Blowing in the wind

A young soldier survived a wayward shot from a German sniper, at Arnhem. His mother was quick to claim it as God’s hand. Noted theological philosopher, CS Lewis was not impressed. He argued that the bullet was influenced by the moral choice of the marksman and the forces of nature.

No Lewis is not a cynic, he was just trying to arrive at a first cause for everything. He opposed the idea that nature begat itself, and I agree. I see the hand of a creator.

Now, of course I think his argument is a tad simplistic, but like Paul, Lewis is a virtual final authority.

My arguments traces to an obscure little verse. What, you want to take on Lewis with one verse? Yeah, but Jesus said it. Oh yeah, that should do it. Like heck it will.

No, no, it is not like that at all. Jesus said, “the wind blows where it wants to”. So the right understanding of the world we live in, is that God made it, set it all in motion and defined the laws by which it would work, but then let it run its own course.

“So you are saying that the weather is not God’s doing?” Yep. I also think that your praying that it won’t rain for your daughter’s wedding is speculative, for the wind blows as it pleases.

Some argue that Matthew 5 proves that Jesus changed the laws of Moses, when, in spite of saying said He would not change a single jot or tittle, He seemingly did just that.

Wrong. He didn’t change the laws of Moses, but reinforced and clarified them.

Let me explain. God empowered the universe to follow its own course within the confines of His predefined laws, else He would have had to judge what He caused. That casts a big question mark over the idea of first cause? After all who causes marriages to fail, exams to pass, etc?

Jesus understood that and refused to alter God’s laws. Rather He reconciled us to them, else He would have been a reformer and His death would have been an avoidable sham. Thus, instead of dying He should have just changed the law without the need for a cross.  

Okay, so why the heavy theology? Because I have longed, with every fiber of my being, for God to act. I have often wondered, “who am I fooling? Will I ever see my years fulfilled?”

The cynic in me leans to the wind again. Circumstantially speaking, anyone who works hard enough, for long enough on the same thing, will succeed. God is incidental to that, but like the bullet and the marksman, many would claim divine providence for it, anyway.

Yet, there is a subtle difference. Whilst God certainly allows life to follow its laws, He has the most profound sense of timing. He anticipates its predictable ebbs and flows.  

By what vast genius was Jesus born on the night of a once-in-a-millennia conjunction of planets and in perfect fulfillment of many prophecies, in a time when Rome and Greece had paved the roads and universalized the language that would carry the gospel to the world?

Coincidence? Okay, so how did He also bring Jesus to His cross exactly 483 years after Nehemiah’s decree, exactly as Daniel prophesied, yet in line with other significant cosmic events?

A lot of life may be circumstantial, but the timing of events that brings your years of preparation through times you cannot grasp, to the opportunities you never saw coming, isn’t.

Enough said. God works all things together for good to those who love Him and one day the rustling of leaves in the trees will signal the fulfillment of all you have trusted Him for – if you keep going.  

I close with another obscure verse from John 17, also from Jesus, who said: “Now is the time”.