A Meditation on Grasshoppers

(This post is derived in part from the sermon delivered by Pastor Meno Kalisher at the Jerusalem Assembly last Shabbat)

"It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,"
-Isaiah 40:22

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved."
-Ephesians 1:3-6

"that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."
-Romans 10:9-10

How can we reconcile the sovereignty of God with the free will of man? How can God choose me without this somehow sacrificing (at least in part) my choosing of Him? And the question that most directly influences my actions: how can I be held responsible for my actions that I have already been predestined to carry out before the foundations of the world? Since the Bible clearly teaches that I am responsible for my actions, does the Bible contradict itself? I am hardly equipped to even scratch the surface of this vast topic, but it is good to try to think through it biblically, and typing is a good way to think...

"What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!
For He says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'
So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.'
So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
You will say to me then, 'Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?'
On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, 'Why did you make me like this,' will it?
Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?"
-Romans 9:14-21

The one who asks this question is probably not seeking truth as much as he is seeking justification for his sin. This person cannot easily make sense of how God operates in this area, so he finds that it is easier to play the victim. In essence he is saying: "God cannot blame me for not following Him, He is the one who didn't choose me in the first place! And if God does blame me, He is not a fair or just God, and why should I worship a God like that?" This seems an easy out for the man who isn't concerned about true repentance, but rather wants a guilt-free life devoted to the fulfillment of all his fleshly desires.

Paul's response is simple: know who you are! Can the clay argue with the potter? Do you dare to come with complaints before God? The only reason that you do dare to challenge God is that you have not experienced the intensity of His full glory. Any character in the Bible who comes into the presence of God does not challenge Him, he grovels on his face, wondering if he will be spared. We do not have the right to demand mercy, we can only beg for it. We deserve only death and hell.

Consider Job: he lost everything he had (which was much), and yet he was a surpassingly righteous man! From our point of view, if any man deserved an explanation from God, Job was this man. Yet when God chose to speak to Job in Job 38-39, the character of his message is mainly this (I encourage you to read all of these two chapters):

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Who set its measurements?
Since you know.
Or who stretched the line on it?
On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
...
Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
So that an abundance of water will cover you?
Can you send forth lightnings that they may go
And say to you, 'Here we are'?
...
Who prepares for the raven its nourishment
When its young cry to God
And wander about without food?
...
Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars,
Stretching his wings toward the south?
Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
And makes his nest on high?
On the cliff he dwells and lodges,
Upon the rocky crag, and inaccessible place.
From there he spies out food;
His eyes see it from afar.
His young ones also suck up blood;
And where the slain are, there is he."
-Job 38:4-7, 34-35, 41, 40:26-30

Note what God did not say: "Job, I'm sorry, the devil came and thought he could trip you up and I wanted to prove something to him." No, God didn't have to explain to Job His actions or His motives, he didn't have to prove to Job that he was right in what He did. Instead, His answer was simply that of His greatness. Because God is eternally great, and we are not, He is justified in His actions. This story is also a great lesson for us because it shows God's goodness as well, but Job never knew why he endured such agony. Rather, his response was simply:

"Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
Once I have spoken, and I will not answer;
Even twice, and I will add nothing more."
-Job 40:4-5

God is our Father and He is sovereign, this is the only answer we need. We know that he is good as well, but we must have faith in Him when we do not immediately see this goodness. But in the end, the more we know the Lord, the more that His goodness and righteousness will be revealed to us.

"O taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!"
-Psalm 34:8

In conclusion, we reach many intellectual barriers when we try to fathom God for any reasonable period of time, simply because we don't have the capacity to wrap our brains around God! It is a good response then, to follow the example of Paul in saying:

"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?
Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again?
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen."
-Romans 11:33-36