Psalm 11.7-11
A noted TV Evangelist explained his decision not to host an event in a major city in the following way. "Given more time, we can plan more effectively for what we always believe are opportunities for God to move mightily."
What are "opportunities for God to move mightily"? If we do not create the opportunity, is God unable to "move mightily"? Further, what does one mean by the phrase "move mightily"? Does God ever move in a manner that would not be described as mighty?
The attitude suggested by the evangelist’s statement concerns me. Regardless of the author’s intent, the implication of his statement is that God cannot, or will not move mightily without the cooperation of human beings. A sort of "if we do not build it, he will not come" mentality. Seemingly, those who had hoped the evangelist would visit their city will be left without a movement of God. Poor people, poor God.
Does the Bible’s portrayal of God and his activities indicate he is limited in any way by humanity? When the Lord instructed the disciples to gather in Jerusalem for Pentecost, he did so in order that they might be where he would act in a special way. The Lord did not indicate that the disciples’ being in Jerusalem was the key to God’s acting. God intended to pour out the Spirit in spite of what people might be doing. Peter declared that on that Pentecost day, the prophecy of Joel was being fulfilled. Hundreds of years earlier, God had stated what he would be doing at a point in the future. He did not condition his actions on the response of the Twelve. He asked no one’s permission to send the Spirit, nor did he wait for them to create the right circumstance.
Modern man has reduced God to explainable and understandable categories. As shown in an earlier post, some secular scientists view God as a function of human genetics. For one TV evangelist, God will not act till some human has provided him with the right venue. Some theologians are convinced that God is dependent on man, not the other way around. In fact, open theology (see previous post) grew out of one man’s inability to understand God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge. So, he created a new way to understand God.
"The Lord is in his Holy Temple. The Lord’s Throne is in Heaven." Neither his temple nor his Throne are upon the earth. Otherwise, the phrase from the Model Prayer, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven," would make no sense at all. We should seek the heavenly reality, not the earthly one.
If God can act only insofar as we have prepared the setting, he must not be much of a God. If spiritually hungry people in any city must wait for a TV personality to come to town before they can be changed by God, they are, of all people, to be pitied. What, by the way, happened to the Holy Spirit?
Pride goes before a fall, the writer of Proverbs declared. The problem with pride is that as an attitude, it masquerades. Most proud people do not realize they are prideful. Some see themselves as confident, others as humble. When any person believes God is dependent on him, he is guilty of pride. Thus, the need for the fall. Falling gives us an entirely different perspective on our selves.
David was not proud when he wrote Psalm 11. He was suffering one of life’s humiliations. He had found himself in need of help. He looked to the transcendent God, the One who knows all things, sees all things, and acts in such a way as to bring benefits to his children. David was at his wit’s end; he did not know what to do to change his circumstances; he did not have a plan that would enable God to act. He simply turned to the God of Heaven and Earth in his time of need, believing God to be able to meet any and every need in his life.
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