The Works of God

Many years ago when Pastor John was preaching in Romans, he introduced me to C.S. Lewis’ “God in the Dock.”  He shared a quote from that essay in a sermon I have listened to more than any other, “Pastoral Thoughts on the Doctrine of Election.”  More than any other resource, with the sole exception of the Bible, this sermon has helped me keep a proper orientation on who God is and who I am in relationship to him.  And part of what was so helpful was this clarifying statement Pastor John offered from C.S. Lewis:

The ancient man approached God . . . as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge: if God should have a reasonable defence for being the god who permits war, poverty and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that man is on the Bench and God in the Dock. (“God in the Dock,” in Lesley Walmsley, ed., C.S. Lewis: Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces [London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000], p. 36)

How often have I been that ‘kindly judge’ over God!  I am grateful God asserted his rightful, helpful, merciful sovereign Lordship over me before I destroyed myself or my family.

As I have been reading arguments for and against abortion of those with various disabilities, God has recently guided me to look at the issue of cognitive disabilities in much the same way that C.S. Lewis described how ‘the modern man’ views God:

• We believe we are the rightful judges of who has or does not have the cognitive abilities to be considered a person;
• Because we believe we are kindly judges, we will only judge those who are ‘severely’ cognitively impaired to be non-persons;
• In our perceived power and wisdom, we will execute a kind judgment on them; we won’t allow them to ‘suffer’ by living, or to cause others to suffer who would care for them;
• The important thing is, we who are already born and who are ‘wise’ have the ability and the right to decide who is a person or not a person.  We are the judges, and the person with cognitive disabilities is in the dock.

This wickedness leaves me shaking as I write it.  And this connection between how we ‘enlightened, modern’ people view God and how we view those with cognitive disabilities is so obvious to me today I’m ashamed to say I never saw it before.

Yet it also brings to mind this from God’s word in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.  And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

This contains a stunning warning along with a promise.  The warning comes in concert with God’s statements about disability in the Old Testament:

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)

The warning: to those who think themselves wise and strong, God intentionally created those who you consider foolish and weak, even those you consider to be ‘non-persons’ – and he will use them to bring you down.  Better to recognize your extraordinary sinfulness and God’s mighty power to save, give glory to God and serve rather than destroy.

The promise: to all who are disdained because of your perceived lack of cognitive abilities, God made you just the way you are.  You are no accident nor an afterthought.  You will be used by God in ways that bring glory to God through means that are impossible but for your ‘weak’ status in the world.  God is for you, and knows what he is doing.

And to those of us granted the privilege of parenting one of these ‘weak’ ones, who are low and despised by the world, God has promised he will supply every need, he will grant us strength for the day:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Praise be to the God who is sovereign over all things!