God will decide

The baseball weekend was nearing its climax yesterday when a deep theological issue was tossed into the middle of the heat, dust and tension. We were behind, in the championship game, by a score of 7 to 3. A man came up and asked, "Who is winning?" One of the mom's responded that the other team was winning. I reminded them that we may be winning, we were just currently behind. (As it turned out, we scored five more times, making the final score was 8-7 so we were winning all along!) One of the dads then said that God will decide who wins.

Really?

I do not think that is true. I do not think God sits in heaven and makes the decision that little Bobby will strike out, or little Billy will make an error. I do not think that God makes the umpire call someone out or safe. It is a small thing, but a large thing. If God is controlling every event (micro-managing) then He is also controlling every event on a baseball diamond. He is picking winners and losers at each moment.

In such a world there is no divine intervention. Everything is a divinely controlled event. One of the most drawn out stories of God's activity among us is the Joseph account. There is a famine. Joseph's brothers, who  had sold him into slavery years before, come to Egypt for food. Joseph, through a series of divinely inspired acts, has risen to a place of authority. His brothers, not recognizing him, are beseeching him for food. As the story turns out, there is reconciliation among the brothers, Joseph sees his father again, and all the family lives in Egypt where they grow and multiply until the time of Moses.

The question is, did God create the famine? If God set Joseph up to rescue Israel, isn't it also true that God endangered Israel? If a father intentionally pushes his son into the river, then dives in to save him, do we call the father a hero? If a mother slices her child with a razor, then at the last moment binds up the bleeding wound and provides medical care, do we call that motherly concern? One problem with using analogies about God is that God is infinitely above us. So there may be a sense in which what would be true of parents in such a case is not true of God. However, that means that God cannot be known or understand in any way by us. And it also means that understanding is something outside or our control. You see, God would be controlling what we know and do not know. In the end, we would be sock puppets... (and God would be the author of everything we say and think, which means there is no need for divine  revelation because everything comes comes from God so everything is divine revelation)

Do I think God chose us to win yesterday? No. I led the team prayer before the game. (Priests get called on to do such things). We prayed for God's glory. We prayed for safety. We prayed for each boy to be sanctified. But we did not pray to win. We did not assume that was one of the options. My hope is each boy will love and serve the Lord. I think that is God's desire as well. I think God can and does intervene during the game. Usually for something more important than who is winning. In the end, it is about people's relationship with Him. How we respond to Him in loss or victory. How we focus on the Kingdom, whether we play or sit the bench. How we treat one another, regardless of the jersey they wear.

It is true that God will decide. I am not sure exactly what He decides and what He hands over to us. But I think it worth pondering. The questions shows up all the time. How we understand the answer and its many implications will impact the way we live our lives. I am thinking He has handed over much to us. There are limits, of course, but we are the ones gifted and challenged, by God, to tend the earth until His Time comes. The Final Consumation when the heavens are torn asunder and the Lord comes into our midst to rule. Until then, we pray, "Your kingdom come!" and try to act like citizens awaiting the King's return.