It seems clear to me based on some of the things that I hear and read that we sometimes lose sight of who God really is. We even seem to go so far as to question God’s justice, motives, and judgment. I see this more and more with people expounding relativist views that try to take God’s laws to task because they feel they aren’t relevant today – as if God should be subject to our societal norms and whims. They have completely lost sight of whom they are talking about – the God of the universe – who existed before the universe as we know it was even created, who created everything we know, everyone we know, and will exist long after all of that has passed. This is who they presume to judge and to try to relegate to an abstract idea or philosophy rather than our Creator and God. C.S. Lewis had a rather salient quote for this in his work entitled “ The Problem of Pain” it went – “A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell.” Such thinking is the height of our human arrogance, and yet we see it expounded on everything from social media debates to interpersonal discussions with those who claim to be “spiritual” but who want to have a “higher power” that is convenient to their way of thinking. They are idolaters, plain, and simple.
There is no debate – God is unchanging because He does not need to – if His ideas do not fit with societal norms, then it is the societal norms that are at odds with the natural order as defined by Him who created all and should be changed. It has been said many times; there is nothing new under the sun. Almost everything we encounter – every social issue, every political scandal, every moral deviation, has all been encountered before and been addressed by God’s law. It is we who are defective, not God. It is we who must change, not God. If you look around at our country today, it is rather evident that a mess has been created. We have social injustices, we have disease, we have rampant fears and anxieties, we have violence and death, we have arrogance that is frankly the root of most of it. We have become a society of profoundly arrogant, self-entitled, spoiled children that have made a mess of their homes and are now getting to the point of frustration where many rail against God as having not kept His word because we are encountering so many hardships. We now question God’s existence because He is not doing as we would like. We do all this after having pushed Him aside, relegated Him to the point of obsolescence and indifference, pushed Him from our schools, government, and the public eye in general because we are embarrassed by Him because He might offend someone else’s sensibilities (if only that were so, at least they would then be thinking of Him and learning something that could lead to salvation). Yet in all this, we have the audacity to question His very existence because we do not feel He is sufficiently present and working for us. No kidding – we kicked Him out. He is not going to be present where He is not wanted. He gave us free will, and we have exercised it poorly.
If we want Him back, we need to ask. Truly ask, with actual repentance and sincerity, not just words. We need to do this by showing it in how we live, how we make choices in our lives, how we live by His law. The seed of all this discontent, anguish, and sorrow was sown by the enemy, and we spread it about without looking back. We now need to turn. We need to cultivate that good seed and ensure it can grow to produce a harvest of fruitful actions, not the weeds of corrupted lifestyles, deviant practices, and idolatrous ways of living and thinking. If we do not, we will see no change, and there will definitely be a lot of those bundles of weeds to be thrown into the fires at the end of the age. We cannot simply point the finger at others and say they are responsible. If we are not actively engaged in refuting, educating, and bringing others to the proper knowledge of our Lord, we are just as guilty. To turn a situation around is difficult, but not impossible. It requires persistence, patience, and courage to move forward. We will need to work, to sweat, to sacrifice, and to ultimately demonstrate to make this happen – and that is our mission. Facebook posts will not suffice, mere words will not be adequate, we must live what we espouse. We must have the courage to then be truthful about what we believe, whether others agree with us or not. We must grow into this kind of life, just as the seed of God will grow within us and guide us as we progress in this effort. We are not alone; He is very much with us, but we must show that we want Him in our lives, and want Him to guide our world.
The Deacons Bench 