I have never painted myself into a corner, but I have unwittingly mopped myself into one. When that happens, you have to very carefully pick your way across the wet floor and hope you don’t track footprints. That’s the way I feel about my last blog post, knowing that I would have to gingerly make my way back to safe ground again. For any discussion of God’s provision is a volatile one for many, including me at times, as I stated in my last blog post. What does God’s care and provision look like in everyday life?
What I have found speaking to this issue is that quoting platitudes doesn’t help. Here’s one: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” When someone is suffering from a lack of resources to pay rent or a mortgage, or healthcare to cover an illness, clichés only add frustration. The same with spouting Scripture, unless it is specific to the situation and shared with genuine concern and empathy. Reading Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount about God’s care (Scriptures quoted in my previous blog post), I have been uneasy at times, because He is waxing poetic at that moment (lilies spinning, flowers wilting) and I confuse easily.
Here’s something I am not confused about in this regard: The Gospel message in its entirety (eternal security as well as fullness in our earthly life) is true for every one of us as God’s children, and if it’s not true for every one of us, then it’s not true for any of us.
While I believe this right down to my toenails, it doesn’t take much of an imagination to see that it can lead to difficulties. Somehow we have become programmed to believe that if we truly believe, have faith and live for God, He will reward us with full cupboards and material goodness. The problem comes when not every believer, with full faith in God and living for Him, experiences these blessings.
I wonder if our misconception about material blessings stems from God’s dealing with the Israelites in the Old Testament. Read the beautiful picture of God’s abundant blessing promised to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 28, and the equation becomes crystal clear—as long as the Hebrew people kept God’s mandates, life really would be a bowl of cherries with very few pits, and God would deal with those.
But is this a picture of God’s action in a New Testament world, as Christians rightly claim to be God’s spiritual children? I personally think not. The New Testament creates a clear picture of Jesus revealing to His followers a new covenant relationship with God, one that fulfills and supersedes the Old Testament covenant. One example that might help to illustrate this change with respect to God’s provision is the story in John 9 of Jesus healing the man born blind:
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” the disciples
asked Jesus.
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God
should be revealed in him.”
The disciples made the assumption that someone in the scenario had sinned because according to their old covenant understanding, as long as they kept God’s commandments they would experience prosperity, including presumably abundant health (considering that the various maladies listed in Deut. 28 are in the curses half of the chapter, associated with disobedience).
Scripture needs to be taken as a whole, nothing out of context. When compared with Jesus’ many statements about God’s then-present and coming kingdom turning life’s assumptions upside-down, the passage in John 9 fits like a puzzle piece that helps complete the picture. No more can we count on that bowl of pitless cherries as a reward for our good behavior. God’s plans for us, I think, are richer and more complex.
And while we’re on the subject, what good behavior are we talking about? As the Old Testament unmistakably illustrates, from Adam and Eve to Moses, David, and the kings that followed until the kingdom was no more, there is nothing much good about the human race. We, like our predecessors, fail to love God and put Him first, and unselfishly love our neighbors as ourselves. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). What does this mean for us today?
It means we deserve absolutely nothing. Praise be to God, who doesn’t give us what we deserve.