WHAT ELSE COULD HE DO?
The Lord was in the right; it was I who rebelled against his commands. Lam. 1:18, N.E.B.
What if God were to work miracles that made smokers healthy, adulterers happy, and cheaters wise? On the face of it, we know that these species of sins would suddenly become much more popular.
On the other hand, if smokers got healthy, then why would smoking be a sin? If adulterers truly became more happy, then why would God be against adultery? If people could cheat to gain genuine wisdom, wouldn't God be in favor of it?
This illustrates that God doesn't go around simply hanging the "sin" tag on various activities, then railing against all of the activities so labeled. Christian growth doesn't mean that we simply try to get all the tags right. There is nothing arbitrary about any of God's dealings with us. That which He rules out from our lives is that which in itself is hurtful to us. Christian growth, then, involves learning to walk within the patterns of inherent blessing. It means learning to avoid those patterns that will in themselves bring pain and grief.
In the Lamentations of Jeremiah, a man of God verbally weeps over the sorrows of his people. Their country has been invaded and badly damaged by foreign troops. The glorious Temple lies in ruins. The people are suffering from famine and disease. A nation that refused to listen to her God as He called her to repentance has come face-to-face with the consequences of her choices.
Yet there is no rancor in Jeremiah's voice, no bitterness that God has inflicted undue punishment upon His people. Instead, he is quick to acknowledge that God is absolutely in the right in allowing the nation to suffer. He knows that God does not work the kind of miracles that confuses people about reality; He does not step in to prevent a wandering people from feeling the pain of their wandering, lest they come to feel that wandering from God is a wholesome thing to do.
The pain that God's wandering people feel is portioned out to us with a loving hand. He allows enough to sober and instruct us, yet not so much as to crush us. He longs for us to feel His love, rather than to cower before His anger. The only enduring basis for true faith is admiration for the beauty of His character and the goodness of His ways.
The Lord was in the right; it was I who rebelled against his commands. Lam. 1:18, N.E.B.
What if God were to work miracles that made smokers healthy, adulterers happy, and cheaters wise? On the face of it, we know that these species of sins would suddenly become much more popular.
On the other hand, if smokers got healthy, then why would smoking be a sin? If adulterers truly became more happy, then why would God be against adultery? If people could cheat to gain genuine wisdom, wouldn't God be in favor of it?
This illustrates that God doesn't go around simply hanging the "sin" tag on various activities, then railing against all of the activities so labeled. Christian growth doesn't mean that we simply try to get all the tags right. There is nothing arbitrary about any of God's dealings with us. That which He rules out from our lives is that which in itself is hurtful to us. Christian growth, then, involves learning to walk within the patterns of inherent blessing. It means learning to avoid those patterns that will in themselves bring pain and grief.
In the Lamentations of Jeremiah, a man of God verbally weeps over the sorrows of his people. Their country has been invaded and badly damaged by foreign troops. The glorious Temple lies in ruins. The people are suffering from famine and disease. A nation that refused to listen to her God as He called her to repentance has come face-to-face with the consequences of her choices.
Yet there is no rancor in Jeremiah's voice, no bitterness that God has inflicted undue punishment upon His people. Instead, he is quick to acknowledge that God is absolutely in the right in allowing the nation to suffer. He knows that God does not work the kind of miracles that confuses people about reality; He does not step in to prevent a wandering people from feeling the pain of their wandering, lest they come to feel that wandering from God is a wholesome thing to do.
The pain that God's wandering people feel is portioned out to us with a loving hand. He allows enough to sober and instruct us, yet not so much as to crush us. He longs for us to feel His love, rather than to cower before His anger. The only enduring basis for true faith is admiration for the beauty of His character and the goodness of His ways.
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