IF I WERE GOD

We watched the movie Bruce Almighty again last night, and every time I see it, I see something I had previously missed. Well, that may not actually be the case; I don't seem to remember much from movies I have seen, so it is possible I just forgot. Jim Carey is a real nut, but the comedy had a clear message: if you think you can do a better job at being God, you are an idiot! The similarities between Bruce Almighty and the novel, The Shack, are very interesting. First, God is depicted as being Black. Second, the main character struggles with life's cruelties, and demands to know why God has allowed them. The Shack could hardly be called a comedy, and I think it does a much better job of explaining the "whys" of God's will.

In the movie, God, tiring of hearing Bruce complain about his circumstances, decides to let Bruce be God for a while to teach him some respect. Bruce is given "godship" over the city of Buffalo, New York for a week. During that time, he is inundated with what he thinks is noise. What he hears are the prayers of thousands of people all praying at the same time. Of course, he is unable to handle more than one prayer request at a time, so he devises a systematic computer listing of them, and then simply types "yes" as his answer and hits enter. Being relieved of the millions of requests that had accumulated, he soon discovers that the number of additional prayers is more than double the previous number. It seems that when people get their prayers answered, they pray more! Unfortunately, it is impossible for God to say yes to every request. Republicans and Democrats; the Americans and the Wahhabi Islamist Taliban terrorists; Colt's fans and Saints' fans; teachers and students; etc. prayers cancel each other out. In the movie, over four hundred thousand winners had to split the lottery and each only received seventeen dollars. They rioted!

If I were God, and had His wisdom, foreknowledge, and power, I would destroy Satan, eliminate free will, and live happily ever after (eternally). The only difference between me being God and God being God is that God is totally motivated by love. I would not allow my son to die. I would not allow fallen angels to mess with my creation. I would not allow humans to sin and spend eternity in hell. God, on the other hand, allowed Jesus to die for us, fallen angels to interfere with man, and man to have free will because He wanted a relationship with us based upon mutual love and respect. The only way we could ever understand who He is, is by observing His attributes in relationship to a rebellious creation. His self-limiting, self-restraint, patience, not to mention His ability to know the thoughts of over six billion people at one time, are unfathomable apart from our experiencing life as He designed it. He has clearly revealed Himself as being more than a loving God; He is Love! What better picture do we see than in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sin. I am so thankful that He has revealed Himself to me, and for both your sakes and mine, thank God I am not God!