The Sword Room

Yesterday I read about the NFL receiver who blamed God after he dropped the game-winning pass. He was open and standing all alone in the end zone, and the pass was on target. His team lost, and I am sure he felt as bad as Bill Buckner did when he booted an easy grounder in the world series when he was the Red Sox first baseman. Or that umpire who made a horrible call last year and robbed that pitcher of a perfect game.

Anyway, this wide receiver blamed God for the dropped pass. He said that he has been praising and serving God faithfully, and this is how He rewards him? His tone was angry, and he said this is an offense he will not forget. That last part sounded almost like a threat.

What an idiot! First off, God did not drop the pass–he did. Did God allow him to drop the pass? Of course. Could God have stopped him from dropping it? Undoubtedly. This knucklehead jock needs a lesson in divine providence. God is indeed totally sovereign. He is in absolute control and works all things after the counsel of His will. Nothing happens in the universe–evil and natural disaster included–apart from His will. Why he allows the rain to fall on the just and unjust alike may seem confusing to us, but that makes it no less true.

The assumption behind our objections is that if we serve God then He owes it to us to not allow anything bad to come into our lives. Such an attitude is a bit more understandable when we see a godly person stricken with cancer, raped, or murdered. But in the grand scheme of things, how important is a dropped pass? Truth be told, there were probably many others who prayed that the player in question would fumble it.

A few years ago a crabbing boat out of our little town of Blaine, Washington, went down in the Bering Sea. The boat simply never showed up at the processing boat with its load, as scheduled, and all radio contact was lost. The coast guard responded to the emergency beeper found floating in about four-hundred feet of water, and all the crab pots were loaded and unpicked. The boat had capsized and sank while all the crew were asleep, and in the twenty-eight degree water they had no chance of survival.

One of the crew members was the son of one of our church elders. I remember the days and weeks following the tragedy. It is always a terrible thing to lose someone this way, but even worse when there are no remains to bring home and give a proper burial. Fortunately, the lost son was a believer, and his mom and dad knew heaven was his home. But they struggled with how God could have allowed such a thing to happen to them. To them the thought of someone blaming God for a dropped pass would seem insulting.

But this man used to argue with me about the sovereignty of God in general, and about unconditional election and predestination specifically. Now he was faced with a situation in which the doctrine of divine sovereignty took on a deeper meaning. We spent many hours praying and talking over coffee. As a father of four young sons at the time I could imagine in a small way his anguish. Here is the conclusion we arrived at. If God is not absolutely sovereign over all which comes to pass, then sinking boats are no different, really, from dropped passes. They are random acts with no real meaning in the universe. Sh*# happens and that is that. It is what it is. Why ask why? If God is not in control then there is no one to trust, no one to lean on. If God is in control then He has a reason for everything he permits to happen–even though that ultimate purpose is hidden from our sight.

The bottom line is that God does not need to run anything by us, and when He allows adversity to touch us He owes us no explanation. When some brain-dead professional athlete blames God for a dropped pass, it shows he is ignorant of the true nature of God as well as the many blessings God has already allowed him to enjoy.

Today started out like any other day. The usual quiet time followed by coffee with Connie before heading to the office at my day job. I loaded the Ford Ranger with some trash to take to the dump on the way into town.

About half way there the truck started to sputter and lose compression. Then the head gasket went. I have known for awhile that this was going to happen, but I kept milking it as long as possible. In this day of cell phones one quick call and Connie was on her way, having the day off from work. We had to load the trash in the Venture Van and take it to the dump, then we went into Ferndale to line up a tow truck. There was a wait of an hour so we were able to go for a late breakfast.

The tow guy hauled the truck back to Blaine and $116.10 later I was back in business. Luckily we have another vehicle I was able to drive. I could not help but think that had this happened twenty-five years ago the scenario would be much different. No cell phone. No extra money to just have the truck towed, which would mean lining someone up to help me pull it home on the back roads. Not sure how I would have solved the garbage problem. Last but not least, no money to replace or repair the Ranger.

At first I felt a twinge of guilt for getting off that easy. There are so many in the world with so much less than me. On the other hand, the prosperity I enjoy comes to me from the hand of God. I will enjoy it and be thankful. But I will not forget what it used to be like. God was no less sovereign and in control then; but thank God he has allowed me to be more empowered on this day. Thank you, Jesus! Especially for the extra time I got to spend with my wife of 34 years.

One day at the gym about two weeks ago my friend Doug and I had just enjoyed an hour on two of the nine treadmills on a wall lined with windows. We had a beautiful vantage point situated high enough to allow us to see over the tops of buildings to Bellingham Bay in the distance. We had the whole wall to ourselves as we stood cooling off on our respective treadmills discussing a recent post I had written on Gnostic Christianity. We were talking about how God, even though He is transcendent, holy, and majestic, is also immanent and providentially involved within the creation. He is not synonymous with it, but He is present at every point within it and providentially holds it together with His mighty sovereign hand.

In case I have not mentioned this before, I do not believe in natural laws that operate independently from God. Things like what we call gravity work the same way every time because God actively causes them to work. The universe does not operate like a huge wristwatch that God designed to be wound up and then left to run on its own. Right down to the atom, it is God who holds all things together by the Word of His power. Were it not for God’s providential hand the universe would fly into chaos immediately, and but for His common grace humanity would plunge into complete depravity like steel shavings racing toward a magnet. The conditions would make a scene from The Road Warrior look Utopian by comparison.

Some will object that this view of God’s providence makes Him ultimately responsible for evil and natural disaster. Better to opt for a view that sees Him as allowing these conditions–one step removed from actually decreeing/causing them. But if He allows them is it not because He chooses to do so? And if He knows for certain that they will happen are they not predetermined? If He could stop them why does He choose not to? I suppose you could say He does not know the future exhaustively or that He really is not in control of what happens in His creation. But in that case you would be denying the deity of God!

I explained to Doug that evidence of God’s nature and presence are everywhere evident to the eyes of the regenerate. The breathtaking view of the bay reflects His power and creativity. The pretty girl on the stair-stepper behind us reveals that God created beauty as a reflection of His nature. The people talking to one another in logical meaningful language mirror the rational and relational nature of the Triune Godhead. The sophisticated technology behind the various exercise machines speaks of knowledge on loan from God to man. Right down to the blue color of the sky. We ascribe the abstract quality of ”blueness” to what we see; but it is God’s color, and He has graciously allowed us to appreciate it. God is all-present and in absolute control. Man was created in God’s image with the capacity to recognize all this, but sin has marred Imago Dei to where otherwise intelligent sinners are blinded to the witness of God all around them in their feigned quest for “evidence.”

I did not intend to launch into a lengthy theological treatise today, so I will cut to the chase. As Doug and I were talking, a man who looked to be sixty-ish stepped onto a treadmill right next to us. His treadmill was in the corner, and we were standing on the two machines right next to him, leaving six empty ones lined up the rest of the way down the wall. With my back turned to the man I continued my conversation with Doug, and after maybe five minutes I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and the man said something like: “Hey, if you guys are just gonna’ talk, why don’t you take it somewhere else? I mean, if you were exercising, fine. But you’re just standing here talking, and I want some peace and quiet while I work out.” I glanced back over at Doug, who looked slightly irritated, before replying. “Sure, no problem. We were just leaving. Enjoy your workout.” Later in the locker room I said hi to the same guy and he repeated his rationale about it not being a problem if we were actually using the treadmills, etc. I introduced myself and shook his hand before heading to the showers without an argument.

Doug came in and said something like: “Listen, we pay our membership fees here. We have the right to walk or stand on the treadmills, as long as there are free machines and we aren’t holding other people up. We were there first. If he wanted privacy he could have chosen the treadmill on the other end of the wall.” I believe we would have been within our “rights” as paying members to do exactly as Doug suggested. Nor do I doubt that had we been talking about the Mariners the man would not have asked us to leave. To me the issue was simple. We had just been talking about how God is in control of everything. When you believe this you do not have to try to gain control of situations just for the sake of being in control. True, there are times when you must be responsible, stick to principle, and even defend what God has entrusted to you. But not in order to gain control. For the fact is you are not, ultimately, in control of anything apart from the sovereignty of God. You live in His world. You breathe His air. You eat His food. You drink His water. You use intelligence and strength on loan from Him. Even the energy with which a fool like Bill Maher shakes his fist at God comes ultimately from the One he so bitterly hates.

So when you are tempted to take things into your own hands just to be in control, be chill and know that God is God. Be responsible and make good choices under the umbrella of His absolute sovereignty.