I can’t stop thinking about last Sunday’s sermon on Romans 9—especially how Pastor Jay said we don’t have a problem with many of God’s attributes: His kindness, wisdom, or power…But we do have a problem with God’s freedom.
God is completely free—free to do absolutely whatever He wants. He’s never consulted with me about whether something is for the best. He doesn’t wonder. He already knows. And He knows that He knows.
God knows what is best.
God wants what is best.
And so, God does what is best.
Best for whom? For Himself.
Best for the glory of His name, the advancement of His kingdom, and the redemption of His creation.
If that seems egotistical to us, it’s because we have too small a view of God. Wonder who is most great, glorious, powerful, beautiful, intelligent, and majestic? Most compassionate, faithful, gracious, just, patient, wise, and good?
God doesn’t wonder. He knows. He is.
We are not a close runner-up. There is no close runner-up.
When we question Him or disagree with Him, God doesn’t wonder if we might have a valid point. He already saw the end from the beginning. He knows what’s best, and that’s why He does what He does.
How should we respond to this challenging teaching from Romans 9? What do we do when God’s will is confusing or outrageous or infuriating?
Humility first. After all, He is God and we…are not. That’s a good place to start. And the fact that we don’t always understand or agree with Him is actually a good sign.
“Only if your god can outrage and challenge you will you know that you worship the real God and not a figment of your imagination…. If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshiping an idealized version of yourself.” —Timothy Keller, The Reason for God
We shouldn’t be surprised that the Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Eternal, Infinite, Self-Existent One sees things differently than we do.
We can remind ourselves that things feel broken because they are broken. Things are no longer Very Good as they were in the garden. Pain, sin, sickness, betrayal, abuse, and death are facts for all people. No one escapes. Everybody hurts, sometimes. All creation is groaning.
The shocking thing is that God would devise a plan of salvation to end this groaning! Inexplicably, He freely chose to make a way through Christ to heal our sin and sickness and even destroy death, giving us hope in a future new heaven and new earth—unstained and unbroken forever.
That’s something only a good God would do.
But what about the meantime? When we can’t see what He sees or know what He knows? When it’s hard to believe that something so bad can be working for good?
We say what Jesus said when facing an awful reality: Thy will be done. I don’t understand. I don’t like this. But I choose to trust that You are good and loving and wise—and that You can work through even this.
By faith we say, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.”
Amen.
“Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’” Isaiah 46:9-10.