GOD IS NOT TO BE FOUND IN THE “WHY?” BUT IN THE “WHERE?”

In the midst of desolation and destruction, personal or widespread – I am in western NC where Hurricane Helene caused much devastation – God is not to be found in responses to our questions of “Why?”  It is poor theology to seek to provide the answer.  God is found when we ask God, "Where are you?"

Doctrines of the sovereignty of God frequently miss the biblical teaching behind the human images of God as King and Sovereign.  In the culture of the ancient Near East, a king was never responsible FOR everything that happened in his domain.  Rather, a king was responsible to respond TO what happened in his domain.  The ideal king would work for righteousness and justness within his domain.  That is what biblical authors would have had in mind when using kingship images for God.

Theological traditions that define “sovereignty” abstractly have missed the intention in the biblical texts.  They end up with a God who is responsible FOR everything that happens.  They fail to recognize the interplay between order and chaos that exists within all humans and within our natural world.*  Given that false assumption of abstract “sovereignty” wrongly puts Christians in the position of trying to answer “Why?”  The answers are always shallow and facile, even when they merely say, “It is for the greater good” or “It is part of God’s plan.”

Perhaps it would help to address a much-misunderstood text that people attempt to use to answer the why question, Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28 NET).  There, Paul is speaking of the call of all Israel – and for him, including all Gentiles in fulfillment of the promises to Abraham – who have actually responded by “loving God,” a statement of true seeking and relational dependence on God.  Such people now belong to the new era of life in the Spirit.  Paul can look teleologically on the scope of creation in bondage toward the eschatological (end-time) hope in the newness of all things, including the people of faith who are being conformed to the image of the Son (v. 29).  As such, Rom 8:28 never answers the “why?” of the moment.  It expresses confidence in God who is transforming lives and who will ultimately redeem all of creation.

            Moreover, when we ask the where question, we are not to ask our neighbors, “Where was God in this?”  That is really another form of the why question.  Rather, we are to ask God directly, “Where are you?”  That is when we begin to seek God.  Even when we are angry.  That is when we existentially, experientially begin to open ourselves to God.  That is when God begins to conform us to the image of the Son.  I firmly believe Jesus’ words:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matt. 7:7-8, NET)

Even in the midst of panic attacks, when I felt abandoned by God, God’s Presence was there.  I testify to that.  As part of this testimony, I share the following song as a prayer.

"In the Night Your Song is with Me"#
(Based on Psalm 42)

In the night your song is with me.
When the darkness engulfs my soul.
As the waves crash down upon me.
I will believe that I am not alone.

These are the things I will remember.
When it seems me you have forgotten.
When my soul knows not where you are.
I will believe that I am not alone.

When my heart is downcast in me.
And I want to meet with my God.
As my soul pants for the Water.
I will believe that I am not alone.

In the night your song is with me.
Faintly through roar of the waves.
I hear it dimly through the terror.
And I know that I am not alone.
-------
*Answers to theodicy (why there is human and physical “evil”) are complex.  Let it suffice to say that Genesis presents from the beginning a state of humanity and nature that exists within an interplay of order and chaos.  In this state, we are to learn to depend on our Creator.
#A friend recorded for this for me.  (My friend, Mike Rayson, a gifted musician, died recently.)  If interested, here is a link to the music on SoundCloud:  https://on.soundcloud.com/mpcRn1BNyePggiJz6

GOD BREATHES ORDER INTO OUR CHAOS

I have been thinking about chaos in life and about Jesus.  Genesis 1:1 – 2:3 speaks to me.  It portrays our cosmos as a blend of chaos and order.

There are 7 “creation” accounts in the Bible, but the initial one (Gen 1:1 – 2:3) sets the foundation for life with its theology.  The Israelites, as rather newcomers in the world of the ancient Near East, adopted the origin accounts of its cultural environment, but demythologized them and presented a different world view.  (So, too, Christianity adopted from its environment, such as the winter solstice for Christmas.)  And, most ancient creation accounts start with chaos.*  That makes sense.  The maintenance of life as we know it – not God’s existence – consists of a struggle against chaos.  For example, to grow a garden a person must remove rocks, trees, weeds; till the soil; plant the seeds; and, then fight the encroachment of chaos in the forms of more weeds, pests, droughts, etc.  In a loose sense, the origin of religion, as well as science, is rooted in trying to understand and align oneself with the cause of what order there is in this world.

Life as we know it in the present “heaven and earth” requires a delicate blend of chaos: too much chaos and, well, all is chaotic; too much order and all is crystalline.  We want some control over chaos, a pursuit that can be well and good, but our efforts always fall short.  We will all die, in this life, from the apparent triumph of chaos.  That is OK. 

What I learn from the first creation account is that God does not remove chaos, neither the surd physical chaos nor moral chaos.  Rather, God breathes order into chaos.  Christians know that.  Like everyone else we will suffer and die from all the moral evil and surd chaos in this world.  However, in the midst of chaos, we have Jesus who breathes order and peace into our hearts.  (I am reminded of a friend who tells how his atheistic sister who was a physician in a hospital observed Christians die differently, such that she wanted what they had.)  Still, in the snares of chaos, this can be hard to believe.  For example, when the chemicals of the brain go haywire and induce panic, it is almost impossible to believe.  But, the certain hope of the one who knows the resurrected Jesus is that He will not only breathe order into one’s current suffering unto death, but also that He will breathe new life after death.

Lord, I have many friends in the throes of chaos.  Breathe into them and into this suffering world your Presence.  Use me and my fellow Christians as mediators of your breath.  Amen.

*Of course such a beginning leaves evil unexplained, something that has been a source of consternation for systematic theologians.  See post, “Where Did Evil Come From? (8/16/23).