Is There Knowledge in the Most High?

I’d love for you to take a deep breath right now.

The world has lost its mind.

But this is nothing new. In fact, after that deep breath and before you proceed to read below, I’d like you to read Psalm 73.

Didn’t that feel like it could’ve been written this week?

The world has me in a bit of a funk right now. I’m not proud of this, but I found myself praying my own lament a few days back, “God, why did you create humans at all? What could you possibly have in mind? What could possibly be worth it?”

Everywhere I turn I am faced by arrogant and wicked that the Psalmist wrote about, those who scoff and speak with malice, those who loftily threaten oppression, those who set their mouths against heaven and those whose tongues range over earth.

Why did God create these humans? As the psalmist wrote, “is there knowledge in the most high?” Surely God was and is perfectly aware of our capacity for sin, corruption, greed, war and violence? What is the purpose in bringing forth a creation that is capable of evil? Why create beings that have both a knowledge of evil and desire to bring it about? I think this is part of why I am a Christian. I don’t believe that many of our foundational stories are historically accurate. They fall more into the category of mythology. It is a story that never was but always is. The narrative journey takes us from separation to understanding to compassion and ultimately reunification with divine love.

What makes divine love so difficult to grasp is that is not contingent on our actions or morality. Divine love is only present through God’s grace. That grace existed before we were created, it holds us now and it will hold us into eternity. Human love is often conditional. God’s love is eternal and unwavering.

All religious traditions struggle to understand the balance between God’s love and light and our purpose as flawed beings. Christianity has a unique story that upholds God’s desire for us to be independent. In many ways we are cocreators of our existence. With independence and free will come the capacity for evil. In fact, it seems utterly unavoidable. The Christian story tells us that evil is not the final word. In the end, one of the main reasons I am a Christian is that the Christian story makes all of the painful pieces fit together. I practice a resurrection and redemption faith that promises that somehow it is all for God’s glory, love, goodness, wholeness. That is the Christian hope.

Maybe that’s why so many of us bristle against sin being such primary focus in American Christian pulpits. We trust there is meaning in our suffering, yet we struggle to understand what and where that meaning is. And the Christianity of much of America is letting us down in finding that meaning. Obviously there is sin and evil in the world. Obviously we need to fight against it when we see it. But God has to want more from us than simply resisting temptation. It has to be more than some kind of eternal game. The Christian story is that we were called good from creation, we are loved no matter what. There is a transformation we are meant to go through. Our divine purpose is not to simply turn from evil but to be transformed by it. There has to be purpose in it. Real love, divine love calls us to rise above our sin, seek to end our separation.

As we move through Lent toward the crucifixion, let’s keep our eyes on the resurrection. Jesus suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane. He prayed asking God to deliver him from his fear, his suffering and his call to suffer even more. As fully human, Jesus modelled fear, pain and sorrow for us. He felt those same emotions, He took them to God and He trusted He would not be alone in suffering. His pleas to God show us that even Jesus couldn’t understand all the suffering in His own life, let alone the world. But ultimately, He prayed to accept God’s will above his own. He trusted that suffering was part of the path to higher purpose. He trusted that suffering was redemptive, and God raised Him on Easter showing us all that God has us covered in the end regardless of our doubt, fear, anger, sorrow and confusion. If Jesus struggled with these things, how much more will we?

I don’t think I have any answers today. But this is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I plan to write quite a bit more on this through the coming year.

• Why are we called to live in transformation from flawed creation to communion with the divine?
• Why is free will more important to God than the end of suffering? Is there truly no metaphysical alternative to free will, suffering and commitment to spiritual growth?
• How is God present in our suffering, even to the point of finding union with God by going where God suffers?
• How are we called to stand up against injustice rather than simply pray for divine intervention?
• If God promises salvation to all – I am in the end a devout universalist – then what happens to free will after we are reconciled to God? If suffering finally ends in that reconciliation, why can’t it end right now?

So today I’m leaving you with more questions that answers – my answers are always more like educated guesses anyway. And I’m inviting you to do the same. If any of these issues keep you up at night, please leave me a comment or shoot me an email so I can consider it as I write future articles on these and other related matters.