"God was very kind"
Well, I am now a resident of Camperdown, and am loving it so far! And it is nice to see it in the sunshine today. Despite the fact that my usual declaration is "I never get sick" I was a little sick yesterday, because I must have got soaked a few times too often walking around in the rain last week. But I have been walking to work which has been very pleasant, even in the rain. That has been taking me about 45mins, but that is by no means at a power walk and I have had to keep stopping and bending and stretching like somebody queer because my back has been hurting quite fiercely at times (I have to confess that moving house last Saturday was one of those days when I particularly thought that having a "helpmeet" would be nice – just somebody to shift heavy things would do! :) ... ).
The flat is great, and everything has fallen into place quite beautifully. I mentioned in an earlier post that I one of the ladies at work had an elderly Aunt who went into a nursing home and so I got to go around and claim some of her no-longer-needed items, some of which were the fridge and the washing machine, which were otherwise to be big purchases, for next to nothing - and similar things have kept happening. So, I have had the thought myself, and it has actually been said to me a number of times also, that “God has been very kind”. But I do pause to consider when I find myself thinking such things in response to favourable circumstances. And I wonder if that is a particularly helpful way for me to think, or a particularly helpful thing for people to say. Because, what I am I then going to think and say when a string of things go wrong and I seem to reach the straw that broke the camels back and do wonder what God is doing? But then I wonder if I am just being some kind of overzealous, 'Calvinistic' stickler or some such thing. The thing is, when a friend does something kind and I say, "that was kind of you", I am not meaning to imply that I don’t think they are not a kind person when they aren’t doing nice things for me. I am not particularly reading-off their character from that one action – or am I? On the flip side, I do remember the distraught lady on the news when the bushfires swept through Canberra and house burnt down saying on National News "God was very cruel to us today", and I felt very sorry for her but also thought to myself "but did you think he was kind when your house didn’t burn down". So, it can be problematic to read-off the character of God, or his particular favour, from circumstances.
It seems to me that the really difficult thing in this life is trusting that God is kind, and indeed very good, even when circumstances are all bad, not declaring his kindness when I get a nice flat and a cheap fridge (much as I am, and should be thankful and acknowledge them as gifts from him). The problem is that we don’t know the whole story. While it is true that in the Old Testament the Israelites referred to God’s kindness in relation to specific actions (just search "kindness" in the ESV) then we come to Titus 3:4-7, which says: But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The greatest kindness ever shown has been shown by God already in his death on the cross for us – cheap fridges, or fridges that blow up and burn the house down now are trifling in comparison.
The sermon at church this morning was on story of Jacob in Genesis 30:25-31:55 and titled "Blessing though difficulties", just to further enhance my musings, demonstrating that many blessings come through difficult circumstances. Then I leave church and find a text message on my phone asking me to call one of my old flatmates as soon as possible, the reason being that they were robbed last night, all their laptop computers taken, and I had the contents insurance policy papers. So, if I hadn’t moved last weekend they would have taken my computer too. I can be thankful that I still have my computer (because it’s not schadenfreude), but I wouldn’t want to make any judgments about God’s preferential kindness in the matter.
Anyway, what do other people think? Is it helpful or not helpful to respond to favourable circumstances by saying "God was very kind" – or is it just something neutral that I should not bother being so “intellectual” about and just joyfully give the credit to God regardless?
P.S. Have had a huge amount of trouble getting the internet to work today. I don't know if this is going to be an ongoing and annoying problem. I am not game to try and add a picture to this post incase it all falls over.