Being "talked down to" is not something any of us want to experience.
Think about it. Whether it's a person of authority such as a policeman or teacher, we don't like it. If it's a politician, it's even worse (I won't say anything more about that here).
We expect to be spoken to with some amount of respect and understanding as to who we are. Yes, that person in authority may have authority or greater knowledge, but we don't want to be treated as imbeciles.
We don't want to be disparaged. We don't want to feel like a five year old in a kindergarten class with Mrs. Wagginfinger as our teacher (or maybe it was Sister Mary Margaret who got so flustered that we got sent over to Father Paul), who looks over her glasses at us with one finger constantly up in the air as she speaks.
But let's talk about God. God has ultimate authority (omnipotent and sovereign) and ultimate knowledge and wisdom (omniscience and omnisapience), and yet He speaks to His children and all of creation with a father's gentleness and strength, as well as authority. God may have condescended to us, but He is not condescending in His attitude or His speech.
God speaks to us as if we are intelligent - relatively speaking - and are able to comprehend Him, His thoughts and His words. As far as I know, the only way that you can figure that God is "condescending" in His speech is that both He and His ways are infinite and ours are finite. His thoughts are far greater and grand and good compared to our thoughts. Isaiah 55:9, puts it succinctly and says, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
But God does condescend to us because He wants us, all of us, to understand Him and who He is. As Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle said in a recent sermon, "We have three-pound fallen brains. We have sinful dispositions. We have only been around for a few short years. We are not all knowing." And as we understand God's Word (and words), we understand Him. We grow in knowledge of the Almighty. As in a good relationship, we come to understand the heart and mind of God. Even that sentence is one example of His condescension. In fact, that is a good place to start.
As we learn about God, we understand Him to be Spirit in nature. But then what of His "eyes" or His "heart" or His "mind". Those are corporeal attributes. Those are "human" attributes. We call these "anthropomorphisms" - human attributes to comprehend things that are otherwise incomprehensible. In the pages of Scripture we read of God's Hand providing (Ecclesiastes 2:24) or striking (Job 19:21). There is the "face of God" (Genesis 33:10) or we will see God "face to face" (Genesis 32:30) or we seek God's "face" (Psalm 24:6). We want God's face turning to us in compassion and mercy (Psalm 27:9; 80:19).
What about other "body parts"? God sits on a throne (Psalm 9:4; 11:4); He has an articulating body. The earth is His footstool (Psalm 99:9; Isaiah 66:1; Matthew 5:35); He has feet. God is a "handyman" if you will (Psalm 8:3); He has fingers. God hears us (1 John 5:14); He has ears. God sees us (Deuteronomy 11:12; Judges 3:7); He has eyes. God speaks (Job 40:9; Psalm 33:6); He has a mouth and voice. God protects us with His might (Job 40:9); He has arms.
God helps us to "identify" with Him by describing Himself in ways that we are able to understand. As we've already said, how does finite man comprehend Infinite God?
As we go further into the pages of Holy Scripture, we see God in conversation with man. The first important point to remember is that when you are conversing with someone, you are in a relationship with them. The relationship may be social or business. It may be casual or professional. It may be short term or long term. It may be beginning or ending. But it is a relationship. You are relating with someone for some purpose be it selfish or mutual.
In looking at the attributes of God, we know that He is omniscient (all knowing) and omnipotent (all powerful). God is also Immutable (unchanging and constant). He doesn't need to speak to us, let alone ask us questions or ask our permission. God is Sovereign over all. He does exactly that. And yet that is exactly where the confusion or conundrum of God's Word exists.
Let's look at a few examples in the Bible, keeping in mind God's attributes. Also keep in mind that we are not God's puppets or marionettes. If anything, God wants US to think of our thoughts, words and deeds. Think of it this way, if you are a parent, how do you speak to your children? Especially when they are young, you know the answers you seek, but you ask the child anyway. Their answer discloses what is true in their heart. And so it is when we converse with God. Think about Adam and Eve in the Garden just after they had sinned and were hiding. Did God really not know where they were? Genesis 3. Then look at the ensuing conversation. There's a certain amount of sad and serious humor to it.
God may set up tests for us. The lives of Abraham and Job are good examples of how God converses with us. Abraham's life is replete with times of question and answer. We wonder why God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. If God is omniscient, why would He test Abraham like that? Why put this old man through a trial like that? Abraham was promised by God that his descendants would be as numerous as the sands on the seashore, Genesis 22:17. But God is speaking to Abraham and he is answering God in both actions and word.
When we go into the Book of Job, many of the questions that God asks are rhetorical. In other words, the questions don't really have answers or the answers are self-evident. When God asks Job, "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?" Job 38:4 - 5. How is anyone to answer that? The following two chapters go on to not skewer or embarrass Job, as it were, but to remind him of Who the Creator is and who the creature is.
When Moses is taking the people through the wilderness, he becomes frustrated and annoyed at the multitudes. They are very demanding. They want food. They want water. They are constantly belly-aching. Moses can't take it any longer! So God makes a proposal. Paraphrased: "let me take these people out and I'll start fresh with you, Moses. How about that?" Numbers 14. Was God about to change His mind regarding the Israelites? No. But God is speaking in a way that Moses can understand. God reminds him that He is in complete control of the situation. He has a plan that can't be thwarted; either by the enemies of the Hebrew people or by their own self-centeredness and sin. God is Immutable; He is unchanging. He is going to use all twelve tribes as He works out His plans. He is not changing His mind or plans just because of a bunch of grumbling people.
Later in history, we see a God dealing with the prophet Jonah. It's a short book, so I would encourage to read it through. Watch how God addresses Jonah. Notice Jonah's attitude toward God's willingness to save one of the most feared groups of people that ever lived in the ancient Middle East.
Then there's God's hypothetical speech. The "if - then" discourses. God engages in these discussions because of relationship. He wants us to think and use the mind that He blessed us with. Examples would include Abraham's "bargaining" with God over Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:26 - 33). God knew that there weren't even 10 righteous people in these cities; including Lot's family! Then there's Psalm 81:13 - 16, God promises to fight for His people - the nation of Israel - if they would just listen to Him and follow His Law. That statement may have been written specifically to the nation of Israel at that time, however it is applicable to any nation who claims God as their God. Seems to me that's a reasonable request.
The largest, and in my opinion most glaring hypothetical in the entire Bible is "if my people who are called by My Name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14. For centuries we have recited those words as a call to repentance; both personal and national or corporate. We find variations of this verse peppered throughout Old and New Testament alike. The major prophets as well as the minor prophets declared what God would do if His people would just obey. That's all that God was looking for: obedient people.
This verse has been used as a "theme" verse for calls to revival and men's and women's conferences, church healing services, denominational conferences and more. The question that I ask myself is this: I may do those three things mentioned in times of crisis, but for how long? Does humbling myself and praying and seeking God's face happen on a daily basis? That may be the crux of our individual and corporate woes.
God knows what He is going to do. He has known what He is going to do. God is eternal. He is all knowing and all wise. God is immutable; He is never changing in His nature nor in His plans. He is constant and dependable. He is purposeful in all that He does. He knows the end from the beginning. He will work everything together for HIS good, which then becomes our good if we understand Him. Through it all, God wishes to have a relationship with His creation. And in order for there to be a solid and meaningful relationship, God will continue to speak to us in a way that anyone can understand, if they are willing to let God be God.
God condescending speech is not condescending in the way that we understand. He condescends to our level so that we may know Him better.
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