Reflection - Idols VIII

By Steve Hall

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061921.cfm
II Corinthians 12:1-10
Matthew 6:24-34

If I were to suggest that we just spend this time talking about God, you might find the idea agreeable. That is, you might find it agreeable until I more specifically introduced the subject with a tirade on the fires of hell, the anger of a powerful and vindictive god and the torment that awaits you, the great mass of sinners. Likewise, you might find it a bit dull or boring if I limited the conversation to the peculiarities of God the creator. Similarly, we might extend our discussion to observe the clockwork mechanics of God the watchmaker who set all things in motion and then sat back to watch what would happen.

Now these views among others have had their moment of prominence in the history of mankind. Some still hang around. You may not subscribe to any of these interpretations of the divine. Nevertheless, assuming that I were, in fact, to pose the notion that we should spend this time talking about God, you would necessarily search through your own education, experience, encounters and contacts, retrieving the notion of God which your life has seemingly taught.

There are those who have read the Scriptures and discover an angry and punishing God. There are those whose family or culture or even their church has taught them to worship the God of last resort, the God to whom we should go when all else fails. There are those whose God requires regular tribute, though the regularity of said tribute is indeterminate.

The first and most important commandment tells us: “I am the Lord your God. You shall have no strange (foreign, alien, material) God’s before me.” Another way of saying that is: Let me alone be God for you. Choose nothing else as your God. But what does that mean: to let God be God.?

Those who would conjure up an angry and vindictive God from the pages of Scripture have mis-understood the formative measures by which God attempted to teach the import of that first commandment. God, the contented creator, is no God at all, but rather the disinterested one whose creation is totally alien to him. God the watchmaker is nothing more than an observer on the sidelines. The God who inhabits mankind’s fall-back position may be serviceable to some, but is an academic abstract to others. The God who demands tribute is little more than a swelled-head to modern man. Slowly but steadily he has found himself ignored by men of Western Civilization.

If we examine any or each of these we will find a powerful element of the human imagination. None escapes a non-Scriptural interpretation of this God who would be God. None conforms to the truth of God as revealed by God. The Psalm is clear about the mindset of those who would truly revel in the God who is God.

The angel of the LORD encamps
    around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
    blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
Fear the LORD, you his holy ones,
    for nought is lacking to those who fear him.
The great grow poor and hungry;
    but those who seek the LORD want for no good thing.
Come, children, hear me;
    I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Which of you desires life,
    and takes delight in prosperous days?
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

In the passage from Matthew, Jesus will expound on the same teaching; and his words are neither hyperbole nor wishful thinking. Appropriately we can even extend them to

cover every event in life.

Do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’
or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’
All these things the pagans seek.
But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given you besides.

Notice the contrast Jesus makes. These are things the pagans — those who do not know God — seek. They are not the things that the one who knows God to be God should seek.

Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. So, let God be God.

And where does this end?

I would contend that there is no end; Jesus just didn’t have the time or opportunity to address everything. Consequently, we may readily include every other detail of our lives.

• Do not worry about where you will find a job.
  
• Do not be concerned about the salvation of your children.
  
• Do not struggle with the possibilities for a vacation.
  
• Do not become overly engaged with the direction of our country.
  

He is God.

He has and he will make you free to worship him without fear.