Finally, the Answer
The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil. Proverbs 16:4 NASB
Everything – The scope of Solomon’s statement is universal. Kol, everything, is included in the vision of this short verse. Since there is nothing that exists unless God made it, there are absolutely no exceptions to this claim. And what is the claim? Everything God made He made with one principle in mind: it will serve its own end.
Notice that the translation does not say, “God made everything to serve His purpose.” The Hebrew ma’anehu has the attached pronoun, but the context seems to indicate that God designed the ultimate “measure-for-measure” function into all that exists, not that He manipulates all the exists so that despite its ordinary function things are bent to serve His design. In other words, this thought is that ultimately everything acts in a way that reveals its essential character. The paradigm case is the Hebraic view of the wicked. Even those who stand in utter opposition to the sovereignty of God are fulfilling their own destiny. Their actions take them forward to a place where God’s sovereignty cannot be denied. If God’s enemies ultimately account for His total control of creation, then (argues the author) how much more can the righteous expect that God’s purposes for them will also come to pass.
So the final answer is, “Yes, everything is moving in the direction that will finally result in the glory of God.” Rest assured, even now when things seem as if that conclusion is in jeopardy, that is not the truth. God prevails. The only issue is not the end but the time it takes to get there. The Bible simply doesn’t answer that concern. Why not? Because it really doesn’t matter.
Now how can that be? It matters to me. I’m the one suffering. I’m the one oppressed. I’m the one traumatized. What about “give a cool drink” and “feed the sheep” and all that? Are we to just sit by and let it all happen and wait? No! There are lots of things to do to bring restoration to the earth, to God’s creation, to His creatures. But Hebrew takes a long view of humanity. Things evolve over hundreds of years. God moves in invisible ways, often imperceptible in this generation. Consider Israel’s time in Egypt. Think about the time it took to reach the Promised Land. How long was God working to bring about the right conditions for the appearance of the Messiah? We are in a hurry. God is not. We think that is what happens to us in the most important event in the history of Mankind. It isn’t. We have been conditioned by a cultural emphasis on the prominence of human life. But that isn’t the whole story, is it? Everything is moving toward a goal. You and I are one small part of that movement. It’s easy to forget that our attention to the Tree in front of us is not the same as God’s intention. Patience is more than a virtue. It is a condition of mental health.
Topical Index: everything, kol, purpose, ma’anehu, Proverbs 16:4
Looking back, so many things I exerted effort for in the name of righteousness did not turn out that way.
Looking back, I can see that I was trying to throw myself into the gaps of fractures, but that is not enough to close them.
Back to Robert’s boundaries. I can see that I was trying to stop consequences in the name of love, but I was violating boundaries in doing so. Everything has to carry its own weight and everyone has to learn their own lessons.
I was struck this morning with that idea that there is no good reason in the flesh to “do good”; to love; to repair the fracture points or prevent train wrecks. Every move in the flesh to “do good” has a nefarious motive, and every attempt in the flesh to love will, in some way be crossing boundaries.
I was reading Skip’s TW on boundaries yesterday, The Reorder Sept. 17, 2010.
This is what he wrote: ““Some remove the gevulah.” The Hebrew word describes a fixed boundary stone, a landmark that designates territorial ownership. There are strict requirements concerning these stones. They were not to be moved (Deuteronomy 19:14 and Proverbs 22:28). At the end of the Jubilee year, all land passed back to the original allocation of ownership. From the first verse of Genesis to the end of Torah instructions for living, God orders the world. He orders everything about the world including the ways people interact with His creation and with each other. When someone moves the gevulah, he is not simply moving a property marker. He is reordering God’s world. And reordering God’s world without consulting His plan has serious consequences.”
We have been saved from fracture from the Big Plan back into connection to it, but if we continue to make the same lousy decisions we made before, for the same self-centered motives, we are re-tearing the web just as fast as He can repair it. “Saved” does not mean that we can do what we please now without consequences; the consequences still operate even post-cross. Likewise, I am not participating in the Big Plan when I go around trying to ‘save’ those around me by just getting in the way of their consequences, either. Salvation is about something else.
I have also found that saved does not mean that YHVH gets in the way of my consequences. My salvation is also about something else. Repentance is about turning around and agreeing with the Big Plan, and connecting with the Body – and through that Body, heaven and the cosmos – IS that plan. Torah spells out the rules for communal living, and I think I have learned that boundaries are the single most important aspect of being able to live in concert with myself, others, and YHVH.
Sin is, literally, trespassing that great order. I am learning that it is better to wait for His.
Romans 8. 28 we know that. God works all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purposes. From the very first line of this word today this verse was quick and in my spirit and was confirmed throughout the entire post. If first of all we do not love God we cannot be called according to his purposes thus nothing is to be balanced or understood we are confused and dismayed and discouraged when things go bad. When we do know God we are called according to his purposes we help others work things out and leave them to the source of all good things which can seem bad but really aren’t because God works all things together for good. God is so good that he wants us to know him and it is only through the spirit of Truth that brings us around where things make sense. Hallelujah
Truth….
Patience is more than a virtual. It is a condition of mental health.
Definition by meriam-webster, being such in essence or effect though not formally recognized or admitted •a virtual dictator
virtual reality, real but not recognized. Love it!!
Is this a closer translation, Skip? Or how might that verse be better translated?
“The LORD made everything answerable to him, including the wicked at the time of trouble.” [Pro 16:4 – ISV]
I was raised by a superior teacher with a propensity for perfection , intent on a meaningful existance. “Will it mater that I was ” was posted on the back of our front door. These words drove into my heart a disconnect from reality as it actually shows up.As I started life driven for meaning and purpose. My aspersions turned into ambition and I out grew courtesy, kindness and compassion. Until the gracious days of truble. Where I learned humility agin. Contentment is next to godliness, they share space with one another. Patience is required for all things to grow rightly. I have lived among the redwoods all my life. They, the regal giants of the earth don’t rush. They also require one another as they have no tap root but rather intertwine their roots into a network that supports one another. Growing requires being together. Being together requires patient understanding of one another. That is the way of thing’s as they really are.