Conversation Point

In This Moment

God's Voice

Pat Robertson, 700 Club host, and Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans, publicly shared their faith perspectives in the past few days in succinct statements regarding recent foreign and domestic events. Robertson felt compelled to express his belief that Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel, had been struck by God with a massive stroke because he is carving up the State of Israel in a way that is displeasing to God (Mr. Sharon is still healing and is unavailable for comment). Nagin is very clear that God is angry with America for a variety of reasons, including our involvement in the Iraq War, which is by we were plummeted with multiple, fierce hurricanes this past season.

While God has indeed chosen prophetic voices throughout history to speak what is frequently unpopular and uncomfortable, and God has also used personal and natural events to get our attention and realign our purposes with Divine intent, I am unsure as to whether God is communicating to us what Robertson and Nagin believe God is communicating to them. Very clearly, listening to God, and speaking on God's behalf, requires discernment and faith.

Considering both men's comments, I wonder why they believe God has such a mindset as to damage and wound the very creation that came to be by God's own hand. Why would a parent want to debilitate their own child in the name of national boundaries? Why would an architect, landscaper, painter, sculptor or writer choose to destroy their own works out of anger or frustration, taking along with the mangled debris the hopes and lives of those using their creations? That perspective of God makes no sense to me, although it seems quite common among most people in our country. Romans 8 speaks of God being for us when everything and everybody else is against us, but somehow the communal belief persists that God is usually angry, agitated, or at the very least, miffed with us to the point of needing to make us miserable. When everyday moments irritate us, we assume God has it in for us because we didn't do what we were supposed to, whether or not we can define what "supposed to " entails. Missed parking spaces, lost promotions, ill-fated romances, and weight gain, all get blamed on God because we feel guilty, whether we are or not. So many of us assume that what we would do to someone or something based on our own feelings is what God would do too. Punishing ourselves for poor choices we've made around busy shopping times at the mall, work opportunities, relational options, and lifestyle choices, has nothing to do with God.

In fact, these are indications that we have disconnected from God. It becomes more difficult to believe the words from Genesis, that,"God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good (Genesis 1:31)." God's creation includes us, and although none of us is perfect, we are each loved, and continuing to believe that God has a need to shame, wound, and outright destroy us to make us more obedient or faithful is counterproductive to God's loving purpose. Sooner, hopefully rather than later, we as people of faith will need to draw on our God-given creativity and realize that there are more faithful ways to understand God's activity in the world than as one big game of tag in which we are maimed or dead at God's whimsy.

"By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against such things(Gelatins 5:22)." Believing that God's loving Spirit is still alive, well, and moving among us, I hear instead the voice of God speaking through the peaceful exchange of power in Israel as Mr. Sharon now recovers from his illness. Two of his protégées are working together for the good of their country, as opposed to their own political ambitions. Even through New Orleans struggles to clean and bind its wounds, the media has made strong efforts to keep us updated on its progress, and remind us of the needs of our fellow citizens. Stories of volunteers going to offer assistance in any way needed, and others of people continuing to send material aid, resonate as God's kind, generous, gentle, faithful Spirit.

God's voice is not always leveled at us in rage, but often arrives as a meaningful exchange between Creator and created. Sometimes it is all about being aware of our perspective, and listening for what we need to hear, not what we fear most.

Until next time, God's blessings.

posted by Cory L. Kemp @ 6:34 PM