Spiritual Hiccups - Does God Matter?

Sometimes when I read verses such as those from today's Isaiah passage, I shrug my shoulders and think, "So what?"  So God measured the waters and marked off the boundaries of the heavens; what difference does that make to my life?  What difference does it make that God is God?

These are actually very fundamental religious and theological questions.  The vast majority of Americans are in agreement that there is a God, but clearly there is no unanimity about what that means.  I can believe in God and it not make much difference in my life.  And as many have pointed out, some atheists and agnostics are every bit as "good" as believers.  People who reject religious affiliation or belief can be outstanding citizens and neighbors.  So what difference does God make?

I read Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation prior to reading today's lectionary passages.  I think that is why I didn't shrug at the Isaiah reading today.  Instead I wondered about the "central reference point" of my life.  Is it God, or is it something else.  Rohr points out that we all need to organize our lives around something.  "The psyche needs a central reference point, and will create one. If God is not the 'one,' then the Dow Jones Index or Rush Limbaugh will be. We will have a 'one' whether we realize it or not. The First Commandment does us a psychological and spiritual favor by stating, 'You shall have no god but me' (Exodus 20:3). If we have not been authored from above, we will give away our authority to what everybody else thinks, as Pilate did."

I wonder if I sometimes shrug at biblical passages describing the grandeur and sovereignty of God because God is often quite removed from my day to day living?  Too often I don't see God at work in the world, and so what difference does it make that God marked off heaven's boundaries?

Like a lot of people, my life is busy, and there never seems enough time to get it all done.  Very often, I am too busy to pray or meditate.  I am too busy to be still, to be open to God, to wait for God.  Big deal that God "marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance." I've got a sermon to write and a meeting to attend.

Sometimes I wonder if all our busyness really leads to much that matters, if it leads to lives that really matter.  And that makes me wonder what truly is the central reference point in my life.

Click to learn more about the Daily Lectionary.