|
When we encounter or hear news of horrific evil, it is natural for us to groan and lament, to feel indignation and outrage, and to cry out for divine justice and even retribution... As people of faith in the LORD, we profoundly feel the tension between affirming both that our loving Creator sustains all things by the word of his power (Deut. 32:4; Psalm 33:4; Col. 1:16-17, Heb. 1:3, etc.) and yet acknowledging that the ongoing depravity of human beings yields untold suffering, heartache, and pain in this world. Some people attempt to reconcile God's sovereignty despite the presence of evil by saying that while everything God does is indeed for the best (without exception), human free will is beyond God's control, and therefore God produces the best outcomes, ceteris paribus, that is, given the circumstances... "Everything is in the hands of heaven" (הכל ביד השׁמים), the sages say, "except the fear of heaven" (חוץ יראת השמים). That is, everything that happens to us is supervised by Heaven, but the choices we make are in our own hands. One implication of this view is that even though God is all-powerful or "omnipotent" (i.e., kol-yakhol: כל-יכול), he cannot literally do everything, since (for example) he cannot create a rock so large that he cannot lift it, nor can he make 2+2=5, nor can he sin, and (using similar reasoning) neither can God create a human being without giving him or her the real ability to choose both good and evil. Indeed were God to eradicate the ability for people to make genuine moral choices (by overruling their will) then he would destroy what a human being essentially is... Moreover the regular use of imperative language found in Scripture assumes personal responsibility: "ought" implies "can."
Nevertheless taking this view seriously appears to leave everything of eternal significance up to human beings and their willingness to choose to be good rather than be evil – a desperate hope if ever there was one! Moreover to say that God "permits" or "allows" the free choice of moral evil seems to suggest a sort of "divine passivity" or even a withdrawal from creation, and in fact some of the sages have said that God necessarily "empties himself" or "contracts" his presence (i.e., tzitzum: צִמצוּם) since otherwise nothing could withstand his will. So which is it? How do we resolve these sorts of dialectical tensions? Does God infallibly work all things together for good - even working through the sinful choices and depravity of humans, so that everything is in some sense "perfect" ("all is well and all manner of thing shall be well," Rom. 8:2) - or does God, who is indeed infinite in perfection (אין סוף), all-powerful and all good, "withdraw" from creation so that human beings can affect their world and shape their own destiny? Can we reasonably expect God to miraculously intervene in situations over which we have no control, such as overruling the evil choices made by others, or by overruling natural evil and its consequences (such as sickness and mortal death), or is this expecting too much? When we affirm that everything God does is good we must be careful not to imply that evil doesn't "really" exist, nor may we ever impugn God's sovereign reign over all of creation, since he is indeed Ribbono shel Olam, the Master of all possible worlds...
Obviously we are not going to settle the philosophical "problem of evil" here, though we need to acknowledge that we indeed do have a real problem of evil – first within our own hearts and then as a matter of theology... The blindness of the moribund postmodern world is that it refuses to see the reality of human sin and evil, choosing other "narratives" to explain away depravity and wickedness in "natural" terms, and therefore it is ineffectual and powerless to account for the radical tragedy that marks human existence. For the believer in God, however, for the person who genuinely believes in and affirms the transcendental moral and spiritual order of existence, the dialectic between God and human evil must be navigated throughout the life of faith. For instance, people are beloved and made in the image of God, yet they are fallen, ruined, and under the divine judgment; God is both infinitely transcendent, high above the ways of man, and yet infinitely immanent, intimately concerned with every hair on our heads and every breath we take... The LORD is both here and yet not here, salvation is both complete and yet to be fulfilled, we have eternal life yet we will die; we live in a shadowy world of flux, seeking the "real world" in a heavenly realm, and so on. In other words we live in an "already-not-yet" state of redemption. Our best moments are beset with shadows; our darkest are limned with hope of the new eternal day to come. Holding fast to God in the midst of this ambiguity is a soul-building venture that helps us acquire the precious middah (quality) of patience. As Yeshua said, "In your patience (ὑπομονή) possess your souls" (Luke 21:19). In light of this great existential need, James the Righteous admonished us to ask God for wisdom grounded in faith: "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith (τὸ δοκίμιον ὑμῶν τῆς πίστεως) produces endurance. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given. But ask in faith, without doubting, for the person who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; a double-minded soul (δίψυχος) is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:5-8).
As I've mentioned before over the years, what's important regarding these harrowing matters is finding consolation and strength. In times of severe testing people often do not need further teaching, but rather "endurance," or what the New Testament calls hupomone (ὑπομονή), a word that means "remaining [μένω] under [ὑπο]" the Divine Presence while being tested. Hurting people do not need moral platitudes from others, but only the will to believe, the resolution to stay constant, and to ability breathe out simple prayers for help to the LORD: "God have mercy..." "Help me, O God..." "I need Thee, O Lord..." When we receive grace to faithfully suffer, we hear the Spirit whispering back to us: "Be not afraid..." "Live in me..." "Walk in the light..." "I am with you always..." "You are loved..."
The reason for what happens in our lives is often (always?) beyond our understanding, yet the righteousness of God's plan – even if undisclosed to us - must be accepted by faith. As it says: "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa. 55:9). The refusal to accept what cannot be understood is to worship the powers of the mind, and to elevate the role of human reason above even God Himself. Faith accepts God's goodness and trusts in his care, even if that means we find ourselves walking in the dark: "Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God" (Isa. 50:10).
מִי בָכֶם יְרֵא יְהוָה שׁמֵעַ בְּקוֹל עַבְדּוֹ
אֲשֶׁר הָלַךְ חֲשֵׁכִים וְאֵין נגַהּ לוֹ
יִבְטַח בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה וְיִשָּׁעֵן בֵּאלהָיו
mi · va·khem · ye·rei · Adonai · sho·mei·a · be·kol · av·do?
a·sher · ha·lakh · cha·she·khim · ve·ein · no·gah · lo?
yiv·tach · be·Shem · Adonai · ve·yi·sha·en · be·lo·hav
"Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant?
Let him who walks in darkness and has no light
trust in the Name of the LORD and rely on his God."
(Isa. 50:10)
Trusting in God (in Hebrew, bittachon - בִּטָּחוֹן) does not mean that we are obligated to affirm that this is "the best of all possible worlds," though it does mean we believe that eventually God will wipe away every tear and make all things right... Bittachon is a word for this world, which says, "Though he slay me, I will trust in him..." Those who call upon the LORD can trust not only in concealed good behind ambiguous appearances ("all things work together for good") but also in a future, real, substantive good that will one day be clearly manifest for us all... We fight the "good fight" of faith, which is a worthy struggle that eventually is realized for blessing. Meanwhile, may the LORD our God keep us from such depth of sorrow that leads to sickness, darkness and despair.
If you ask for bread, your heavenly Father will not give you a stone... The sages call this a kal va'chomer inference (i.e., קַל וְחמר, "light and weighty"), namely, that if a light condition is true, then a heavier one is certainly true... Yeshua used this kind of reasoning all the time: If God cares for the needs of the birds of the air, how much more (kal va'chomer) will he care for your needs? (Matt. 6:26). If God so clothes the grass of the field, how much more (kal va'chomer) will he clothe you (Matt. 6:30)? If your heavenly Father knows the number of hairs on your head, surely he knows the state of your soul. And if God wants us to walk in righteousness, kal va'chomer does he want us to know his love... Only God can give to us the love for him that he fully knows we so desperately need; only God can deliver us from our "disordered loves" to take hold of what is truly essential. All we can do is ask, and keep on asking - even as we struggle on, despite ourselves - until we begin to understand what we really need. It's as if we are constantly being asked, "Is this what you want?" and our choices confess the truth of what we believe... Only God does the miracle of real change within the human heart - only God can give life from the dead!
I once heard the following statement: "The optimist believes that this is the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist believes the optimist is right..." The facts remain the same for both, but what is different is something within the heart, something that moves the will to no longer recoil from the world but rather to accept it.... Faith is a type of courage, a willingness to take risks, even in the midst of ambiguity. It surrenders to God's plan and will, even if that plan makes no rational sense at the moment. Of course it is intellectually "safer" to abstain from such trust and to yield to a "hermeneutic of suspicion." It is woefully easy to play the skeptic, to toy with ultimate questions, to affect intellectual superiority -- but at what cost? Is the supposed "defense" against being mistaken more important the risk of commitment? But such an approach to life is a essentially a form of cowardice. Without risk, we would never marry, have children, or take hold of our dreams. Some people might dismiss the dream of God's love as nonsense and futility, but the Scriptures make it clear that such hope represents the very substance (ὑπόστασις) of our faith (Heb 11:1).
Dear friends, may you be strong in the LORD and in the power of His might, taking the "whole armor of God" so that you can "withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand" (Eph. 6:11-18). Shabbat Shalom and may you have peace in the truth of God.
|
