A few months into the pandemic, when it was clear that there was no such thing as flattening a curve, and event after event was forced to be canceled, something I consider to be really important made its way into my consciousness. I knew, as many of you did, that God was not surprised by COVID-19, nor was God stressed out about what would happen next. In all things, God was still reigning in heaven and we could trust that fact. And what that truth meant was that when all of us were making all sorts of plans – prayerful, Spirit-led plans for really good things – anyone who planned anything who believed it was Spirit-led had been allowed to move forward into something that was never going to happen. In other words – God allowed us to fail.
I’m sure God had reasons for that; and that when we are in his presence and are allowed to see the big picture, I have no doubt we will understand things differently. But when we consider who we are in light of who God is it is really helpful and necessary to keep our finite nature always in view. We can’t really understand God’s finite nature because we know nothing of it. Therefore, when we read texts like the one today, we must keep God’s infinite nature in mind so that we don’t become obsessed with understanding exactly what God is doing and why. In this passage, God allows his prophets to speak, calling to mind the great prophets of Elijah who withheld rain from Israel and sent fire from heaven; as well as Moses, turning the rivers red with blood and bringing all types of plagues; and in this vision he allows them to be murdered; to then bring them back to life. From where we see things, life and death look permanent; but in God’s view they simply are not.
This passage leads us to more questions and doesn’t offer much in the way of hope either, unfortunately. But as we see, the visions aren’t done. God is still communicating, and as we pause today, the best thing for us to do is remember God’s holiness and know that because of that trait, we have nothing to fear.
Questions for reflection:
- How comfortable are you with the tension of not understanding what God is up to? How has this changed over your lifetime?
- What is one way that our human, finite nature, prevents us from understanding who God is?
- Take a moment to thank God for revealing these things to us, and ask God to give you wisdom as he sees fit as you continue to read his word.
Old Testament reading: Amos 1-2