Knowledge of God and Man Connected.

John Calvin said, “Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.” This seems to be what most people think, even philosophy lectures at universities begin with the existence of God (philosophy of religion) and then move on to man, trying to figure out how man knows what is right and wrong (interesting, when you throw God out the equation, you can only toy with theories about right and wrong, there is never a basis…. ethics - God = nightmare)

To start with man cant look at himself without first looking to God, he cant understand himself without first turning to look at God, since it is in God that man lives and moves. The gifts, talents, abilities, everything we have is not from ourselves, it is all from God, He determined where and when we would live, what our IQ would be, our environment, everything. To try to figure out who one is or anything about oneself, without first looking to God is like a man trying to discover who he is, but not looking at his parents, background, or anything that caused him to be…. maybe this is why people have identity problems and what not…

However, God is the being from which all life comes, He is the font of every blessing, all the blessing we have point us upward to God. Now the infinitude (what a great word) of goodness which is in God becomes so much more real. A rich person, in the face of infinite riches might be a little amazed and think its great, but the man who comes from utter poverty can grasp what the riches really are, because he has come to grips with the nothingness he has, so he marvels at the riches.

More specifically, the ruin that sin has plunged man into, the pain, suffering, bondage, poverty, hatred all wall us in and cause us to look upward; not only because we are hungry and starving, but being shaken by fear might learn humility, that God is God, and guess what, we are man. Did you get that? When you are lonely, and in pain, depressed, worried, fearful, let it teach you humility (Broken and contrite spirit the Lord will accept).

In man there is an ocean of misery, ever since we were stripped from the divine clothes in Eden, our nakedness shows a great amount of horrible abilities (envy, pride, vengeance, lust etc.), every man being stung by conciseness of his own unhappiness, in some way obtains some knowledge of God. What I am trying to say is that all our evil and corruption reminds us that in God, and Him alone is the true light of wisdom, solid true beautiful, amazing, wonderful goodness.

Listen to what Calvin says about this, “We are … urged by our own evil things to consider the good things of God; and indeed, we cannot aspire to Him in earnest until we have begun to be displeased with ourselves” … wow! put that in your every-body-is-special-and deserves-the-best theology. Do you chatter about theology to feel pleased with yourself and escape the results of theology, to humble you?

I think many ‘reformed’ need to think on this, reformed (or put whatever theological label you want there) in theology will take you to hell, one needs to be re-formed in heart. Be honest, who doesn’t naturally trust in themselves? In their own abilities? Completely unaware of their own misery, not only teenagers, but everyone thinks they are immortal to one degree or another. As a result anyone who comes to a knowledge of himself is not only urged to seek God, but even led by the hand of God to find Him.

On the other hand, its also true that man doesn’t fully understand himself till he looks at God, and comes down after the look at God, to then look at himself. Mans pride works in such a way that we always look good to ourselves, we always look just, or at least, not too bad- we are only convinced by solid evidence of our own impurity, vileness, wickedness (I think to many of us just believe as an abstract thought that we are evil and wicked, but we are not moved by it, we don’t believe it as a fact which effects reality). We will never be convinced of our poverty and evil unless we first look at the Lord. He is the only standard which can show us what we are really like, when we compare ourselves with others it is like the ape looking at another ape and saying, “I am more human then you” maybe because he is sitting and the other hanging?!

We are all prone to hypocrisy, an empty bag labeled righteousness (goodness) will satisfy us, instead of righteousness itself. You know what I mean, people will be happy to just carry the empty bag from an expensive store. People who think they are good, that they have the power within themselves to please God, they are like people who in the afternoon go outside, and look around, they see cars, trees, children playing, the person then thinkis to himself “Ah, what good eyes I have” they look to distant mountains and their pride grows stronger, but wait- when they look up with their powerful eyes and look at the sun, their eyes begin to burn, the squint and pull weird faces, they cannot even begin to see any form or shape on the sun, they become confused and their eyes water…. the object which gives us light to see, also shows us how limited out vision is…. It is the same when we look at our spiritual qualities, as long as we don’t look beyond the earth we are happy with our abilities, with our righteousness, wisdom and goodness- we think of ourselves in the best ways and imagine ourselves to be nothing less then demi-gods, the masters of our own destiny. But should we ever look up and put our thought on God, and reflect on what kind of Being He is, and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness and wisdom and virtue, He who is the standard of what we should be like… we will see how silly the way we thought of ourselves really is, how the world pollutes our minds with thoughts of goodness inherent in us.

Now you see why in The Holy Bible men were so struck with dread and amazement when they were in the presence of God. You can see how the people who stood so firm and sure are now shaking and trembling.This is why people would die if they saw God…

Isaiah 24:23, “The moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign” When God comes to reign, the brightest objects will seem dark next to His brilliance.

See also: Judges 13:22; Isaiah 6:5; Ezek 1:28; 3:14; Job 9:4 Gen 18:27; 1 Kings 19:13

(Dedicated to the memory of a man used by God greatly, John Calvin, glory to God through Jesus Christ)

Evil is Under God’s Control

As I begin my series on God’s control of all things, including evil we must consider the evidence (as found in His book, the revealed Word, the Scripture, if you don’t agree, check the evidence). When I refer to evil I am speaking about both moral and natural evil. By moral I mean sin, such as lying, stealing, adultery, and all other ways in which people refuse to love each other and obey God. By natural evil I mean hurricanes, floods, disease- all the natural ways that death and suffering afflict mankind. What I am considering in this series, is that God rules the world in such a way that all sin remains in His ultimate control and therefore within His ultimate design and purpose.

I have read a book on a movement, mostly in America, called ‘Open Theism’ this group denies that God has full foreknowledge of the entire future. The denial of God’s foreknowledge of human and demonic choices is a mattress for the view that God is not in control of evil in the world and therefore has no purpose in them.

However, I believe that the Scripture teaches Go is in control of everything, including evil, and thus any view that suggests evil is out of God’s control, not only is wrong (or unscriptural J), but it offers no hope for a world that at times seems to spiral out of control with evil.

Let’s examine the evidence:

Does God control Calamity?

Let us consider the evidence that God controls physical evil, however keep in mind that often physical and moral evil meet, many of our pains happen because of other people or demonic forces decisions.

In Scripture humans life is seen as something God has complete authority over. He gives and takes away life. We do not have life, nor do we have any complete right over it. So it makes sense then that for God to give life is a gift, and to lose it is never an injustice on God’s part, whether it is taken at age 2 or age ninety-two.

Remember how Job reacted to losing his children at the initiation of Satan? He did not say that Satan was the ultimate cause of it. Instead he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” In case we might say that Job made a mistake, the author adds these words, “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong” (v22). And “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (2:10).

In Deuteronomy 32:39, God said, “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.” When David impregnated Bathsheba, the Lord punished him by taking his son (2 Samuel 12:15, 18).

What about Disease?

When Moses afraid to speak God said to him, “Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? (Exodus 4:11). In other words behind all disease and disability is the ultimate will of God. Not to say that Satan is not involved- he is probably always involved in one way or another with a destructive purpose (Acts 10:38). But his power is not decisive. He cannot act without God’s permission.

That is one of the points made clear in Job’s illness. The text makes it clear that the disease came upon Job by… “So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.” Job’s wife encouraged him to curse God, but he said, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?(Job 2:10)” again, the author says, “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2v10). That is to say, this is the correct view of God’s sovereignty over Satan. Satan is real and may have a hand in our affliction, but not the final hand, and most defiantly not the decisive hand. James makes it clear that God had a good purpose in all Job’s afflictions, “You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. (James 5:11)” So Satan may have been involved, but the ultimate purpose was God’s, and it was “compassionate and merciful.”

We learn this again in 2 Corinthians 12:7, where Paul talks about his thorn in the flesh as being a messenger of Satan, and yet it was given to make him more holy: “So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated.” Now Satan’s goal is not Paul’s humility, therefore the purpose is God’s.

There is no reason to believe that Satan is ever out of God’s control ultimately. Mark 1:27 says about Jesus, “And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” And in Luke 4:36, “And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” In other words no matter how real and terrible Satan and his demons are in this world, they remain subordinate to the ultimate will of God

The point of the teaching I think is in us to cause humility and hope, humility since we are so small and God so great and some things are far beyond our understanding and hope, since no matter how crazy things get, they are never out of control of a all-wise faithful, good and great heavenly Father

In the next Blog: God’s control of Natural Disasters and all other kinds of Calamities.

I am indebted to John Piper for my clarity and articulation in this: See Desiring God by John Piper.