psalm 46: What God does is good

“Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)

In the Bible, God is most displeased and paradoxically afraid when people do not recognize him. On the one hand, the Bible says that I (God) and you (including humans and creatures) are qualitatively different, while on the other hand it says that even stones can become Abraham’s descendants and shout “Hallelujah.” God does not need your praise but desires it. This image cannot but be that of a weak human being. This is no different from a ‘myth’ in which God is understood at the human level. In mythology, gods are powerful beings with human emotions. Some have understood God’s desire for human love and praise as ‘God’s personality.’

In Psalm 46, God rules over the sea, land, and people (nations). He is the refuge of the poet. The poet felt God’s personality in his refuge. A lifetime as short as a dot, but how much time would there be for refuge experiences? Is there more time for non-refuge experiences? There is more time when God is not a refuge. If we only praise God for our refuge experiences, what do we do with our other experiences? This problem is not just about time. How should God deal with people who are not on one side with poets? Whether created by God or abstracted by man, isn’t ‘hell’ the ultimate disposal site for such problems? In fact, hell may be both a result of God’s disposition and paradoxically a concept of his impotence. Carelessly he could become a god who cannot prevent his creation from going to hell.

Does God have to prove his existence? Let us not make him prove his existence. Our best bet is this: “What God does is good.”