An essential part of [Jewish] understanding was that because of his character, God is utterly predictable, unlike the pagan gods, who were not. God will always act in ways that are consistent with one another. (David Wells, God in the Whirlwind, Kindle Locations 1170-1172)
I grew up worshipping a god that was much different than the utterly predictable God that David Wells speaks about. My god was wild. He was capricious. He was big and bold wearing a red suit and flaunting his gluttonous cookie-eating habits.
I diligently served this flamboyant god as I left carrots for his friend Rudolph and day old cookies and milk to appease his wrath for getting my name on the board for talking. I still held out hope that my bearded friend would leave me a Nintendo. You never really knew, though. Was I good enough? Had I left enough cookies as penance? Was my letter to him cute and acceptable enough?
Then one day while playing in my parents room I discovered something that was most interesting. I could have swore that it was glowing. My heart began racing with joy and yet a strange bewilderment. There it was…my Nintendo. “But wait”, my little mind wondered, “why did my jolly friend leave this present unwrapped a couple weeks before the glorious day of his visitation?”
That’s when my parents broke the news to me. My god wasn’t real. He was only a fairy tale. But I was assured that there was a God that was indeed very real and I ought to still believe in him.
Strange thing though, I only tweaked the old god and gave him a different name. This new god, I learned, was more powerful but he was just as wild. And this god was just like the other one, only he didn’t really like cookies. Instead he liked these things called prayers and promises. He was just as concerned with me being a good boy. And I had the same sweat and fear overtake my little heart when I wasn’t a righteous lad.
You never really knew if he was happy with you or not. Had I made big enough vows? Did he accept my prayers? Was I good enough?
Meeting the Predictable God
When I was older I encountered the real living God that my parents had spoke of many years before. Yahweh was his name and He saved me.
But old gods don’t die easy. I met that familiar god when I was introduced to the prosperity gospel. He was a wild and unpredictable god that would respond to my seeds of faith and powerful words of faith and my heart of abiding trust. These were his cookies and milk. And I was assured that so long as I followed his rules of prosperity everything would go swell. And he’d also take me on this wild ride of unpredictable stuff that would blow my mind.
Over the years that old god has been replaced by the beauty of the living God. Yes, an utterly predictable God. A God of whom I know that every time I confess my sin that he is faithful and just to cleanse me of unrighteousness. He is a God that I can confidently say that is working all things together to bring my greatest good; namely, a conformity to Christ.
He’s predictable in His love. It doesn’t change.
He’s predictable in His response to sin. He never likes it.
He’s predictable in His truth. It’s always found in His unchanging Word.
He’s predictable in His view of me. It’s always related to my union with His Son.
He’s predictable in HIs dedication to His glory. His glory He won’t give to another. The prideful will be humbled. And the humbled will be exalted. Always.
That’s why it is fitting for us to remember the character of our great God when things seem so out of hand. When it seems as if the world is turning and moving in ways that are opposed to our God (Read Habakkuk) let us rest in the beauty of serving a predictable God. It is because we know Him that we can trust and say, “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
Delight, today, in our utterly predictable God.
