Who Would Be God?

Years ago, when I made an ill-informed choice and landed in some distressing circumstances, I blamed God! In fact, I was pretty mad at Him. "How could this happen to me?" I stormed. "How could you let me make such a huge mistake?"

God is very calm when He answers such questions. "If you couldn't make a mistake," I heard Him say in my heart, "who would be God in your life?" Now I may have been foolish to ask God such a thing, but I am not stupid! I knew for sure that I did not want to manage life by myself. I did not want to be my own God.

Sometimes we are so determined to see our own agenda worked out, that we try to use God to enable that. I believe that God hears us when we pray, and I believe that sometimes He does things in answer to prayer that He would not otherwise do. But that He can be manipulated because we invoke His name is far from true. I believe in miracles too; sometimes there is no explanation for an outcome except such Divine intervention. But to expect God to unhinge the regular working of the Universe because there is something I want is likewise false.

s If we could re-route tornadoes and floods and earthquakes at will, who would be God?

s If we could always prevent broken bones and car breakdowns and layoffs in the lives of those we love, who would be God?

s If we could provide bountiful crops and a cure for cancer and blissful marriages, who would be God?

s If we had the power to end world hunger, threats of terrorism, and illiteracy, who would be God?

Sometimes it's quite easy to see that our circumstances, pleasant or otherwise, are the direct result of choices we have made. But it is not always that clear. Sometimes simple cause-and-effect doesn't apply, but we still want desperately to believe there is an existential reason for everything. So when good happens, people say, "I—or you or they—must be living right." When bad things happen, we wonder, "What did I/we/they do to deserve this?"

There is spiritual wisdom in asking God if He wants to teach us something through the situation in our lives or in the world, but He does not owe us explanations for everything. Father Cavanaugh explains to Rudy (in the "movified" story of an aspiring football player, 1993), "In thirty-five years of religious study, I have only come up with two hard, incontrovertible facts: there is a God and I'm not Him."

We're not God. And aren't you glad?

MaryMartha


Related posts:
What Job Learned about Reasons (here)
Is There a Reason for Everything? (here)
Reconciling (here)

Art from http://www.sxc.hu/