by Lee Snow
Chances
are you have heard the argument before, if not heard the name of the argument.
It’s called the “God of the Gaps” theory. In a nutshell, it says that the only
reason mankind has come to a belief in a supernatural Deity is because we
couldn’t explain things from time to time and therefore attributed them to some
unseen force, only to later find that there was a perfectly reasonable
explanation for why there was thunder or why there was a drought. While it is
somewhat correct, the pagans of old did wrongly attribute natural
phenomena to their false, man-made gods, the overall argument is false for the
simple reason that a lack of understanding is NOT what instilled in man that
God-shaped hole that is deep within each one of us. No, what instilled that
into all of mankind was the God that created us and made us for His glory (cf.
Ecc. 12:13). But, nonetheless, over the millennia since His creating our
universe and our world, people have wrongly attributed things to Him and their
misunderstandings have led them to seek Him more and more, even though they
often came to the wrong conclusions and created the god instead of being created
by Him (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17).
That brings us to our topic today. I wonder how many people in this
world of insubordination and ungodliness are being led to seek out the one true
God of Heaven because of misunderstandings, attributing catastrophes to His
hand and seeking to appease Him for a short time until whatever hardship passes
as if it were some turbulence on the plane ride of their life where they just
need that seat belt for a few moments until the captain, and in their minds
they are the captain of their lives, turns off the “Seek God” light overhead.
One particular hardship that is in my mind while contemplating this
brief study is that of the lapse. You know, when your phone bill lapses or the
electric company calls and tells you that you HAVE to pay them or they aren’t
going to keep footing the bill for your freezer to keep your ice cream cold.
The catastrophe I’m talking about is the somewhat brief, although sometimes more
extended, times in life when our bank account seems to have taken a mortal
blow.
It’s this catastrophe of life that, in my experience, seems to bring
people to the worship assemblies of the body of Christ or ask for prayers or
studies more than any other. Maybe it is because so many false prophets of
wealth are out there teaching people to do so like the pagan prophets of old
would teach people to sacrifice to their gods if they wanted their corn to grow
in the time of drought. I have a feeling that has a lot to do with it. Men and
women flood the channels of your DVR every weekday morning or late at night
preaching a gospel of money and leading people to honestly believe that they
only have to turn to God in the time of lapse in order to please Him. Whether
it’s the old, “Send me $___ and God will richly bless you” or the “Buy this
‘holy water’ to sprinkle on your wallet and God will make that wallet so thick
you will have to buy new pants,” whatever it is, people are falling for it.
But, I guess it’s no different than people that preach sermons
explaining their own ways of salvation instead of the Gospel plan. It’s all
false no matter what it is.
You see, God has never promised His people would be the richest monetarily, in fact He said the exact opposite (James 2:5). When we start following the God of the Lapse all we are doing is reverting back to the old way of paganism, a way which Paul declared to be foolish (Rom. 1:22), a way which does nothing but satisfy the lusts of men (Rom. 1:24).
You see, God has never promised His people would be the richest monetarily, in fact He said the exact opposite (James 2:5). When we start following the God of the Lapse all we are doing is reverting back to the old way of paganism, a way which Paul declared to be foolish (Rom. 1:22), a way which does nothing but satisfy the lusts of men (Rom. 1:24).
When these catastrophes hit our lives, God wants us to know there
might just be a reason for it and that reason may have been our own
laziness (2 The. 3:10). His way is above our wallets or bank accounts (Pro.
8:10-11). His way is the way of righteousness, and if we’ll follow that way He
has promised to take care of us (Mat. 6:33) but that doesn’t mean He’ll take
care of our unneeded expenses.
The Father isn’t a Heavenly sugar-daddy, He’s the creator of our
universe and He deserves to be treated as such. Next time we’re tempted to
follow the god of the lapse, just remember, that is no difference than going to
the temple of Baal and offering to a piece of wood (cf. Isa. 44:17).
Lee's Bio: Lee Snow is the
preacher for the Gray Church of Christ in Gray, GA. He and his wife, Rebeka
have been married for just over 2 years. Lee is a graduate of the Memphis
School of Preaching and has been preaching for 5 years.
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