And if She doesn't?

The other day I read a status by someone who's happy that God blesses those who do Her will. I was happy for this person. She's a family member, dear to her family and dear to me.

But what if God doesn't? What if? (Maybe Heavy Sledding Coming Up warning.)

The Wisdom literature in the Hebrew Scriptures seems to follow two tracks, and these would seem to indicate two separate origins. The inspired Word is, like any other writing, influenced by surrounding cultures, The dominant cultures in the ancient Near East were the Egyptian and the Mesopotamian.

Egyptian society was dominated by the Nile. The Nile flooded periodically, predictably. It left fertile silt for growing crops. It made irrigation easy. Egyptian wisdom literature seemed to be written with an underlying assumption that life is good - the gods are not out to get you. If you do what they want you to do, they will do what you want them to do. They will, unfailingly, take care of you.

You can see this strain of thought in The Book of Proverbs."My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, you will find a future" (24:13-14). You can also see the Egyptian influence in the Song of Solomon, with its beautiful portrayal of sexual love.

Mesopotamian society was dominated by very different rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. They flooded too, but much less predictably than the Nile. In good years, the Euphrates (the Tigris was unusable for irrigation because it  runs in a deep bed) flooded, and if the irrigation efforts were well coordinated a good crop could result. Other years, they would be all organized - only, no flooding. Other years, they would be organized, and the Euphrates would flood - and keep coming, and keep coming. In either case, mass starvation resulted.

Is it any wonder that the Mesopotamian societies thought the gods were out to get them? If you read the Mesopotamian creation account you see some similarities to the Genesis accounts (e.g., the seven-day time frame), but in the Mesopotamian accounts the creation of this world is a result of hatred - hatred toward the creation, warfare among the gods. In Genesis, the key differentiator is the phrase "and it was good." It's repeated like a drumbeat: "And it was good!" And forget that warfare among the gods. Genesis has only One.

At some point, the question arises as I asked earlier: "But what if you do everything God ever asks of you - and then bad things happen? What if you are God's obedient servant, yet the one thing you want most in life eludes you? What if you have what you wanted, and it's taken from you?" What if you're Job?

The Mesopotamian influence clearly shows in Job and in Ecclesiastes: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." And thus, the interplay between the two strands of thought: "If you do good, good will be done to you." "Fine - but what if not?" And here's the answer God gives Job: "Who do you think you are to even ask?"

Some years ago Rabbi Harold Kushner published a book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. He posited three traits commonly ascribed to God: he is all-loving, omniscient and omnipotent. Kushner took suffering as evidence that we have to give up one of the three traits. Kushner gave up on the omniscience; he regards the universe as being a largely random thing. I am not there. I would rather think that I lack some understanding, rather then think of God as less than all-knowing.

Long way to say this, I know, but in the end suffering, pain, loneliness are a mystery. My question to myself: Can I make them into a gift to God instead?

Love your thoughts. Thanks for hanging out!