"DEAR GOD, YOU SURE DON'T ACT LIKE YOU'RE ALIVE" - Day 12

Day 12 – volitional

Everything which has or will or can exist, exterior to the Godhead, owes its being and substance as well as its form to God... This creative act is an act of free self-determined will... It was done in the exercise of absolute discretion for infinitely good reasons.  –CHARLES and A. A. HODGE

An immediate corollary to God’s activity is His volition. If God acted in power to create the universe, He chose to do so. He elected to display His awesome power in creation rather than to act in other ways or not to act at all.

All along the creative process, the picture of God as volitional appears. A myriad of possible worlds could have been fashioned by Him, but He chose to create the one we see today. A different type of creature than a human being could have become the object of His greatest love, but He formed us as we are. These and many other choices were inherent in creation. Should He grant us free will and the potential to disobey His intentions, or should we be created with no possibility of misbehavior but also no capacity for true love? If God chose the former route, how should He Himself act toward our disobedience? Should He intervene on our behalf to save us from our self-imposed estrangement or destroy the whole wretched race and start creating again? These questions lie at the heart of theology (and thus in the center of God’s nature), and they underscore a fourth divine attribute that can be gleaned from the Argument from Design: He is the Volition behind the activity. He weighs infinite possibilities and chooses to act in a manner consistent with His overall nature and purpose.

Sometimes we may be inclined to question the choices He made. In the midst of all the pain and suffering caused by human sin and rebellion, we may often wonder why He chose the route He did regarding the human race. Looking at it through the eye of faith, I have to believe He did so because it was the best of all alternatives available, the one out of an infinite number of choices that would most reflect His character and best achieve His purpose. I believe that God would only have created the best of all possible worlds and that this “best world” had to include the potential for suffering and pain. For now, the reader is asked to suspend judgment on whether or not this universe was the best choice open to God. All that is asked of you at the present is to realize He did have such choices when He assumed His role as Creator.

In summary, God is volitional. He is also creative, powerful, and active. He chose to act in power to create the world. This is what the Argument from Design has revealed to us about God’s nature. But there is yet another attribute—historically, a rather divisive one—that can be gleaned from this argument. This will be the topic of tomorrow’s reading.