Why We Need A God Who Favors The Weak
- At June 11, 2009
- By admin
- In Blog
2
I think for most of us, if we considered listing the necessary attributes of God revealed in the Bible, that is, what Scripture declares to be the fundamental requirements of God’s nature and character for Him to be God, the One and Only God, these would be largely the same. We would all affirm that God must be holy, God must be all-powerful, He must be all-knowing, and so on.
However, I’ve been rereading Jonathan Edwards’ work, The End for Which God Created the World (see our Great Reads section if your interest is piqued), and was struck again by his argument that one of the necessary attributes of God is that He must be perpetually and pervasively happy. If God is not happy and able to keep Himself so, we can have no confidence in His ability to bring any of our lives, then, to a happy conclusion. If He cannot behold His own creation, and the glory of His own being, and find everlasting delight, how can we ever possibly hope to?
And so he argues in his unique, Edwardsian fashion, (which is appropriate, since he is Edwards!), piling argument upon argument, and scripture upon scripture, until you finally succumb to the avalanche of both God’s Word and reason that God indeed must necessarily be happy.
Once I dug myself out, I was struck by a similar aspect of God’s character that we typically would not name, but I believe to be absolutely indispensable. For most who have considered the plight of the orphan and the afflicted, you know, it does not take long to pull together the dozens upon dozens of passages in Scripture where God speaks on their behalf. And perhaps you’ve even noted with delight and approval God’s consistent declaration that He is “the God of the orphan and the widow”. But have you considered what all these passages and promises about the orphan have to do with you and me?
In the book of Hosea God provides us with one of the first “reality” series ever devised. The purpose here is not gross voyeurism, but a living portrayal of Israel’s betrayal to her husband, the Lord and God of all. Through Hosea and Gomer Israel’s persistent and grotesque adulteries to the gods of the nations is paraded publicly before the people. God’s judgements are repeated throughout the book until at last Israel is appealed to return to God, “to take words with you, and to return to the Lord”. (Hosea 14:2) They are to say to God “Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will say no more, ‘our god’ to the work of our hands. In You the orphan finds mercy”. (Hosea 14:3)
Here comes the key part. Notice the flow of their argument. First they promise to not trust in other nations. (Therefore, also the gods of other nations.) Nor will they ride on horses, which refers to their trusting in armies to protect them or save them. Finally they declare they will turn away from idols.
But what is the ground of their hope? On what basis can they possibly appeal to God to hear, heal, and forgive them one more time? It can’t be based upon covenant performance or faithfulness for as we have seen, the entire book is an expose of their scandalous infidelities. Nor, they have found, that they can place any hope on merely clinging to their covenantal status as “God People” (see Hosea 1:9).
The answer of course, is in the final phrase of 14:3, “In you the orphan finds mercy.” Okay, so at first glance their argument might look a bit obtuse, but let me try to focus it in for us. If God delights to show mercy (hesed: lovingkindness, grace) to the orphan who has no greatness to commend him, no position that can be leveraged to God’s benefit, but cry out to God simply because they have nowhere else to go, so, then, can we. For we learn that grace is not dependent upon position or performance, but rather a coming to Him broken and empty and wanting no other options but Him.
So, why do we need a God who favors the weak? For the basis of our hope rests solely on one peculiar aspect of God’s nature; His preference for the weak. Thanks be to God.
Hos. 14:3c
gordon
i can process the idea that God is perpetually happy with Himself, but that He is happy with the world and our sin and the terrible things we do outside of Him is a tough one … but possibly that is what edwards is really saying (but i haven’t read it – can you tell?).
anyway, having got that out of the way, i am always amazed that anyone could ever feel consistently strong or safe or protected here in the world; like peter’s response to Jesus: “Lord, where else would we go?”
as i have been reading through the Word, it becomes daily more clear: i have been a slave in egypt and yet while wandering in the wilderness a free woman, i have cried out in anger and self pity to return to the bondage of pharaoh; i have offered strange fire to the Lord; i have bitterly complained that i should be considered as holy as anyone; i have worshipped idols, golden calves made from the leftovers of my past; i have trusted in armies and horses and told lies about the promised land – we can’t take it, it’s defended by giants, fall back, retreat, give up; i have denied my Savior and been inhospitable to strangers and failed to visit the sick, the prisoner, the widow, the orphan … and yet -
who will save me from this body of death? thanks be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord!
without Him, i am a desperate, broken, wandering orphan – where else could i go?
gordon
today i sat with a 14 year old boy as we waited for the ambulance to come yet again, and i watched his limbs shaking and his eyes trembling and heard his wild laughter and his wordless sounds and felt his hot skin under my hands trying to calm him; he shook and cried and laughed and his thin legs plunged up and down against the stiff metal of his wheelchair, and i was powerless.
the medics arrived, cool and professional, scooping him up, all the while taking histories of illness and medications and disabilities, and carried him away to the enormous, clean, well staffed teaching hospital of the university town where we live. there his blood levels of various important things will be tested, he will be evaluated and assessed and given nutrition and hydration and eventually, God willing, he will be released to his loving, worried foster mother.
what a moment of revelation – that this orphan here in the usa, with multiple, severe, and profound physical and intellectual disabilities, has been in the public school system since he was just out of infancy; that he has been taught by some of the best people i’ve ever met; that he receives the best medical care our area has to offer; that no one has set him aside in an overcrowded, under-staffed, forgotten place without teachers, love, support, or hope.
i couldn’t stop his seizing in the classroom, i can’t make him walk or talk or read or hold a pencil – i can’t heal him; i can’t help all the forgotten, lost children like him in africa – but – through this child and the constant reminders of the frailty of our physical selves, i can see what my weak and complacent nature has led me to forget:
“the LORD my God has brought me into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where we will eat food without scarcity, in which we will not lack anything …” i have been blessed thus, and yet often “my heart becomes proud and i forget the LORD my God, who has brought me out from the bondage” of legalism and lies and the worries of the flesh.
i was today a broken orphan who lashes out at the hand of God, as i held a broken orphan in my arms who simply is in the hand of God; as i am given the extraordinary gift of clarity of vision
through the weakness of this child, mine is revealed; through my weakness, the LORD’s blessings are revealed – and finally the truth begins to dawn: “i can do anything through Christ who strengthens me!” if He leads me anywhere, there will i follow, rejoicing.
The LORD is our strength – where else would we go?