Today's Scripture Reading (March 19, 2022): Judges 10
One of the Christian doctrines that I really struggle
with is the idea that we serve a passionless God. The idea is that God is so
high above us, so different, and so focused that he is unmoved by our
situations. He is a
God who never changes, which sounds good, but I think the belief is actually
dangerous. This concept is reflected in
many of the assumptions that we accept without question, like a God who is
omniscient and knows everything, including our futures. If God wanted to, he
could tell us the next ten winners of the Superbowl (admittedly an arbitrary number) or any other sporting event with
which we might be interested. God knew months ago whether there would be a
Major Baseball League Season and how many games might be played. We believe that God never changes his mind and is never influenced to do something different from what
he intended, at
first, to do
I am not convinced. A major portion of the Bible seems to be dedicated to the idea that God is free to change his mind. Our lives move him, and because of that, the future just might not be
set. One book that I would like to write would carry the title "A God Who Doesn't Know." The book would explore the idea of this passion-filled God. Did God know that Adam and Eve were going
to sin in the garden of Eden, an event that would set the stage for all of the evil that has been
committed throughout human history? And if he did, then wasn't it a little irresponsible to follow through with
creation. I know, the questions can be disturbing, but they are ones that I
believe need our serious consideration.
Israel had sinned against God. But compounding their sin was
the fact they had also chased after other gods. But then trouble and crisis
came upon the descendants of Israel. And in times of trouble, as had happened so many times before, the people ran
to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
God was not amused. The Almighty's argument was a simple one, and maybe even a human one, if I can say that without being accused of
blasphemy. If you will serve other gods during the good times, why not go
to them in times of crisis. And God washes his hands of these fickle people he had brought up out of Egypt. He turns his back and tries
to ignore them. That should be a simple task for an omnipotent and passionless being like God.
But it isn't. God turns his back on Israel, but the people get
rid of the foreign gods they had served anyway. They threw away their idols and began to serve the
God of their forefathers. And God? Well, he was moved by the suffering of his creation. God could not
follow through on his decision to leave Israel alone. He grieved for them. And
his grief grew until he could no longer stand impartially by.
God, moved by the suffering of Israel, was filled with passion. It was time for him to move
once again, even if his
movement was something that he had already declared that he would not do.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 1
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