Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man?
- Friedrich Nietzche
Existance is a conundrum. Creation’s glorious and everywhere, but it’s Creator’s intangible and aloof. Life’s joyous and wonderful, until consumed by pain and death. Humanity’s caring and creative, when we’re not hurting and destroying. Scripture adds to the quantum paradox. The Trinity’s Three and One. Christ is God and Man. The Kingdom’s here and not yet. Salvation’s by faith and works. Mankind’s fathered by God and the Devil. Humanity faces Heaven and Hell. Jesus has come and gone. And coming again.
That’s a lot to take in. Small wonder we get dazed and confused trying to make sense of it all. Thankfully, humanity’s been piecing the puzzle together for awhile now. God’s provided insights from godly men and women so we don’t have to go it alone. Yet, something seems missing from many Bible stories. We’re given details of the when and where people did right and wrong, but the how and why can be a little sketchy. Enter the Book of Psalms. Here we hear hearts soar and lament. We find the inner workings of faith and doubt. We glimpse past and future. Moments of happiness and horror expand our mind and soul. Throughout the Psalms, God’s plan and nature unfold. Written in real time. In hearts and lives. Throughout centuries of joy and pain.
Silent As Death Summary
God has been heralded as dead by philosophers and publishers alike. Tragically they are not alone. Billions have, are and will continue living fleeting mortal lives hardly giving God a second thought. When they do, multitudes without number find disillusionment and resentment coloring their better judgment. While possessing the Book of answers, modern Christianity fears addressing this crises. Rather than risk revealing shallow levels of devotion, Churchianity chooses instead to “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.” A strategy that has all but left us completely defeated.
For those willing to wade into the fray, a few questions seem in order. With God's existence a scientific certainty, why have so many of even the most brilliant among us declared God missing in action? Is He MIA or is there something sinister at work? What is the role of an authentically Biblical church in all this? Are we seeking God as diligently as we should? Is faith passively believing without seeing, or actively waiting on and wrestling with God until experiencing the undeniably miraculous? Because we believe.
The silence of God is no sideline issue. It strikes at the very core of faith, by challenging the viability of our relationship with humanity’s Creator and Savior. It highlights our propensity to casually assume salvation and preference for presumption. Not to mention our nearly wholesale embrace of worldliness, over and above the Scripture’s call to the anguish inherent in brokenness and repentance.
Silent As Death
Modern Psalm in the Night 4
I'm curious Lord. How did You feel about the January 9, 1966 New York Times headline “God Is Dead?"
You weren't shocked. Long before the foundations of the world You knew the end from the beginning. It wasn't even the first time You'd read Your obituary from a reputable source. In 1900 Friedrich Nietzsche threw down the gauntlet:
- “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?” - Emphasis QC’s
Nietzsche either didn't know or denied the great rational arguments proving Your existence. Evidence You are as the Bible describes. Sadly he died a few decades before science would reveal creation's Intelligent Design, demonstrating to a scientific certainty the existence of God. Evidence bolstered by Your fantastic fine tuning. He also failed to appreciate a myriad of Biblical prophecies already fulfilled.
His sentiment, that for all practical purposes You may as well not exist, raises an all important question. A question that could unlock one of the the greatest mystery in our universe. A question shared by every man and woman who's ever lived or ever will.
Why are You so silent the we should argue if You're alive or dead?
Without a satisfactory answer, theologians use apologetics to explain the question away. They claim we know You by faith, loosely defined as believing without seeing. Unfortunately, they have a point. I say unfortunately, because it's hard to believe the ends justify the means, when perhaps a 100 billion have suffered pain and death. Many of which, according to Your Word, will gnash resurrected teeth while screaming through resurrected throats throughout a hellish eternity.
Are You sure Your silence is for the greater good? I doubt Nietzsche would agree.
I say they have a point because many Scriptures raise the same issue. But others suggest something more. Something so wonderful that Christianity without it is merely "having a form a godliness while denying the power thereof." Could we have missed the most vital aspect of our faith? To know “Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings?" Might our definition of faith serve as an excuse, justifying apathy in seeking You. After all, there's plenty of Scripture suggesting faith isn't the belief in the absence of evidence, but rather just the opposite:
- "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1 King James Version
- "How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection." Hebrews 11:32-35 New Living Translation
- "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." John 14:12-14 New Living Translation
- "And then he told them, 'Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.' When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs. Mark 16:15-20 New Living Translation - Emphasis QC’s
- "Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women. As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed." Acts 5:14-16 New Living Translation
For all intents and purposes, when it comes to the power to demonstrate the veracity of our faith, we seem off-line. So allow me to continue a long standing tradition of those expressing how much we need and miss You. Clearly unworthy of their company, I echo the great prophets of old who lamented and complained about Your silence and distance. I add my cry to those of true Psalmists asking for Your presence and power, provision and protection:
- "Don't turn a deaf ear when I call you, God. If all I get from you is deafening silence, I'd be better off in the Black Hole. I'm letting you know what I need, calling out for help and lifting my arms toward your inner sanctum. Don't shove me into the same jail cell with those crooks, with those who are full-time employees of evil. They talk a good line of "peace," then moonlight for the Devil." Psalm 28:1-4 The Message
- "Help, God—the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help! Listen hard! Open your ears! Listen to my cries for mercy. If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that's why you're worshiped. I pray to God—my life a prayer— and wait for what he'll say and do. My life's on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning." Psalm 130:1-6 The Message
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