In a world dominated by artificiality and instant gratification, we are becoming masters at controlling our circumstances and environment.
Our ability to find quick fixes and fulfil our desires as quickly as possible also shapes our perception of the ideal and how things should happen. We expect everything to happen now, immediately. In the midst of this need for control and speed, God can often seem less efficient, less determined to fulfil His purposes, less interested in defending His values and, more worryingly, insufficiently involved in the lives of those He claims to value. And then we may be tempted to wonder whether God’s every action is really always for our absolute good.
This question underlies other questions: does God act according to our standards? (If not, does He deserve our respect?) Are His actions always centred on our needs and desires? (If not, can we still say that He cares about us?) Isn’t our perspective fair—since it is with us, and not with anyone else, that God says He wants to have a relationship? So should He not make His intentions clear to us?
Technological “lens” deformation
We think this way in part because we live in a technologised society where we have become accustomed to controlling every aspect of our lives. From the artificial and processed environments in which we evolve, to the virtual spaces we navigate, we have embraced the idea that control equals prosperity and freedom. We have become accustomed to the idea that “if I want it, I can have it; I decide, and then I act”. In acknowledging this power, there is a temptation to assume that if we, as fallible human beings, can be so efficient in our actions, then surely, in the case of an omnipotent God, the intensity with which I, the individual, want something will, by extrapolation, be infinitely greater. And if this is so, how can God not want the ideal that I also aspire to? This is why we remain puzzled in the face of God’s apparent non-responsiveness.
But when we think about God’s actions, we should bear in mind that we cannot fully understand Him simply by extrapolating from ourselves and our qualities. In order for this process of analysing the divine character not to be distorted by our own perspective, we must remember that the One we are trying to understand is the transcendent Creator God. It is therefore essential to emphasise that extrapolating divine attributes solely from our own personal attributes and approaches has severe limitations and will disastrously distort our perspective, guaranteeing that we will fail in our endeavour. While we are indeed created in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27), this does not mean that His nature is reflected in our limited understanding (Isaiah 55:9; Psalm 50:21)—this is the error of idolatry and ancient polytheistic mythologies.
While the use of technology may tempt us to see control as the ultimate measure of power, wealth, and freedom, we must remember that God operates on an entirely different plane, transcending our human concepts of space and time and, by implication, those of efficiency, power, and speed.
Divine transcendence and the strategy of salvation
To truly understand God’s actions and to know whether they are for our ultimate good, we need to return to the vastness of the divine horizon. This horizon is not easy to grasp, precisely because of our own limitations—existential and subjective (Ecclesiastes 3:11; 8:17). But precisely in order to lift us above ourselves, to help us to know Him and to have a relationship with Him, God has revealed Himself to us, and the record of these revelations is what we now call Holy Scripture. In it we find God communicating His character, His purposes, and His love for humanity. It is also here that we find the strategy of God’s action and catch a glimpse of the horizon of His interventions. As such, in our search for answers to our questions, it is essential to keep the Bible as a point of reference in order to understand more fully God’s way of acting, the horizon and the goal of His interventions in the midst of humanity.
In the narratives of the Old Testament, we learn that God’s action is based on His love for humanity and His unwavering commitment to save humanity from its compromised state of sin. However, the divine temporal horizon is much wider than the human vision. Individually, we may struggle with God’s apparent unresponsiveness, wondering why He does not fulfil our immediate desires, but we must remember that His plan of action is infinitely broader and trans-temporal. His perspective encompasses eternity, while ours is limited to fleeting impulses and fleeting moments.
Yet despite these limitations, God does intervene and works with human beings, but often not in the way the individual expects. The biblical narratives bear witness to how He works in people’s lives, sometimes through unexpected and challenging circumstances, to fulfil His purposes. God’s strategy is never just about the individual, but reaches beyond the horizon of the individual to humanity (Genesis 12:1-3). An excellent example is Joseph, who endured betrayal by his brothers, slavery, false accusations and imprisonment, only to be placed in a high political position from which he would ultimately save his family and an entire nation (Genesis 50:20). When we receive revelation, it will not be primarily to satisfy our curiosity, but rather to point to God’s interventions to keep us trusting in Him. Only in retrospect, looking at the whole of life, will we appreciate divine intervention more.
The absolute good of divine intervention that we desire, as in the case of Joseph, will not be immediately available to us, because God’s intentions sometimes go beyond our immediate comfort and desires. God’s plan for humanity is not just for the limited framework of a human life. It is for the salvation from sin and the eternal life of the whole species and all individuals in its history. Is this not the supreme good we can receive from Him? That is why He is interested in forming our characters, in refining our faith according to the spiritual image of His Son, Jesus Christ—to this end He organises all things (Romans 8:28-29). This journey may require patience, perseverance, and trust in Him, even when the road ahead seems uncertain. It is a journey of faith that we observe in the pages of Scripture and in the lives of Christians who have appropriated the divine vision for humanity and sought to translate it into their own lives.
In short, to answer the original question: yes, God acts for my absolute good, but this good, because it is anchored in the creative God of humanity, will not be for me alone, but for all of us (Hebrews 11:39-40), and this means a journey in which gratification may be delayed according to the divine strategy for reaching the intended goal. It is the exercise of a faith that suffers and endures with confidence for the salvation of as many as possible (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Laurentiu Nistor believes that in order to appreciate God’s action, we must accept a recalibration of our vision towards the horizon of God’s love, which embraces not only us as individuals, but the whole of humanity.
