PRESENCE AND ACTIONS OF THE UNSEEN GOD

SATURDAY, FIFTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Micah 2:1-5; Ps 10:1-4,7-8,14; Mt 12:14-21

God and the Plots of the Wicked

Why does it seem to us that the wicked are having their way? Instigated and led by the demonic spirits who are principles of evil, they perpetrate suffering, pain, and sometimes even death on the good and upright souls. Is God truly concerned with protecting the good? These are the questions that have made many fledgling souls fall back into sinful states and decidedly offer themselves willingly to evil. God is the infinite Spirit and the source of all existence. The fact remains that we do not see him with our material eyes or perceive him with any of our senses. Unperceived by our senses, God seems very remote and abstract to us in our daily engagements, trials, and life in general. His absence is most felt by souls submerged in the deluge of sins and unbelief. Because they have abandoned reason and faith, they live like animals, following only the instinct and direction of their senses. In this darkness of unbelief and irrationality, the demonic forces hijack their intellectual powers and put them to evil use. Employing the law of cause-and-effect, which God established in creation, they plot and scheme for more material gains, oblivious that their evil and irrational thoughts and actions have their own consequences or effects that are bound to come to them.

Prophet Micah speaks of these. “Woe to those who plot evil, who lie in bed planning mischief! No sooner is it dawn than they do it—their hands have the strength for it. Seizing the fields that they covet, they take over houses as well, owner and house they confiscate together, taking both man and inheritance.” Why does God allow such evils among us? This and other similar questions have bothered many souls. The answer is simply that God has established an ordered and orderly universe, which operates on the law of cause and effect. That means that the reward of good or reasonable actions and the punishment of sinful/bad or unreasonable actions are worked into the orderly system of the universe. The universal order is controlled by the nature of each thing. Thus, the contravention of the natural law has far-reaching consequences which we can rarely fully comprehend. So, we are so ignorant of the fact that God has decreed the reward and punishment of every thought, word, and action of man. This decree is in the universal laws of nature and their interactions. The word of God uttered by the prophets does not change the natural order, for it is God within nature, but may delay or quicken its execution in each instance. As in the case of Micah’s prophecy. “So the Lord says this: ‘Now it is I who plot such mischief against this breed as your necks will not escape; nor will you be able to walk proudly, so evil will the time be. On that day, they will make a satire on you, sing a dirge and say, ‘We are stripped of everything; my people’s portion is measured out and shared, no one will give it back to them, our fields are awarded to our despoiler.’”      

Subsequently, we deceive ourselves in thinking that God is not rewarding our good works: “Lord, why do you stand afar off and hide yourself in times of distress?” Or that God does not see our mischief: “‘He will not punish. There is no God.’ Such are his thoughts.” Reward and punishment are automatic within nature. Grace comes only to enhance the operations and beauty of nature in Jesus Christ for the salvation of the elect. God does not perjure Himself; He is the same in nature and in grace, which have the same source, Jesus Christ. In him, both cooperate for the good of those who love the Lord. The plot of the Pharisees to kill Jesus Christ is a thought and work of human nature, though corrupted, but the grace of the Son of Man will employ these to work out the salvation of the human race, which is a great work of grace. Isaiah prophesied this saying, “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, the favourite of my soul. I will endow him with my spirit, and he will proclaim the true faith to the nations. He will not brawl or shout, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. He will not break the crushed reed, nor put out the smouldering wick till he has led the truth to victory: in his name the nations will put their hope.” The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ upholds every natural, reward, and punishment, but all work for the good of the faithful. We live in the presence of God both in nature and in spirit. This becomes obvious when we take the interior path.

Let us pray: O God, who show the light of your truth to those who go astray, so that they may return to the right path, give all who for the faith they profess are accounted Christians the grace to reject whatever is contrary to the name of Christ and to strive after all that does it honour. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.