Second-Guessing God

G'morning to you! (Or afternoon, or evening, or middle of the night or whenever it is that you are reading this.)

I'm glad you're hear. Let's get started.


Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Thurs, Apr 2 What did the Israelites (finally) stop eating after coming into the Promised Land? (Josh 5)
Joshua 5:11-12 11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.

And here's the question of the day:
Fri, Apr 3 To whom does God show kindness? To whom does God show sternness? (Rom 11)

And here's the reflection of the day:
It's back to Romans today, chapter 11 to be exact. Romans is a very complicated book, one that people study for years and years and years and still only scratch its surfaces.

For the purposes of this blog, an in-depth analysis is not possible. As I was reading through NT Wright's commentary on Romans, he includes the following point: "At the heart of Romans 9-11 there lies the humility that recognizes God as God and does not try to second-guess or criticize what God has planned and done."

We live in the "after-glow" of the Enlightenment--a period of time in the 1700s where REASON was the primary source of authority. Since that time, at least in the Western World, reason has ruled. We (or rather, most of us) base our lives on that which is logical and calculated.

We have been taught to allow reason to infiltrate each part of our lives, helping us with the organization and administration of life together, even within the church. Don't get me wrong--life would be absolute chaos if we didn't have logic and reason. Reason is good, in moderation, of course.

Reason unchecked leads us to question everything and everyone. Reason unchecked leads us to challenge everything--to push every limit. As Wright says, historically reason "put God in the dock and declared that such a being either does not exist or, if he/she/it does, they disapprove of his/her/its actions." For a while, then, humans left God on the margins, deeming Him irrational and left "for those who feel they need it" (Wright).

Paul wishes neither to completely embrace nor entirely reject reason. He simply wishes to convey that there is a time to use reason to ask the hard questions, even the hard questions of faith, which he does so much of here in Romans. Paul's writings always bear the undeniable mark of logical and complex arguments.

But there is also a time to recognize, like Job and so many others, "that God's answer are, for the best of reasons, final" (Wright). There is great humility in NOT second-guessing God. If God is the Creator, then we are the creatures. If God is holy, then we are most certainly not.

We may not always like God's answers to our prayers, but what arrogance (and ungratefulness) we display when we second-guess God! I'm not saying I haven't done this myself; I'm just saying I know my ego is out of control when I begin to second-guess God.

Here's to a little more humility in my life and in yours!
Allison