Doubt Not Our Inmost Wants Are Known

 i've written before about the idea that so many christians have that God has a plan for each of our lives.  i was reminded of this belief a few days ago when another couple came to our home to visit and play cards.  we had never spent time together in this way, though my wife and the wife who was a part of the other couple had played bridge a few times.  as we talked about our past experiences, each of them recounted incidents in their lives when they believed God had caused events to happen that changed the direction of their lives.  they were not the type of people who "wore their religion on their sleeves," but i could tell from several remarks each made that they subscribed to this calvinist view of how God worked in individual lives and in the world.

after they left, i thought about how many christians often attribute serendipitous events to God.  it's only a step from this view of life to one that sees the hand of God in every event.  a fatalist philosophy of life takes away one's own will to change or influence events, since all has been preordained by God.  we often see some of this line of thinking when someone dies despite the fervent prayers of loved ones for a miraculous cure and the best efforts of medical professionals.  "God needs him more than we do," or "our lives are in God's hand" are frequent sentiments we hear at the time of another's death, as if God is the cause of death rather than old age, heart disease, or cancer.  we forget that death is as much a part of life as is birth.  

perhaps we have more in common with ancient peoples who attributed inexplicable natural phenomena to the gods than we would like to think.  it is difficult to accept that things just happen, that events in our lives are not the result of some divine plan.  something fortuitous or disastrous can occur without any manipulation by supernatural forces.  we happen to be in the right place or the wrong place because that's where we happen to be, not because God intervened in our lives.  to think that circumstances occur because of "God's plan for our lives" makes us the center of everything rather than a reasonable being who is part of the great interconnected web of all things.

may we let go of the arrogance of thinking that all that happens to us is caused by a grand design devised by a supernatural being.  may we be grateful for the good in our lives and learn from the bad, coming to appreciate that the bad is often the opportunity for the greatest growth.  may we realize that there is a difference between Divine Love and divine causation, that the former can exist without the latter.  shalom.