Telling God what he already knows

Am I bothering You too much? I’m sorry. As the good book says… aaahh, why should I tell You what the Good Book says?

Tevye speaking, Fiddler on the Roof, film, 1971

Tevye, in the movie, had the right of it, “why should I tell You what the Good Book says?’ I can remember in my younger days being taught to find a Scripture that we could claim and then holding on to it. This was before the days of name it and claim it, though the theology came mighty close to that mistaken theology.

The idea was to find a promise of God that purportedly applied to my situation and to “remind” God of it in prayer, that it was one of the promises that he had supposedly made to us. We were even taught that God was pleased when we did that. At times, the teaching almost verged into the idea that he would wait for us to find the appropriate promise before he would act. At times, there was also the implied threat that if we did not care enough to search the Scriptures for applicable promises that he was not bound to apply such a promise.

I can now see some of the problems with that type of thinking:

• this type of thinking implies that our relationship with God is contractual and if we do not know some of the clauses in the contract then he can conveniently forget to fulfill them. It makes the Lord look something like a bad landlord who knows the terms of the lease better than the lessee and is willing to not fulfill the lease in its entirety.
• since our relationship with God is allegedly contractual, it reduces our personal relationship with God to a matter of tort liability. We are almost claiming that should God fail to fulfill the terms of the contract then he will be liable. We then argue to ourselves that since God loves us and is reliable that he will never allow himself to be liable. This despite the fact that we had to remind him of the terms of the contract.
• if you have ever followed any legal arguments then you know that two lawyers can take what appears to be the clearest statement and turn it into a doubtful one. This is why there are court cases with multiple appeals. But, when those who follow this theology quote a promise to God, they are saying to God that their interpretation is the correct one. If we cling to our interpretation of the promise, he is duty-bound to accept that interpretation and fulfill it the way we want is what I hear when I hear of such claimed promises.
• often we quote a verse out of context. A promise that was written to Israel does not necessarily apply to us in the modern age. A promise made to an apostle during a missionary trip may have nothing to do with us. It may be a record of how God dealt with a particular person at a particular time, not a statement of how God will deal with all people all of the time.
• we often forget that there may be additional clauses implied in the promise, even if the promise were for us directly in our current situation. While there are exceptions that every one of us can cite, the vast majority of promises in the Scriptures appear to have the understood clauses:
  • if you are truly a repentant person
  • if you are truly a person in fellowship with the People of God (whether Israel or the Church)
  • if you are a person who is attempting to live a godly life
• [Note: the Providence of God is a major exception to the above, for he makes his rain fall on the just and the unjust]
• Finally, it can tend to twist the love of God into little more than covenant-love, that is a love that really only applies to those who are in a covenant (contractual) relationship with God. An example of this is the doctrine of limited atonement, whereby the Calvinists try to claim that somehow God loves everyone but end up showing that in practice he only truly loves those who have been elect. There is not even the hope of atonement for the rest of humanity, who turn out to be the majority.

There is much Scripture and Tradition that do show us that God not only cares for the world, but also does care and watch over each one of us. It is always appropriate to pray the Scriptures as is done in every Liturgy of the Orthodox Church, from the Hours through the Divine Liturgy itself. It is always good to read the Scriptures and to realize that God’s loving-care is with you. The Church does teach that Our Lord cares for his people.

But, that does not mean he keeps us from suffering, rather, being part of his Chosen People, his Covenant People, means that sometimes he will lead us into suffering for the sake of the Kingdom of God in the same way that a good general makes the decision to send his troops into battle, knowing that there will be death and suffering, in order to win the war. As Tevye said in Fiddler on the Roof, “I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can’t You choose someone else?” Being chosen is often the opposite of being safe in this world. It would be good for us to remember that.