Thursday, November 1, 2007

A God Who Gets It

So often in life there are no easy answers, but there are answers. There are so many times when it appears as though God is not active and present in the world, and evil has taken control. It looks as though God is not at all concerned with our wishes and desires because what we prayed for did not come to pass (as we expected it). Yet God has a plan, and that plan is much bigger and complex than we will sometimes allow it to be.

As it happens, God has experience with difficult things. God has experience with losing things He loves and is attached to, just like we do. For many of us living here and now, evil comes as a theoretical concept―easy to talk about and discuss―until it hits us personally, then, all of a sudden the God who was present is gone (in our minds). Black and white; night and day. All was good before evil came. God was present, but now... in our minds at least, God is gone because evil has entered the world. Oversimplicity has come into play, and we find ourselves in the dark becuase we left no room for light to reflect and allow us to see God's presence. When we lack the connection with God in the good times, it seems shortsighted to abandon Him in the bad.

What's the point?

First, there are no simple answers.

Second, God does not need a defender to prove His existence or providence or omnipotence in the face of the existence of evil in the world. In fact, God never promised that things would go well for us, but He did promise that a relationship with Him would be worth pursuing.

Third, God has provided us with the possiblitiy of having a relationship with Himself and with others so that we can be joyful in the good times, and authentically support one another in the bad. We are, in fact, designed to be in realtionship with others, and especially with God.

God can handle anger, even anger directed at Him. God can understand anger at evil and its presence in the world. When evil and pain move from theory to reality, there are no easy answers. But that is a point of comfort as much as frustration, for the simple answers don't get to the heart of the matter or the healing process like the messy answers of reality. Surround yourself with people who you can live and die with, and then live and die with them. God created us this way; if this has not been reality yet, make it so. Seek God, God is there. Not a God of easy answers, but a God who understands your needs and mine and can meet them beyond our wildest imagination.

For more on the issue of God and Evil, check out this article by N. T. Wright:

God, 9/11, the Tsunami, and the New Problem of Evil.