No Heavenly Sweetheart
God's no heavenly sweetheart we're to ceaselessly croon
romantic ballads about. (Don't you get tired of this saccharin God that
fills so much of Western inspirational literature?) He means to redeem
us from sin and fill us full of life and it doesn't matter to him that
many of us don't want that. He wants it! If we spurn his love and
persist in holding him in contempt we lose eternally but he gets no joy
out of our loss (Ezekiel 18:23,32).
Furthermore, God may well use our sinfulness to gain his holy and
generous purposes and still hold us accountable for our sins (see Romans
3:5-8). It isn't to our credit that God can make our wickedness serve
glorious ends. He would rather that we serve him and our fellow-humans
in righteousness but if he can't get that he will use our evil to bring
about his good and still hold us accountable for our wickedness.
This truth holds true at the individual, national or international level.
If God chooses to chastise rebellious Israel to bring them back to
himself and to life (see Amos 4:6-13) this is a generous and holy work
of God. But if the instrument God uses to chastise wicked Israel is a
wicked nation (Assyria, in Israel's case) then there are two purposes
being carried out in the one event. Assyria doesn't mean to do God's
holy and generous will but intends to do its own cruel will (see Isaiah
10:5-7). But in Assyria's evil purpose of self-service God carries out
his own generous and holy act of redemptive chastisement. Assyria is
accountable for her evil and God is accountable for his glorious
goodness in restoring rebellious Israel.
The same is true in regard to Christ's cross. In our first century
"fathers" and "mothers" we carried out our wicked will against God in
Jesus Christ (Acts 2:23b) and we are accountable for it. But in our very
act of evil God was carrying out his own glorious and generous will to
redeem us all (Acts 2:23a and 4:25-28).
So when we say the suffering in the world is of God, we're not saying
that God rises in the morning and, with a yawn, decides, "Think I'll
hurt a lot of people today." No, much of the suffering in the world has
man's evil stamp on it. But (and this is an important but) the suffering
also has the gracious and generous holy hand of God in it. The wicked
human intention doesn't mean there is no divine hand in it. Think again
of the preceding paragraph and wonder at the wonder of it all.
You might find my Celebrating the Wrath of God, Waterbrook Press, of interest to you.)