Sarcastic God?
“‘Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries, because they had not obeyed my laws but had rejected my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes lusted after their parents’ idols. So I gave them other statutes that were not good and laws through which they could not live; I defiled them through their gifts—the sacrifice of every firstborn—that I might fill them with horror so they would know that I am the LORD.’”
Today’s Text: Ezekiel 20:10-26 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
God most certainly did not give the Israelites “other statutes that were not good and laws through which they could not live” (verse 25). So then, was God lying to Ezekiel? Most certainly not.
The answer is quite simple. God was simply expressing Himself sarcastically. But some people have a very difficult time accepting that simple conclusion, because, then, we would have to second-guess everything that we read in the word of God, especially those passages that are really difficult.
But then, how do humans ever even communicate using sarcasm, irony, and humor? I mean, it does happen. Well, it really helps to know and understand the communicator to pick up on the sarcasm.
When the Israelites, as a whole, turned their backs on God and started worshiping the idols of Egypt, Canaan, Assyria, and Babylon, God’s wrath was already there waiting for disobedience.
The blessing of God and the curse of God had already been established before Adam and Eve were even created. But a misunderstanding of God’s omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and eternal sovereignty causes some people think that God made the Israelites disobey Him so that they would suffer His wrath.
In other words, because God is “sovereign,” the disobedience of the Israelites was caused by God in order to produce the “predestined” outcome that God had established before time even began. And so, God fooled the Israelites by giving them “other statutes that were not good and laws through which they could not live.”
That conclusion is absurd, and we don’t have to think very hard to recognize that.
But then, how do we deal with the sovereignty of God? Well, first, we have to acknowledge that we simply cannot fully comprehend it. Second, is it impossible for God to give us free will and to know fully the end of salvation history? Third, is it impossible for God to be sarcastic?
God is not theology. God is a Person—THE PERSON, three-in-one.
And we could say that the most fundamental aspect of the Godhead is His free will, a free will He imparted to all of humanity in the imago Dei.
And that conclusion has the benefit of just making sense based on human experience. Of course, human experience is not the arbiter of truth. The word of God is. But I’m certain that God has no interest in confusing us either.
Does our free will undermine God’s absolute sovereignty? No way.
Does the engagement of our experience in understanding the word of God undermine sola scriptura? No way.
Father, Your ways are high above, and we always trip over our limited understanding. Forgive us for throwing stones at one another over things we do not fully comprehend. Make us value relationships, peace, and love over human authority, power, and performance. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
