Can we worship the same God and have different views of political or other responses to traumatic situations in society? I hope the answer is "Yes," to be honest. Does that mean that the person who will not join in protesting some issue is less Christian, or that the person who will not join in a certain event worships a "smaller god"? I feel the need to quote J. B. Phillips: "Your God is too small." As Paul reminds us in Romans, God is the God of the Jews and the Gentiles too. He can be God of liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats, protesters and singers, men and women, etc.
We want God to fit the narrow confines of our personal preferences for him . . . we
want him to sit in the corner until we need him. But that is not the God of the
Bible: He hears the oppressed cry out and sends an amazing deliverance that
ruins Egypt; he sees a woman struggling with life and relationships and sits by
a well to talk theology with her; he sees an educated man curious about God's
ways and astounds him with ideas he may not have thought before; he meets a
shepherd in a bush that burns but isn't destroyed; he meets a
persecutor/oppressor on the road with a brilliant light and vision; he comes to
scared people at dinner and speaks peace to them; or he naps on a boat assailed by
a storm and when awakened cares for the needs of the alarmed sailors.
He is the God who suffers . . . he is not so aloof as to fail to understand our suffering. No matter how dark our Gethsemane, the Light of the world is there. He suffered outside the city, alone, forgotten, with a sense of utter abandonment . . . and he knows. He knows we are weary, he knows we are "fed up," he knows we are lower than we have ever been. . . and he cares. Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning. May the God of peace soon crush Satan beneath our feet . . .
Thanks for reading!
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