I’ll have to admit I’ve never gotten completely comfortable with the notion that God would lead people to actually turn away. But that is what is suggested in our reading from Isaiah today. “Why, O Lord, do you make us stray from your ways and harden our heart, so that we do not fear you?” (Isaiah 63:17). Nor is this the only such case in scripture. On a number of occasions God is said to harden the heart of Pharaoh against Moses and Aaron (Exodus 8:19 and 10:20, for example). Earlier in the book of Isaiah God speaks of obscuring the divine word lest the people “look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds and turn and be healed” (Isaiah 6:10). Jesus quotes this very passage in explaining to the disciples why he teaches in parables, the meanings of which are not always plain (Matthew 13:14-17).
So what’s up with all of this? Why would God obscure the divine message? It’s one thing to harden the heart of Pharaoh, but why would God wish to lead God’s own people astray or keep them from understanding and returning to God’s ways? Like I said, I’ve never gotten completely comfortable with this idea. But my comfort with what God is doing is not really the point. God has a purpose, and we, as creatures, are not always going to “get it.” If in the course of things God wishes to harden our hearts, if God wishes to keep us from readily understanding or too quickly returning to God’s will, that is God’s prerogative. God is Sovereign. God is above all that is. In the end God’s will is done. In the meantime, as the hymn says, “God is working his purpose out/as year succeeds to year/…nearer and nearer draws the time/the time that will surely be/when the earth will be filled with the glory of God/as the waters cover the sea.” What we can do is live as faithfully as possible, doing the best we can to love God with everything we’ve got and our neighbors as ourselves, leaving divine matters to God, thankful that the coming kingdom does not rely on our understanding.
Prayer: Lord, even when we do not understand what you are doing, give us the strength to live by faith that we may trust you and your will for creation. Amen.
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