"For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" Romans 11:34. The answer is NOBODY.
We find this aspect of Gods sovereignty terrifying. More often than not, we want him to have fairy wings and spread fairy dust and shine like a precious little star,dispensing nothing but good times on everyone, like some kind of hybrid of Tinker Bell and Aladdin's genie. But the God of the Bible, this God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is a pillar of fire and a column of smoke. His glory is binding. It undoes people. It takes people out. "It isa fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10:31
"Nobody gets to counsel God. Nobody gets to give God advice. Nobody gets to straighten Gods path. No one."
"Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" Romans 11:35
If everything is God's, you have nothing to give him that he doesn't already own. This means that you cannot put him in your debt. And this means, alternately, that God owes no man anything. Our very existence has been gifted to us by his grace.
While we lament the apparent injustice of pain and suffering, how often do we forget that every good thing in a fallen world is wholly a gift of Gods mercy and grace? We think to question God when bridges fall but not to wonder at his grace that every bridge does not. Every fit of laughter, every delectable morsel of food, and every single smile it's the result of his mercy and grace; he owes us none of it.
Now let me tell you why this is so terrifying. If this is true, we have nothing with which to negotiate with him, nothing to bargain with. But it has been my experience that most evangelicals believe Christians are in a bargaining position. We carry an insidious prosperity gospel around in our dark, little, entitled hearts. We come to the throne and say, "I'll do this, and you'll do that. And if I do this for you, then you'll do that for me."
In the end God says, "you keep trying to repay me with stuff that's already mine." Some of us even try to bargain with our lives. But God says, "Please. I'll take that life if I want it. I'm God."
We presume upon our service. "I'll serve you, God!" we say. But he replies, "I'm not served by human hands as though I need anything (Acts 17:25). What are you going to do, give me something to eat? Paint my house? What are you going to give me, as if I'm lacking?"
And even this truth is further revelation of Gods grace, because it shows us that he doesn't need us; rather, he WANTS us. When we who call ourselves Christians realize how utterly self-sufficient God is all within himself-the three in one- the gift of Christ to us and for us becomes all the more astonishing. And we will want it this way. Because a God who is ultimately most focused on his own glory will be about the business of restoring us, who are all broken images of him. His glory demands it. So we should be thankful for a self-sufficient God whose self-regard is glorious.
Most of us have been told that God created the universe, created all that exists within the universe, and employed the depth of his omnipotence and omniscience to create this because he desired fellowship with man. Have you heard this line of thinking before? It is a very sweet idea, and it would be a great slogan for aChristian motivational poster if it weren't for what the Bible actually ACTUALLY teaches, which is that this idea is almost blasphemous. Are we to believe that God- in his infinite perfection- was lonely? And that the response to this loneliness was to create a bunch of glory thieves? Is that the infinite Gods solution to this hypothetical imbalance in his relational well-being? This is what many of us have been led to believe. And out of our self-regard, we like to picture that a holy, glorious, splendid God- perfect solely within his Trinitarian awesomeness- wanted to be able to stand in a warm-hued living room, romantic music swelling, and look across at us and say, "You complete me?"
Thank you, Matt Chandler. These are all quotes from his book, "The Explicit Gospel." Take some time to chew on them. I know I need to.
