{"id":337,"date":"2005-05-12T19:15:00","date_gmt":"2005-05-13T00:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/12\/the-annoying-tendency-of-some-to-know-what-god-is-doing\/"},"modified":"2005-05-12T19:15:00","modified_gmt":"2005-05-13T00:15:00","slug":"the-annoying-tendency-of-some-to-know-what-god-is-doing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2005\/05\/12\/the-annoying-tendency-of-some-to-know-what-god-is-doing\/","title":{"rendered":"The annoying tendency of some to know what God is doing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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When I was teaching at TEDS one of my students showed up to class late, and then proceeded to tell me her \u201cstory\u201d: she knew God wanted her to come to class on time, she knew Satan was against her getting to class, and some demons had gotten into her tank and sucked out all the gas. When I suggested that maybe filling up the tank earlier would have helped, she looked at me like I had denied God\u2019s ability to do miracles in our modern world.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think I have problems with miracles; I\u2019m all for them. But, I admit that I have a problem with the sort of Christian who seems to know, always I mean, what God is doing and why God is doing what he is doing, and what specific purposes God is teaching them all the time. \u201cGod had my gas run out to teach me to trust him even when I don\u2019t have my supplies.\u201d Pooh pooh I think to myself. This student said God was giving her an opportunity to cast out demons and ride on in victory over the waves of demons and doubt. (Or words to that effect.)<\/p>\n

Sociologists and psychologists call this \u201cattribution theory.\u201d It is pretty sophisticated stuff but the essence of it is this: some humans have a need to name everything so they can explain things to themselves, control the world through their \u201cstory,\u201d and give for themselves a sense of meaning to this world \u2014 where not all things happen as planned. They attribute divine motives to human events.<\/p>\n

And, I\u2019ll admit these people annoy me. I think to myself: \u201cHow do you know what God is doing in this incident? How do you seem to know what God is always teaching you?\u201d And, to make matters worse, I can get a little accusatory about it all: \u201cWhy are you so stinkin\u2019 narcissistic?\u201d Well, this is not nice on my part, and not much of a loving attitude, but it\u2019s true and I might as well admit it.<\/p>\n

It is not that I have what is called an \u201copen\u201d view of God. My view of God is that God is so big even all our possible plans are in his calculus of what would have and could have and might have happened. I think this is called \u201cmiddle knowledge.\u201d No, I\u2019m not one who thinks these people are off base because they know the mind of God, a mind that can\u2019t be known. Instead, I think along these lines: think about what God is doing and see how you fit into that plan instead of thinking about yourself all the time.<\/p>\n

Frankly, this is a pleasing theological position. It seems so blessedly theocentric and christocentric and all that stuff that theologians think.<\/p>\n

Until you read Psalms, esp those early psalms of King David who seems always to know what God is doing and how his enemies are enemies of God and how his deliverances are God\u2019s deliverances.<\/p>\n

And when I read these I wonder if maybe I shouldn\u2019t at times be more patient with my brothers and sisters who, like me, are trying to make sense of the \u201cstory\u201d they find themselves in. Even if they annoy me.<\/p>\n

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