A song came on the Christian radio station I was listening to the other day that reminded me why I wrote, “It’s Not About You.” I fear that some of my readers may think I was saying that God does not love each of His children individually. He does. He knows when a sparrow falls; He knows the number of hairs on your head (in my case, fewer each day); He loves the whole world, as John 3:16 famously says; He loves His children personally as only a good Father can; He loves you. My point in the earlier post was to step back and see the big picture. It has been said by some that if you were the only sinner needing redemption, God would still have sent His Son to die just for you. That may be true, but since it is one of those things that couldn’t have, wouldn’t have ever happened, it is useless to debate.
The point I was trying to make in “It’s
Not About You” is that God is operating on a cosmic level that reaches so
far beyond where we are in this (His) created universe that we cannot –
literally cannot—comprehend. (For more on the cosmic nature of things, see "Understanding the Book of Job: The Heiser Effect.") At that cosmic level, you and I are still very
much a part of His plan, but to suggest that you or I constitute a major portion
of that plan is arrogance of an infinite magnitude. As I said in the earlier post,
we are part of a larger plan, but to insinuate that our immediate, personal
situation is critical to the overall plan smacks of hubris.
The song I heard delivered (I believe) a misquote of Romans
8:28 saying that God “works everything for my good.” This sounds selfish.
The correct interpretation of that verse in Romans has
been discussed here previously, but I will elaborate. According to the
Greek in this verse, there are two qualifiers of those for whom good is promised.
The first qualification is that they love God; the second is that they are
called, “according to a purpose,” or as we might say, called for a reason. Most
English translations add a word not found in the original Greek, but implied.
It is “His” purpose to which they are called. The NLT goes a step further
saying, “called according to his purpose for them.”
My point of disagreement with the popular interpretation represented
in the song is that the “good” to which Paul was referring is God’s good. It is
His purpose that will prevail, and Paul deems it a good purpose. To ignore this
larger perspective is to make the same mistake the purveyors of the prosperity
gospel have been making for years. God’s purpose is not to provide a vending
machine to which His children can go to grant their every desire. As we have
all seen in the case of spoiled children, that is not usually a good thing.
Another passage of Scripture that is often used to support
this idea is Psalm 37:4. “Take pleasure in Yahweh as well, and he will give to
you the requests of your heart.” This has been interpreted to mean God will
give me whatever I desire. It is more likely, especially given the context
provided by the following verses, that what is intended is that the desires laid
on your heart by God will result in His will for your life aligning with His
greater purpose. In this light, someone has said that prayer is not about getting
God to do our will but getting our will to align with God’s.
It will be instructive to look at the first disciples’
reaction to tough breaks. Acts 5:41 records Peter and John rejoicing that they
were privileged to suffer on behalf of Jesus. I don’t think beating and imprisonment
were on their to-do list for the day. But, amid the harsh circumstances, they
praised God for allowing them to suffer for the cause of Jesus.
Peter and James
both recommend suffering for the right reasons as a condition to be embraced
for the good that will come of it. Suffering works together for your good, they
may be saying. However, the suffering does not feel like “good” at the time.
I call as a witness my oldest sister who is a godly woman who loves
the Lord and has served Him faithfully all her life. One day years ago her
house blew up and her nine-year-old daughter was killed. She was so badly
injured the doctors said she would not last the night. She survived. They said
she would never walk. She does, albeit after countless surgeries and with
constant pain. The only “good” that came of that situation was a large cash settlement
for the negligence that cause the explosion. A few years later, my sister’s
husband and father of her remaining child died from a brain tumor. Nothing good
there, apparently, except a large life insurance payout.
In her loneliness, my then wealthy sister was courted by a
man who deceived her into marrying him. He spirited her away to his home in the
Wisconsin woods and proceeded to spend her wealth on his projects. He kept her
a virtual prisoner in his cabin, forbidding her to see her family except for
trips on which he would go and play the role of loving husband. When her only
son who was happily raising two beautiful daughters with his lovely wife
contracted a rare disease that devasted his peaceful life, she had to beg her
husband to visit him. She has stayed with this awful man because she is
old-school: she believes the wedding vows that say for better or for worse.
Hers is the worst.
I relate this story because those of us who know my sister
are at a loss to say what good has come to her if Romans 8:28 refers to “her
good.” In fact, what has happened to her seems immensely unfair. Where is the justice?
As I have said
previously, neither justice nor fairness are promised to us in this world.
The world lies in the control of the evil one according
to John, and our enemy roams about seeking to devour us, says
Peter. We also have to deal with the fact that our
Heavenly Father disciplines us in ways that we would not call “good.” Yet
note what verse eleven says of the chastisement: “It yields the peaceful fruit
of righteousness for those who are trained by it.” That’s good, but it comes
after we endure what we would call “not good.”
My point is not to suggest that God is not good or that He
does not love us. My point is intended to mature our idea of what it means to
be loved by God. Someone has said that God loves us just as we are, but He
loves us too much to leave us just as we are. Conforming
us to the image of His Son may involve painful circumstance. Look where
that verse comes from: Romans 8:29. It is God’s purpose to make us like Jesus.
That is the “good” promised in verse 28.
And let us not forget how Romans 8 ends. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or hunger or lack of sufficient clothing or danger or the sword? Just as it is written, ’On account of you we are being put to death the whole day long; we are considered as sheep for slaughter.’ No, but in all these things [the not good things] we prevail completely through the one who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That’s good!
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