The first way God is involved in our lives is how he places us on this world. By the simple act of placing us in this world with a particular genetic makeup, in a particular family, and in a particular culture, God controls much of what happens to us. Our lives will be much different if we are born in a mansion instead of the slums, in the jungles of New Guinea instead of the streets of New York, in the Stone Age instead of the Space Age, with genetics that gives us the potential to be a world class athlete instead of some disabling disease. God has trapped us in this space and time for a reason.
The second manner in which God is involved in our world is through miracles. The best example of this is the birth and resurrection of Jesus. However, C. S. Lewis states that miracles are rare [1] and this is demonstrated by the fact that most of us will not see a miracle in our lives. Yes, there are people who see a miracle in every day living but if we use the dictionary definition of the word (an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human and natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause), miracles are exceedingly rare. We must take miracles on faith because as C. S. Lewis states our senses and history cannot prove a miracle occurred. [2] The human condition tells us that our senses are easily fooled and our knowledge of history is limited. So miracles are of limited use in teaching us about God’s involvement in this world. What miracles do teach is us that since God makes rare use of them, he is mainly working through the existing structure of our world (the natural world) to accomplish his purposes. We like to talk about miracles because they are so unique and spectacular but to place undue emphasis on them interferes with our correct understanding of how God deals with us.
The Indian mystic Gopi Krishna states the purpose of miracles is not to extricate people from their difficulties. God’s purpose for our life is to face problem and address them, not escape from them via miraculous means. God does not give prophets and seers the ability to perform miracles whenever they want. The gifts bestowed upon the prophets and seers are “not intended to supplant but rather to aid the rational faculty in the management of temporal affairs rigidly ruled by temporal laws.” [3] God has structured our existence so the efforts of scientists to understand the natural biological laws have healed many more people than the miracles performed by prophets and seers ever have. [4]
The third way God is involved in our lives is through his Spirit. The Holy Spirit is convicting every person in the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:7-8). Romans 8:16 tells us the Holy Spirit communicates with our spirit. Precisely how God does this, he does not say, but we conclude that God is actively working with every person right now to persuade them to adopt his values. C. S. Lewis maintains that objective values (what he refers to as the Tao) exist and that it is not one of many possible systems of value, it is the sole source of value. [5] It is the moral code everyone in the world possesses.
The fourth method God uses is the various religions of the world. The religions of the world codify the experiences of the ages, codify the Tao, codify how God related to previous generations. Many Christians will object to God speaking through religions other than Christianity but we addressed that in the blog dated May 22, 2011.
The fifth method God uses is our experiences. Because God has given us free will, he does not determine what all our experiences shall be. He uses the experiences that chance, the actions of others, and our own actions bring our way to teach us the lessons we need to learn. God lets us experience the results of not following his values and he called this failure sin. Sometimes we experience the consequences of our sins. Timothy McVeigh paid the ultimate price for his crime in the Oklahoma City bombing. “Sooner or later we all eat at the table of consequences” [6] is a lesson he learned late. Other times we experience the consequences of the sins of others. The entire world and particularly the Jewish people experienced the consequences of the sins of Hitler and the Nazis.
God also allows us to experience the results of adopting his values. Much of the good that occurs in our world is because people, sometimes at their own peril, implement God’s values in their lives
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[1] C. S. Lewis, Miracles (New York: Macmillian Publishing Company, Inc., 1947), p. 104.
[2] Ibid., pp. 7-8.
[3] Gopi Krishna, Living with Kundalini (Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1993), p. 327.
[4] Ibid., p. 328.
[5] C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man (New York: Macmillian Publishing Company, Inc., 1947), p. 56.
[5] Harold M. Schulweis, For Those Who Can’t Believe (New York: HarperPerennial, 1994), p. 72.
