus is willing to give them a purposeful and meaningful life and to walk them through all of life’s hardships and sufferings.
This closing thought leads me to the opening text of Psalm
8:3-4 quoted above. When the false god
is replaced by the biblical God, I become overwhelmed by the realization that
the Creator of the universe is mindful of the earth -- of humanity -- of even
me. I am simultaneously brought low in
humility and raised up in honor.
Praise be to you, my Lord and God! Amen.
