Whose side is God on? 

I saw it again; a pastor said God told him his congregation would give him millions of dollars. I heard that a presidential candidate was saved by God’s hand from the assassin’s bullet, with no mention of the retired firefighter killed by the bullet. Was that by God’s hand? 

I remember an older colleague telling me about being a child in the Netherlands during World War II. The Nazi troops burst into his family home and he saw on the Nazi belt buckle “Gott Mit Uns” (God with us). Many in political conflicts and church coups still want to claim that God is on their side. What happens when that side loses? Maybe worse, what happens when they win?

Humble speech 

I believe God is with us and at work in the world. This is my Father’s world. Jesus is Lord. The Spirit is at work. I believe that I have seen and still see God at work in my own life, but I know this only in part. The details are much more obscure and nuanced. 

This is the point Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 13, right after the well-known reflections on love. We must love because our knowledge is incomplete. We see only a reflection in a mirror (the old translation says, “as through a glass darkly”). I like the word we derive from the one Paul uses: we see “enigmatically.” This should make us humble in our pronouncements. Humility is foundational to love. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Phil. 2:3-4).

God’s Name

When we arrogantly think we know what God is doing, it justifies our actions. We judge and demonize those who oppose us. The greater danger is what this does to the name of God. 

As a child, I was taught that taking the Lord’s name in vain meant saying things like “G—damn it” or “Oh, G—” now “OMG.” I am still troubled by these offhanded phrases. The Jewish people stopped saying God’s name because of their fear of taking it in vain. They substituted “Hashim,” the Name. Perhaps because of this, we have lost something in our address to God. I remember in high school my tradition’s legalism changed Willy Loman’s exasperated prayer in Death of a Salesman from “Oh, Jesus” to “Oh, Judas.” 

Blaspheming God’s name is wrong, but I now see a greater danger in reinforcing our position by saying, “God told me,” “The Lord has led us to. . .” or “God did this.” This is used as a trump card (pun intended). Although using these phrases may sound pious, it is arrogant and dangerous. It dishonours God and our neighbours. 

“Do not take the Lord’s name in vain.”