Posted by
Michael Scotto on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 12:12:27 PM
Delving Into What Appears to be Divine Apathy
"What mind is competent to grasp the sum of all this great world's misery, heaped up day after day, year after year, century after century? Human hearts may plan, and human hands achieve, some little to alleviate it, and the strong and ready arm of human law may accomplish much in the protection of the weak and the punishment of the wicked. But as for God - the light of moon and stars is not more cold and pitiless than He appears to be!" –Sir Robert Anderson, The Silence of God
My next blog entry was to be a short commentary on the charlatans from the Pentecostal movement who enrich themselves by making merchandise of their ignorant listeners. These are men and woman who believe God is their bellhop. They twist the words of scripture, rip verses from their contexts and make promises that should bring down the hammer of the law for false advertising ("a $1000 gift will unleash 1000 miracles into your life!").
These foul creatures play on the scriptural ignorance of their all-to-willing-to-be-fleeced flocks. However, just as we don’t live in a day when it is necessary to refrain from certain fruits or to build arks, we also do not live in a day in which God acts definitively in the lives of men.
Just as these false teachers fail to understand the day in which we live, so too do many who will question God for allowing a madman to wreak such destruction upon those who did him no wrong. However, it is not God's apathy that should be understood, but His grace.
A silent Heaven is a part of the mystery of God; but Holy Writ declares that a day is fixed in the Divine chronology when "the mystery of God shall be finished." And when that day breaks… then at last He will assume the power that even now is His by right, and openly reward the good and put down the evil. In a word, He will do then what men think He ought to do now and always. And if He delays to do this, it is not that He is "slack concerning His promise." God's own "apology" for His inaction is that He is "longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." - ibid
In this hour God acts as He will and answers prayers as He desires for we live in "the day of Man" and in "the age of grace." Man is ruling as he sees fit and God is dealing with the eternal fates of individuals in longsuffering grace. Man is an untrustworthy ruler. The Founders knew this and created a three-branch system of government based on the idea that any powers granted to men must be kept in check. John Adams knew well the depravity of man.
The violence at Virginia Tech was perpetrated by a man. It is the wickedness of man that was on display. God is silent in our day graciously waiting to end the Day of Man. As man abuses man he often wants to blame God, but such accusations are illogical and foolish.
No one may limit what God will do in response to individual faith. But we may confidently assert that, in view of His supreme revelation in Christ, God will yield nothing to the petulant demands of unbelief. And that revelation supplies the key to the dual mystery of a silent heaven and the trials of the life of faith on earth. - ibid
Next on the divine schedule is the Day of the Lord and the Day of Vengeance, but until then, we must understand the age in which we live. We don’t build arks, we don’t live communally and we don’t experience the promises given to another people in another age. Today, God is gracious and God is silent. And although silent, He is neither absent nor unfeeling. His silence towards some is also the manifestation of His grace to many more.
A SILENT Heaven! Yes, but it is not the silence of callous indifference or helpless weakness; it is the silence of a great sabbatic rest, the silence of a peace which is absolute and profound -a silence which is the public pledge and proof that the way is open for the guiltiest of mankind to draw near to God. When faith murmurs, and unbelief revolts, and men challenge the Supreme to break that silence and declare Himself, how little do they realise what the challenge means! It means the withdrawal of the amnesty; it means the end of the reign of grace; it means the closing of the day of mercy and the dawning of the day of wrath. -ibid
A Very Large Issue to Be Understood Not Trivialized
The space here is woefully inadequate to fully tackle this issue (and the writer woefully inadequate to explain the mind of God), but we must try and understand the record given us in His word concerning the age in which we live and the different ways in which He works in the lives of men.
To plead that the idea of Divine intervention in human affairs is unreasonable or absurd is only to afford a proof how easily the mind becomes enslaved by the ordinary facts of experience.The believer recognises that such intervention was common in ancient times, and the unbeliever most fairly argues that if there really existed a God, all-good and almighty, such intervention would be common at all times. The taunt would be easily met if the Christian could make answer that this world is a scene of probation where God in His infinite wisdom has thought fit to leave men absolutely to themselves. -ibid
We pray for the living victims of man’s sin in Virginia; the wounded and the families touched. We find comfort in knowing that a Living God has all within His sight and can use man’s wickedness to many to bring a sense of Himself to the individual.
But mostly our comfort is found in the fact that the Day of Man will not last forever. Our rebelion and mismanagement of this current age will give way to rule of God. It will be in that day that justice will fall rightly on man; some to destruction and some to an inheritance of grace.
To grace, therefore, we look to explain the silence. Christianity is the supreme and final revelation of the Divine "kindness and love toward man." Therefore when God again declares Himself it can only be in wrath, and wrath must await "the day of wrath." Not that human government has lost its Divine sanction, for "the powers that be are ordained of God." Nor yet that the moral government of the world is in abeyance: the laws of nature are relentlessly enforced, But in this higher sphere there is neither court nor constable empowered to deal with the sins of men; for He to whom alone belongs the high prerogative of judgment is now enthroned as SAVIOUR. God is no longer "imputing their trespasses" to men.' From the throne of the Divine Majesty there has gone forth the proclamation of pardon and peace, and this without condition or reserve. And now a silent Heaven gives continuing proof that this great amnesty is still in force, and that the guiltiest of men may turn to God and find forgiveness of sins and eternal life. God is silent because He has spoken His last word of mercy and love, and judgment must await the "day of judgment "- there can be no place for it in this "day of grace." -ibid
Sir Robert Anderson saw the vileness of man as head of Scotland Yard, yet he also understood the importance of the silence of God in our age. The illogical will blame God. The fool with question God. But the wise will seek to understand God's silence and rejoice in His grace as we mourn the fruits of wickedness from our fallen race.
EDIT: It appears as though Cho did not have a relationship with the first victim, si I removed the reference.
UPDATE: Franklin Graham was on E.D. Hill's Fox News program today (4/18) and was asked the "where was God?" question. Graham's answer was OK, but the true answer concerns God's grace. Those who question God's "failure" to act do not know what they are asking. If God were to wipe out sin and sinners (which He will do some day), it wouldn't just be Cho that would have to be stopped... we'd all have to be stopped. We live in an age of grace. Blame man for his sin and thank God for his longsuffering grace. As Job said, "Though He slay me, still I will trust in Him."