A little while ago I found myself in a room of Xns celebrating God's "intervention" in someone's life. An answered prayer for healing to be exact and then we were all praying together for God to intervene again in a similar way. I felt the urge to mumble the opening lines of Nick Caves "Into My Arms" - "I don't believe in an interventionist God. But I know, darling, that you do". Obviously it seemed a bit rude to do so at the time. If I'm honest, technicaly, I probably do believe in an interventionist God, it's just not in the ussual, "God, stop the volcano errupting" or "God, find me a car park" kind of way. Essentially I believe that God can change me or someone else. If we're up for it, God can make us more like Christ, and that's about it.
Despite growing up being encouraged to pray for God to intervene, I was never that confident that my moments of answered prayer were any greater than random chance. My "interventionist God" house of cards completely fell when I heard of an aid worker who spent the night at a village church in a foreign country where the whole village had turned out to sing praises to God and ask for protection from an approaching militia. He left late that night, early the next morning the whole village was slaughtered. I could no longer believe that my car parking spot could possibly be more important than the lives of these people.
I believe God's big intervention in the world was through a middle eastern labourer whose dad had been kicked out of his hometown. He worked hard to explain what God was like but by the time he was killed most of his followers had run away. One even turned him in to be killed. On the world stage it's a pretty small time intervention. Certainly, not one befitting a big powerful deity. It is in this spirit that I suspect God continues to act. Small time, changing people, slowly but none the less intervening. So I guess I do believe in an interventionist God just not in the spectacular interventionist way it's often talked about or prayed for.
Despite growing up being encouraged to pray for God to intervene, I was never that confident that my moments of answered prayer were any greater than random chance. My "interventionist God" house of cards completely fell when I heard of an aid worker who spent the night at a village church in a foreign country where the whole village had turned out to sing praises to God and ask for protection from an approaching militia. He left late that night, early the next morning the whole village was slaughtered. I could no longer believe that my car parking spot could possibly be more important than the lives of these people.
I believe God's big intervention in the world was through a middle eastern labourer whose dad had been kicked out of his hometown. He worked hard to explain what God was like but by the time he was killed most of his followers had run away. One even turned him in to be killed. On the world stage it's a pretty small time intervention. Certainly, not one befitting a big powerful deity. It is in this spirit that I suspect God continues to act. Small time, changing people, slowly but none the less intervening. So I guess I do believe in an interventionist God just not in the spectacular interventionist way it's often talked about or prayed for.
1 comment:
I "sort of" agree, Chris. I think we have a need to tell God to intervene, and how God should intervene, but if we are serious about God's grace, we should rather hold a person or situation up to God for God to transform if that is God's will.
I think it's blasphemy to pray for a parking spot. "God, find me a place to park" is the equivalent of praying "God, prevent someone else from finding a parking spot".
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