Insignificance

It’s typical of human arrogance to imagine that we are important in the scheme of things.

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. (Romans 9:14-18 NKJV)

God does not owe us an explanation. He is in no wise accountable to our sense of justice. Humans are a very minor part of a fairly insignificant hobby of God. We have no way of knowing whom the audience is, but the existence of the universe and the long tale of human experience within it is, at most, a demonstration of something.

We are permitted to see some portion of what God is trying to show, but we are hardly the primary audience. Once we get it through our heads that we don’t matter that much in God’s plans, it’s easier to understand predestination. It becomes much easier to see your insignificance and to ask, “What is my part in Your play?”

You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? (op cit vv 19-21)

Yes, eternity in Hell for the likes of the Pharaoh of Exodus is a pretty big deal for Pharaoh, but it has no effect on God. We need to get used to the idea that this is how it should be. Most people are capable of swallowing that on an individual level, but there’s something in the human intellect that rebels against the idea that the entire human race, as a mote of dust in the universe, is altogether insignificant.

We are fortunate indeed that He is even paying attention. It would be fully justified if He were as some have alleged, the clockmaker who wound it up and lets it run its course. Oddly, He says flatly that this is not the way it is (Psalm 18:6). The testimony of His people is unanimous: He notices and interacts, and sometimes changes His plans at our request. He doesn’t change His eternal purpose, but He does take into account our faith within that purpose.