“God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”
“The Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion.”
If you pull up the word confusion [mᵊhûmâ, also translated “panic”] in an online concordance, you will quickly discover all but one of the twelve Old Testament references attribute confusion to God. The example I’ve cited above, in which Moses promises the children of Israel victory over their enemies provided they remain faithful to YHWH, is only one of many.
So why does the apostle Paul tell the Corinthians, “God is not a God of confusion”? If we accept the testimony of the Old Testament, when we see people running around like chickens with their heads cut off, God himself is the most likely source of it.
Something Near to Panic
We are living in days characterized by confusion so profound and so comprehensive that I have not seen anything remotely comparable in my lifetime. It’s no exaggeration to say the inability to get at the truth of almost everything is producing something very near to panic in those intelligent and attentive enough to take note of it. Nobody knows what the facts are anymore. About anything.
I just read one of many “reassuring” articles that have appeared online in the last few days, telling us the fears of both the political left and right are off base with respect to the effectiveness of President Trump’s current agenda. Apparently, it’s all going swimmingly. Iran has been temporarily subdued. There is no WWIII underway. The border is secure. The stock market remains unperturbed. Everything is actually just fine, notwithstanding the flapping about in the mainstream media and among Trump’s critics.
“Nothing to see here, folks.” Whew!
Looking for Reassurance
Was I “reassured” by this? Er, not particularly. I get my confidence elsewhere.
I have to confess even the most reliable media sources I regularly consult have been wrong about the facts — or about the consequences they anticipate from any given political action or reaction — so many times I have lost count. Those of my acquaintance who are terrified at the prospect of wars with Russia, China, Iran (or all three), or who cringe at the nuclear threat daily paraded before us, have as many data points they can cite to make their arguments as those who insist everything is fine. The truth of the matter may be here, there or some combination of the facts attested by one side or another.
Perhaps it is not to be found at all. Nobody knows. Our neighbors and co-workers staging a calculated retreat into virtual worlds, Netflix addiction or a marijuana-induced fog can certainly list a plethora of reasons.
Decently and in Order
Paul wanted the Corinthians to know that confusion is not the Lord’s desire for his people. Confusion is not what following the commands of God tends to produce. A church characterized by men (or women) popping up here, there and everywhere — a congregation spouting mutually contradictory “prophecies” or interpretations impossible to reconcile — is not operating the way the Lord intended. It does not reflect God’s nature or his desires. As Paul concludes, “All things should be done decently and in order.”
When we allow God to have his way among his people, peace and coherence will be characteristic. Those in Corinth who insisted the Holy Spirit was the source of their uninterpreted blatherings were lying or mistaken.
God is not a God of confusion but of peace. That is his earnest desire for his children.
Troubled with Every Source of Distress
But can God cause confusion among those who reject his word and make themselves his enemies? Might he do that? You bet he can. You bet he does. Those who forsake the Lord and his ways can absolutely count on it. The Old Testament is full of it. Confusion among the Canaanite tribes. Confusion among the Philistines. “Deathly panic,” says Samuel. The pagan nations neighboring Israel “troubled with every source of distress”. “Great panic” will characterize the end times, says Zechariah, and God himself will be its source.
Could God be the source of the confusion we are seeing in our Western societies today? We cannot rule it out, whether directly or through well-funded intermediaries who imagine themselves the originators of the scripted panic they are producing when they are actually no more than deluded puppets. Scripture gives us vivid descriptions, past and present, of what happens when men do not heed God’s word. He gives them over to their own natural chaos. He lets them operate in accordance with their mutually destructive inclinations. It serves his purpose to let men believe their own lies “in order that all maybe condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness”.
The White Noise of Chronic Agitation
Should that sort of confusion ever exist among God’s people? No, confusion is absolutely not the Lord’s desire for his children, his elect, his saints. To the degree that we cling to his word and his promises, we will not suffer from it.
The Christians I know who are most at peace right now are those who are least engaged with the media, either secular or popular Christian. They have tuned out both the legions of doomsayers and the false prophets of good times just around the corner. That’s not God’s people putting their heads in the sand or their fingers in their ears. That’s not a lack of interest in possible fulfillments of the Lord’s prophetic word. That’s simply faithful believers recognizing when their time is being wasted and their emotions cynically manipulated by deceivers and by those they have successfully deceived. These have determined to carry on with Lord’s priorities unperturbed by the white noise of chronic agitation and unrest all around them.
I don’t think anything of importance is lost when we take that attitude. You will not miss your nightly CNN fix. Trust me.
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