Cosmic Invention
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
Plans – The word “plans” is from the Hebrew root hashav. In this case it is the noun mahashavah. The verb form “make plans, reckon, account or think” is used 121 times. There are several different meanings, but they are all within the context of creating something new. The most interesting use of this word is found in Genesis 15:6 where the meaning is “impute” or “account.” In that verse, God counts Abraham righteous – He imputes righteousness to Abraham as something new and unanticipated.
In the noun form mahashavah, the word means “thought, plan or invention.” It is used in Genesis 6:5 about the evil thoughts of all mankind, in Jeremiah about the plans that men follow, and in 2 Chronicles about creating an invention. Again, the context is about new things.
“I know the new ideas I have for you.” God’s plans are never cast in concrete. They are flexible, adjusting to our lives as our circumstances change. It is easy to think that God has only one perfect plan for your life and that if you make a mistake or sin, the plan will be forever destroyed. Then you will have to live with second best, then third best and so on each time you fail to meet expectations. But God does not have one perfect plan for you. He has one purpose – one goal – that you become all that you were meant to be through conformity to the image of the Messiah. The goal never changes. But the plans are new ideas every day. God is full of surprises. An eternal inventor.
Oswald Chambers said, “Never make a principle out of your experience; let God be as original with other people as He is with you.” (June 13th, My Utmost for His Highest) Abraham Heschel would remind us, “Biblical revelation must be understood as an event, not as a process. What is the difference between process and event? A process happens regularly, following a relatively permanent pattern, an event is extraordinary, irregular. A process may be continuous, steady, uniform; events happen, intermittently, occasionally. . . . The term “event” is a pseudonym for “mystery.” An event is a happening that cannot be reduced to a part of a process. It is something we can neither predict nor fully explain. To speak of events is to imply that there are happenings in the world that are beyond the reach of our explanations. What the consciousness of events implies, the belief in revelation claims explicitly; namely, that there is a voice of God in the world – not in heaven or in any unknown sphere – that pleads with man to do His will.”[1]
Consider what this means for understanding our lives. How many of us actually believe that God can act in our lives in totally unique and unanticipated ways? Or do we rather turn to the lists for living, guiding our behavior by extractions and abstractions from His Word or others’ experience. The Seven Habits, The Twenty-one Irrefutable Laws, the principles of Purpose-Driven whatever, the “patterns of success,” all these and many more describe God in a box, a God who is no longer surprisingly creative. The “God in the box” must conform to our experience and expectation.
There is a very good reason why Heschel says, “to believe is to remember.” We are called to be witnesses to God’s ways, not examples of our distillation of His ways. Yeshua healed the blind – never twice in the same way. The Father is the author of ingenuity. Why should we live as though all His choices are reducible to our systematic theologies? Mike Yaconelli wrote a book about serving the dangerous God. He touched on a theme we rarely wish to consider. God does not conform to our images of Him. He is full of surprises. Those who expect to encounter the God of surprises are far more spiritually attuned to His engagement in this world. The practice of active waiting is a time to remember that God cannot be contained by our restraints no matter how theologically correct those boxes appear. Our objective is to let God loose in life, to throw off the abstractions of our theology and look for the events, to recognize the absolute uniqueness of His hand, to turn the world of circumscribed conditions on its head and shout, “Yes, Lord, I am ready for whatever You wish. Here I am!”
If you took God out of the box of your own expectations, what do you think would happen? Ah, but don’t give me a lists of answers. That’s the box you’re in already.
Topical Index: plans, mahashavah, Jeremiah 29:11, inventor, new
[1] Abraham Heschel, Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, p. 13.
We are also guilty of pursuing Him through our boxes of Christian indoctrination and Greek mind sets.
How do we get out of those boxes, and allow Holy Spirit to show us the errors in our thinking, so that we can follow Him, without falling back into what we think we know?
Don’t “fence” me in! lol!- No problemo!- Listen to this noise- “Abraham, Moses, David”. I have “randomly” (a word that should not belong in the English language) chosen three Bible names. These three.
What about these three? Please pause.. and “notice” something here. ” All three are.. “different”- and yet all three “knew” Elohim! Diversity! YHWH is a G-d of diversity! Is this a “bad” thing? (Not unless you really, really like vanilla ice cream) – You think Baskin Robbins has a lot of flavors- just wait until we get to heaven! I can’t “take this to the bank”, but I truly believe (as we serve of G-d of “suprising creativity”- we never will eat the same thing for breakfast twice! For those who “err”, believing we’ll be sitting on a cloud- playing a harp-FOREVER-.. (wrongy dongy- a very appropriate word “invented” by my young nephew- out of the mouth of babes.)
This one is easy. (Where’s my Staples “Easy Button?”- “That was Easy”). Go to the zoo today. It’s more than monkeys, y’all. Go to one of my favorite places- the botanical garden. Fabulous flowers. On the way there- we will pass by the symphony hall. A little variety in music? Okay – we’re there- G-d is a G-d of diversity. (And “shock of shocks!”-we (all) need to remember His words- “other sheep have I, which are not of this fold!”) Don’t look Ethel- “These people aren’t like us!”- “They’re (drumroll….) different!”
Now, for my (personal) history.. (yawn…zzzz)- Rick Warren was right on this point.. – “it’s not about you!” (or you either!-) Contrary to the opinion of some- “man” is not, (another shocker!) – the center of the universe! (BTW- if you’re looking for the “center”- I suggest you return to the cross of the Christ)
When we pray (we do pray, right?)- “Thy will be done”- we do have a (small, but critical) part in G-d’s eternal plan. Folks, -“never play chess with G-d!” He knows you’re next move! (Yes, even if – it’s a “wrong” one!) The good news is (and Hallelujah!)- He wants us to win! He (the LORD) is “for us!”
Remember- “if G-d be for us?” (who can be against us?…) Sound familiar? Oh… now I wonder… i-i-i-s G-d for me? (that was supposed to represent a staggering questioning “is”)
Today’s “good news!” G-d IS (yes, that was a shout), G-d is for us!- He is “with us” (now), and He is “for us!” He wants us to win! The victory is (now) ours “in Christ!” In the end- we win!- But “what about Monday morning?” I still have dishes to do and a yard to mow and bills to pay..
His name shall be called- (what?) Emmanuel- (which being interpreted is: G-d “with us”) Yes, it is true- ( a good place for an “amen!) G-d (our G-d, the G-d, the very same G-d of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Billy Graham, Oswald Chambers, Carl.. – all who have preceded us and all who will follow, G-d is (now, today- right here, y’all!) for us. He ever loves and cares for His own! Isn’t it wonderful to be “owned” by the Good Shepherd? To say it and to know it- “the LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not (ever) want!” – Makes you just want to shout-(pardon me..).. Hallelujah!- Praise to the G-d, whose name is Yah!
And I just have to add this also- our Bible, (His book of instruction to us) says, (it is written), (Psalm 92.1)- A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day. “It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High..” Now when Martha Stewart (you know the name, right?) says, “it’s a good thing”- we will listen. Why?- Well, after all, she is “Martha Stewart”- (I’ll pause so you may oooh and aaah- Martha Stewart). Or when E.F. Hutton speaks (another household name). And for those patriotic flag wavers who love their country (that is, if you’re born in the U.S.A.), I’ll even throw in the “weighty” name of Ben Franklin. (We do love those Ben Franklin quotes, don’t we?)-
What about when G-d speaks? He has said. (Who?) -G-d. “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto your name, O Most High”. Yes, fellow carbon units- it is- “a good thing!” “Try it, -you’ll like it!” Sing praise to YHWH! He (alone) is worthy!- And we, as Toby Mac (who?) sings- we were made for worship! “O worship the King- all glorious above!- and gratefully sing- His wonderful love. -Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days! Pavilioned in splendor- and girded with praise! –
The G-d of eternal surprises! (Reminds me of the informercial- “But wait!- there’s more!.. lol!) Yes!- He is..
Worthy of our worship?- worthy of praise?- worthy of honor, and glory and blessing and dominion? – Yes, -He is!
Hi Carl, The way you always ‘gush’ about G-d is infectious! I hope you’ll enjoy this 4 minute video by Avalon, “Testify to Love.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgZ1ds0WM2k
“Go to the zoo today.”
Hi Carl,
Well I guess you and my wife were on the same “wavelength” yesterday.
Because the kids and I brought our dirt bikes, and like to body surf, we would have just repeated our experience of the previous two days: trek down to the beach and go swimming.
But my wife had new plans for us, so we headed off to Escondido to see the Wild Animal Park.
As it turned out we had a great time; my kids especially liked the petting zoo, and I love the gorillas and lions.
And the trip out there brought back memories to me, because the road there went by Palomar Jr College, where I “finished high school” and by Escondido High, where I worked nights as a janitor.
Because my wife made all the travelling arrangements, I was also surprised on the way down here when she said “take exit 47, Palomar Airport Road.”
My resume claims that I’m something of an expert on Layer 4-7 networking technology 🙂
I am thankful that God is a God of surprise but I am going to say a God of surprises according to His perfect plan for my life because according to my past 40 years of experiencing His fellowship, and direction I have found He very definitely has one plan in mind which is His own specific dream and pupose of what He desires to do through my life, and He has been unfolding it especially in the last 11 years, being very definite and consistent in determination that I obey Him in it, and the enemy is aware of it also and has come against it more powerfully then any other goal God has done in my life. He has a mission and a purpose involved in it that is apparently very important to Him because the few times I have resisted He has answered with Jonah style messages that let me know it is very important to a serious matter He has planned. I have diaried His answers and messages to me for 5 years now because He began speaking specifically concerning it, and so obvious and consistent, I knew it was very important. You can say you think He does not have a perfect plan for each one that He formed in the womb and knew ahead of time what they would be like, but I have found in knowing Him personally, He most definitely knows exactly what He has, what He will do with their behavior and actions, if they desire to follow Him. He does have a perfect plan not just in conformity to His Son which is priority that goes with it , but He has His own perfect plan in His purpose for them here and I have found He actually shows His own excitement about getting to show you what it is, and tell you about it. He wants to take me to a specific country at a certain point and has been preparing me for it for the last 5 years because transition is very hard for me. It has to do with promise He unfolded when I first met Him at age 15 that the enemy hated from the start and often tried to destroy me over it. I promise you He has one perfect plan of His own and you can get in on it or miss out but He doesn’t recall it. Moses did not get out of it nor did Jonah, nor did any of His messengers who He knew would obey even though some went reluctant, or afraid. I have never known God, who knows the beginning and the end of each life, to be dependent on circumstances or my behavior in order to do surprises or anything else. He does not adjust Himself to me, nor to any of my plans or ideas or actions. No, He adjusts my circumstances and my behavior to fit His own perfect plan and knows what He will do with my level of participation to accomplish it. I will say they are wonderful surprises to me when He unfolds them out of His own mind to me. I am 56 and thought He was retiring me, but He is unfolding the main part of His plan right now. With Abraham it was 100 so I can’t complain.
Kay
Kay, this is a beautiful testimony to the Grace of God in your life!!
Thank you for sharing it!!
Helen
Chaverim,
3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Yes … a wonderful mystery? No boxes … no bottles … no containment is possible!
Just need to be tuned in so that when “G_D happens” we are ready!
Perfect plan? No doubt about it. Surprises? Never ending. It’s all perspective. He had a plan for Abraham, but Abraham said, “O.K., God, but it’s getting late and you’re not coming through.” So Abe followed Ben Franklin’s advice, “God helps those who help themselves.” Hence, Ishmael. This did not thwart God’s plan. He followed through anyway. Hence, Isaac. But the surprises were not over because Abraham took His eyes off of God and put his faith and devotion into Isaac. So God says, “Well, now you’re going to have to get rid of Isaac because you love him more than me.” Abraham sees his folly and repents, taking Isaac up the hill to follow through with his consequences and line himself back up with God. But the surprises we’re not over, because God stays Abe’s hand and honors his obedience. Surprise!! Tons of tears and rejoicing.
Lots of surprises. But God was never surprised. His plan was resolute. Did God adapt to a changing situation? No. He knew it all along. But from Abraham’s perspective the cliffhangers we’re relentless and way out of the box. So it is with us. He knows the creations and inventions He has in store for us and He rejoices at our delight and surprise as we pass through them in time. But He stands outside of time, so every event of our rejoicing is permanently etched in His eternity and His delight in us never fades.
Just a theological note. I was with you right up to the point where you said, “No. He knew it all along.” I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the influence of Greek philosophy on the formation of the doctrine of omniscience. You might be surprised to know that most of what we consider the popular version of omniscience (“God knows everything”) comes not from Scripture but from Parmenides idea of perfection. Passing through immutability, this idea of perfection greatly alters the Hebrew conception of time, resulting in some very strange paradoxes (like if God already knew what Abraham was going to do, then how can Abraham make a free choice – don’t even try to give me the usual Augustinian answer). 🙂 Anyway, there are certainly surprises in life, and God is never surprised, but that is not the same as saying that He already knew what was going to happen. Careful articulation usually avoids mistaken conclusions. Some day we’ll have to do a seminar on this.
I would like to hear more. My concept is of God as “outside” of time altogether; experiencing all “events” simultaneously and in a sense, eternally (for want of a better word). That has a special significance to me in terms of His death and resurrection. I cannot limit Him or the imagination of Him. For me He is the author of time and all of its strange behavior.
So it would be fascinating to me to hear you explore this further. A seminar would be fantastic.
Perhaps a seminar would be in order. Your concept is really that of Thomas Aquinas, who developed the ideas of Augustine and Boethius, who borrowed the concept from Parmenides. The ex-temporal God is the direct result of Aquinas’ concept of God’s ineffability, and the impossibility of ascribing positive attributes of God. Aquinas’ solved the problem with the via negativa theology of language. By the way, Maimonides took the same route. In this method, attributes of God are always the opposite (the negation) of attributes of men. So, men and temporal, therefore God must be ex-temporal. We call this eternal, but with the via negativa this cannot mean and endless amount of time. It has to mean that God is “outside” of time. There are enormous problems with this formulation – which we might explore some day – but it has been the standard theological position since the 12th century.
Thank you for this!
Sometimes the smallest things teach me the simplest lessons. If you are an “out of the box” thinker, you may see the connection I made to the memory below triggered from today’s post. Please don’t interpret this as an insult to G_d’s holiness….
In regards to NOT putting G_d in a box, I recall a humorous (to me) incident several years ago when my husband asked me the “rules for dishes.” I explained, “There are NO rules. If it’s dirty, make it clean!” This exasperated him since he’s called me a “Rules Nazi” for years. He has falsely assumed my obedience to G_d was duty-oriented instead of a love relationship with my heavenly Father.
By “NO rules,” I mean, there’s not a one-size-fits-all PROCESS to do dishes. The EVENT of getting dishes clean means to do what needs to be done according to the grime that’s there: use soap or cleanser or degreaser–whatever it takes to get them clean. Then LOOK AGAIN to see if they are really clean! Or were you just going through the motions, but not examining your work??
Rosanne would second that! She is always telling me that I need to wash this dish again.
Awesome!!!!!!
You’re funny!!!!!
I am now on the last book for the August seminar. It’s my favorite so far about colleges.
This is really good Skip. He does or says something amazing and then we seemingly may not hear from Him again for a long time. But we keep doing what we did (fasting, serving, praying a certain way) expecting Him to “do it again”. And then He shows up in a way entirely different and we may actually miss Him.
I am always amazed that the ones who knew the Scriptures the best were the ones who not only missed the Messiah, but condemned Him to death. He showed up in a very different box than they were expecting!
Abraham had a free choice and God knew which choice he would make which is the same with His knowledge ahead of time of Peter’s choice to deny Him, and why He said Jacob would have the birthright before they came out of the womb, because He knew Esau’s choices and desire, and why He tells Jeremiah that He knew him in the womb. He also warned Joseph to take Jesus and leave because Herod would choose to kill Him, and He knew ahead of time that Pharoah would rebell against Moses request to take the children of Israel out and He uses his choice to demonstrate to the Egyptians that all their gods were false. Those are some of the main ones I can think of right now besides every prophecy He made many years ahead of time came true in detail and exactly in His timing. I can look at Joseph’s life story which the Lord has often reminded me of, and see God’s plan unfold in his life and how God prepared the path of breaking and training in order to use him to fulfull it, which he recognized when his brothers arrived. Thanks for listening.
Kay
Thanks for responding.
“God does not conform to our images of Him.”
Isn’t this a non sequitur? For to have meaning this statement becomes, “My image of God is that ‘God does not conform to our images of Him.”
It seem having an image of God is inescapable!
Hebrew allows an audio image of God but never a visual one. This certainly contributes to the problem the Jews had with Yeshua.