Santa’s Lab Rats

Estimated reading time: 7 minute(s)

Have you ever noticed that there is a notion about God that he is somehow planning and controlling everything that happens, and so when bad stuff happens, that automatically necessitates that He is either evil, or just not there? I think I saw this on a movie or something recently (Or, perhaps it was real life? Everything feels like a blur of late…) but, anyway… someone was basing their conclusion on God’s existence on some bad thing he allowed in their life, or something they did not receive.

It’s the Santa Claus approach. Many kids go through the excitement of thinking that someone out there knows just what they want, and gives it to them when they ask, and then when it doesn’t happen… what else can they do but either question his goodness, or even scarier… his existence?

I thought of another analogy today. It reminds me of lab rats. There is the scientist who has a plan for everything the rats are to do. He carefully arranges circumstances so that they do what he is coaxing them to do. If the comply, they get a treat. If they do not choose correctly, either the treat is withheld, or there is some sort of consequence applied. Good rat, good scientist. Bad rat, bad scientist.

Isn’t that how we sometimes view God? He is arranging all of the circumstances in our lives so that we do what he wants, and if we perform, all will go well, and we’ll be rewarded with a treat (a “blessing”), while when we choose poorly, we fear his wrath. (The Scripture, “God disciplines those he loves.” has been used to bolster this thinking.) But the story we call the prodigal son perhaps shows the fallacy of such thinking. The son who had not strayed from what his father had taught him was upset when the bad kid got the big party. He felt he deserved it, since he had done all the right things. And likewise, his brother did not deserve it, since he had chosen to be stupid with his life, and disregard everything their dad had taught them. He felt like his dad should be Santa. “He’s makin’ a list… checkin’ it twice… Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice…” Naughty – no blessings. Nice – blessings! Isn’t that how it should work???

There’s so much wrong with this, I think I just realized I can’t actually cover it all in this blog. First, what exactly is a “blessing”? Is it a spiritual treat from God for performing well? Is it something that makes our life more comfortable? I don’t think so. There are many instances in scripture where suffering is considered a blessing. I think this term is far greater than the candy we have come to understand it as. But then, does it make sense that God would treat us as lab rats? Aren’t there examples, even from Jesus short life, where bad things happen, and they are not caused by God, nor are they punishment. Jesus said, “Were the 19 who died when that tower crashed on them greater sinners than anyone else who didn’t die?”, implying the answer was no. The Bible also reminds us that God lets the rain (a good thing) fall on the good and the bad. God does not reward performance, as we perceive it.

Now, there are definitely times when God chooses to “bless” someone (in the sense we would think of it) because of a choice they made. God often smiled on people who would make a stand based on a deep trust they had in him. (Think of all the miracles in Scripture… Daniel in the fiery furnace, or David killing Goliath are a couple that comes to mind…) But had they not chosen to employ their deep trust in God, would he have punished them? Probably not.

Sometimes, through my life, I have thought of myself as a lab rat. When things are going well in my life, I figure I am pleasing my Father somehow. And, conversely, when things are going poorly – very obviously poorly, and for some considerable length of time – I begin to look introspectively at what I am likely doing wrong to elicit such a punitive response from my loving Father. “What sin in my life is causing this break in the flow of blessings?” I would wonder. So, I would try and think of anything and everything that I was doing or thinking that was not in line with what God commanded of me, and I would set out to correct that. With the full expectation that I would receive his blessings again as soon as I corrected whatever mysterious sin was keeping his back turned from me. What I discovered was, that never really worked. Sometimes, no matter how “clean” I could make myself, I still did not receive the blessing I was looking for – or worse, it almost seemed like God didn’t care at all. And still at other times, even when my heart was definitely not right in many ways, God would “bless me”. How do you make sense of that?

God says he is love. God does discipline those he loves, but the term discipline is far greater than our limited view (where the term more implies punishment.) If God chooses to arrange circumstances in our lives to correct us, it is not as the remote scientist who is merely interested in the correct results. Father, as I would for my children, wants the best possible outcome for us. His understanding of that is far greater than ours. Similarly, I understand the things I do to help my kids far more than they currently do. So, there is an underlying trust that if something seems to be God’s doing in our lives, it is not punitive in response to our immediate wrong choices, but usually, it is part of a much bigger picture God has for us, and always for our good.

Finally, it does seem funny to me that we feel this way about God, that he rewards good behavior and punishes poor behavior, and then many of us, when we actually receive those results, question his existence because of that. 🙂 He didn’t answer my prayer, so, he must not exist! That’s pretty funny.

We’ve been reading the story of Jesus arrival over the past week or so, and the beginning of that story deals with this issue a bit. There was a couple who had honored God in every way they knew how, and they just wanted a baby. All they wanted was for God to give them a child. So far, he hadn’t. Obviously, they struggled with these same thoughts. What are we doing wrong, that God will not bless us? Is all we have heard about God true, since he can’t even do this one thing for us? Well, finally, God (in his much bigger plan) was going to grant their wish. He even sent an angel to make it more official. Zechariah, the father-to-be, questions and even mocks the angel, perhaps a result of bitterness toward God that had built over so many years of unrewarded obedience? The angel rebuffs him, and Zech is not allowed to speak until his baby is born.

All the angel said came true, and they finally had their baby. And he could speak. And the first things he said were some incredible things about God. Now, was the baby a blessing, and not speaking a punishment? Or, was that also a blessing? (Maybe his wife would know the answer to that one…) 🙂 We just have this funny view of what God SHOULD do in our lives. Perhaps we should let him govern the universe, eh?

So, while we sing about Santa, and ponder God’s interaction in our lives, just remember that he loves you. His motivation for any and all actions he takes in your life are only for your good. You’re not his lab rat. You can’t put good behavior in the machine and pop out blessings, nor can you predict that bad behavior will receive punitive actions.

Enjoy this day with your loving Father, and rest in the peace of his love for you. That is truly a blessing.