SUBMISSION TO UNREASON
I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner so that no one can know what I mean. And I don't tell Israel to ask me for what I didn't plan to give! Isa. 45:19, T.L.B.
"The discipline man needed most was to learn his submission to unreason. And that for man's own sake as well as Mine, so he won't find it hard to take his orders from his inferiors in intelligence in peace and war--especially in war." From A Masque of Reason, by Robert Frost.
In the lengthy narrative from which the above quote was taken, a dialogue between God and Job takes place. Job, a little disgusted with God's apparent capriciousness, is trying to corner God into giving an answer for sending seemingly unreasonable trials. Frost's whole account was certainly written to be humorous, and it is--except that many believers hold similar concepts with utmost sincerity.
"Submission to unreason"--is that God's desire for us? There are many instances in Scripture in which God asked people to do apparently unreasonable things--such as march around a hostile city seven days in a row, or wash in a dirty river in order to be made clean. Instances that certainly seem to bear our such sentiments.
However, closer examination of these kinds of events reveal that God always was working with a stated purpose, i.e., deliverance. He sometimes used unusual methods in order to get people's attention or to remove any doubt in their minds as to who was dealing with them. Never did He do anything deliberately unreasonable just for the sake of making people blindly obey Him. It has never been His intention to "whisper obscurities in some dark corner so that no one can know what I mean."
It is my contention that God is always reasonable, that it would be contrary to His very nature to be otherwise. He may use "strange, mysterious ways" (Isa. 45:15, T.L.B.), but His desire is that we should be able to sing praises to Him "with understanding" (Ps. 47:7). Or, as The Living Bible puts it: "Yes, sing your highest praises to our King, the King of all the earth. Sing thoughtful praises!"
To praise God with our understanding is possible only when we have been encouraged to think. Rather than learning submission to unreason, let us learn to exercise intelligent faith--that unshakable confidence that God is utterly reliable and reasonable. And that He would have us be the same!
I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner so that no one can know what I mean. And I don't tell Israel to ask me for what I didn't plan to give! Isa. 45:19, T.L.B.
"The discipline man needed most was to learn his submission to unreason. And that for man's own sake as well as Mine, so he won't find it hard to take his orders from his inferiors in intelligence in peace and war--especially in war." From A Masque of Reason, by Robert Frost.
In the lengthy narrative from which the above quote was taken, a dialogue between God and Job takes place. Job, a little disgusted with God's apparent capriciousness, is trying to corner God into giving an answer for sending seemingly unreasonable trials. Frost's whole account was certainly written to be humorous, and it is--except that many believers hold similar concepts with utmost sincerity.
"Submission to unreason"--is that God's desire for us? There are many instances in Scripture in which God asked people to do apparently unreasonable things--such as march around a hostile city seven days in a row, or wash in a dirty river in order to be made clean. Instances that certainly seem to bear our such sentiments.
However, closer examination of these kinds of events reveal that God always was working with a stated purpose, i.e., deliverance. He sometimes used unusual methods in order to get people's attention or to remove any doubt in their minds as to who was dealing with them. Never did He do anything deliberately unreasonable just for the sake of making people blindly obey Him. It has never been His intention to "whisper obscurities in some dark corner so that no one can know what I mean."
It is my contention that God is always reasonable, that it would be contrary to His very nature to be otherwise. He may use "strange, mysterious ways" (Isa. 45:15, T.L.B.), but His desire is that we should be able to sing praises to Him "with understanding" (Ps. 47:7). Or, as The Living Bible puts it: "Yes, sing your highest praises to our King, the King of all the earth. Sing thoughtful praises!"
To praise God with our understanding is possible only when we have been encouraged to think. Rather than learning submission to unreason, let us learn to exercise intelligent faith--that unshakable confidence that God is utterly reliable and reasonable. And that He would have us be the same!
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