“My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded
by my God”?
Isaiah 40:27
At first blush, this verse, and the ones that follow, would
seem an admonishment to those who complain that God has not been attentive to
their suffering. And that is exactly
what it is. And it is often a needed and
fitting admonishment that all of us will need to hear at various times.
So, I’m great with the admonishment from God through the
prophet Isaiah. But I am less excited
with how we use texts like this to shut down the complaint entirely. The logic goes something like this: “God is
sovereign and eternally good. His wisdom
is beyond ours – so far so good – therefore quit your whining and suck it
up. To continue is to blaspheme the Name
of God.” That is put rather baldly, but
it suffices. In essence we say to ourselves
and to others, “How dare you question the sovereign plan of God by complaining
of your lot in life?” It SOUNDS very
reverent and respectful.
But here’s the problem.
As much as all of this is theologically true, we do not relate to God as
a theological concept. Our whole
insistence as Christians is that God is PERSONAL. As I have said before, He is Person, not
Thing. We will never relate in a loving
way to a Person who dismisses the cry of our heart because He knows
better. We might live in respect or in
fear, but not in love.
The complaint is necessary.
The complaint is needed. And that
is not just because emotionally or psychologically we need to be heard. It is because in the Scriptures the complaint
is made, heard and answered. Job and
Jeremiah are a couple of the great Biblical complainers. I know that we call Jeremiah’s words a
lament, but what is a that but an older, more elegant way of saying
complaint. Read the Psalms, full of the
cry that God is not hearing or responding, wondering when he will act. “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”
Job’s complaint or lamentation is frank and honest and
questions God’s actions. Shocking. But here is what is important. God listens to the complaint from beginning
to end. It is not until after we hear,
“The words of Job are ended.” (Job 31:40) that God responds with “Where were
you when I….” (Chapter 38 and following).
What is remarkable about this personal God is that he will
hear our audacious complaint – from beginning to end. It is in part because of this that we
inveterate complainers begin to understand his Goodness and Sovereignty.
Now, if we continue to complain – make a career of it as
many do – and never stop to listen, to hear the response of God, we will
eventually stop being just a complainer and become just a complaint. C.S. Lewis
observes this in The Great Divorce.
In the end, the answer to the complaint is as we hear from
the prophet, “The Lord is the everlasting God.”
And once our complaint is exhausted this Word restores us.
Why do you
say, O Jacob,
and
speak, O Israel,
“My way is
hidden from the LORD,
and
my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you
not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is
the everlasting God,
the
Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not
faint or grow weary;
his
understanding is unsearchable.
He gives
power to the faint,
and
to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths
shall faint and be weary,
and
young men shall fall exhausted;
but they
who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they
shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall
run and not be weary;
they
shall walk and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:27-31 ESV)
