In his magnum opus theologian Robert Culver picks the scab many Christians want left alone.
God’s sovereign plan includes the circumstances under which we live – poverty or riches, labor or leisure, sickness or health, bad times or good, and the circumstances in which we die…modern people with their ideas about equality are frequently out of patience with any God who sanctions social and economic classes…no aspect of this subject is sketched more sharply than that God designs some to be rich and others poor, some to lead and others to follow, some to command and others to obey, some to be prominent celebrities, others to live out energetic constructive, but plain lives in obscurity (Systematic Theology, p. 136; emphasis mine).
Lydia was wealthy (Acts 16:40); the widow possessed only pennies (Mark 12:42).
David was strong, handsome, and powerful (1 Samuel 16:12; 17:42); Mephibosheth was orphaned, weak, stripped of his privilege, and crippled when dropped by the nurse who carried him (2 Samuel 4).
Tamar seduced her father-in-law for the express purpose of bearing his child (Genesis 38); Elizabeth endured decades of barrenness before conceiving John the Baptist (Luke 1:7).
The examples of inequality found in the Bible are numerous. No example is more unjust than the great illustration of Joseph. What should have been a life of comfort in a wealthy and influential patriarch’s home became a life of indentured servitude in a foreign country (Genesis 37:27-28).
Of critical importance is the fact that God did not merely allow Joseph to be sent into Egypt; rather, God sends Joseph to Egypt “through the treacherous actions of his brothers, for which they are fully responsible.” As Culver expressed, God sanctioned Joseph's social and economic status.
Yet, God’s sanction of location or era of birth, life circumstances through old age or death, or even skin color does not require remaining under the realities of those inequalities or injustices. There is nothing in the Scripture that tells us we may not escape injustice or inequality, that our fate is to accept the unchangeable lest we rebel against God.
In the grace of God and by the aid of heaven, Joseph attempted to throw off his captivity and was successful (Genesis 41). Paul did not accept unlawful detainment (Acts 22:22-30). God heard the cries of the Israelite slaves in Egypt (Exodus 2:24). Childless Hannah pleaded with God to give her too a child like her rival, the other wife of her husband (1 Samuel 1).
Where we see inequalities and injustices, we can and should vigorously pursue righteous and equitable resolutions. Where no resolution is possible, then we rest in the sovereignty of God quoting Job, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Where inequality and injustice continue despite every righteous effort to overcome it, we trust God that his grace is sufficient to carry us through the injustice and inequality (2 Corinthians 12:9).
It doesn’t take long to identify inequality and injustice in our lives and those around us. There can be no question that some suffer far deeper and with much greater consequence than others through no fault of their own, so we must weep with those who weep, and we must bear one another’s burdens. Further, there can be no question that some enjoy far more ease and comfort than others through no attributable action of their own. With them, we rejoice.
Still the questions abound, and I would remind us that human minds cannot answer all the possible questions that arise when we examine inequalities and injustices. God’s ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). When we identify inequalities and injustices, we must begin with what God says is true and what he deems a righteous course of action. Then and only then can we move to attack the problems of injustice and inequality. Injustice and inequality are not first political or sociological; they are first theological. They are first about God.
Can anything good come from the injustices and inequalities sanctioned by God? Let him answer,
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
and…
Genesis 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about]this present result, to preserve many people alive.
and…
Acts 17:26-27 He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.
The creator is sovereign. Do not grow impatience with him over what he sanctions.
As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.
Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision