2 people, 100 feet from each other.
1 person staring at his house fully in tact, untouched by the Colorado fire.
Thanking God.
1 person staring at a pile of ashes that used to be his house destroyed by the Colorado fire.
Cursing God.
Is God responsible for one? For neither? For both?
Option 1. Responsible for one…that means he is either rewarding the behavior of the one whose house did not burn or he is punishing the one whose house did burn. That pretty much describes all the world religions except Christianity. So the majority of the planet believes in this philosophy. I can trust myself to do the right things to get the right outcome.
Option 2. Responsible for neither…that means there is a God who is uninvolved. And that means life and its outcomes are completely up to me. A significant portion of the world believes this as they don’t believe God is active or they don’t believe God is real so all that happens is random so in this case the guy who lost his house should have lived in a different place that wasn’t at risk. Or, it’s just bad luck. I can trust myself to manipulate, think, choose and force my way to outcomes that benefit me.
Option 3. Responsible for both…this means that God gets credit and blame. What this really means is I have to trust…God.
It means I don’t get to understand why one friend’s house burned and another didn’t. It means I don’t get to understand why I have a heart that causes pain.
What do I get to understand? I understand that I can’t earn my house not burning. I understand that I can’t control all circumstances to keep my house from burning.
What do I need then if I cant understand it all?
I need to understand that God is good. Not a whole lot different than my kids when I would say no or discipline them for something and they just didn’t understand what was happening or why I was doing it…but they understood I loved them and that I was good.
Reluctance isn’t a sin. My kids were reluctant to trust me, but they did.
I’m reluctant at times to trust God…but I do. It’s the best option on the table.
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