Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
Isaiah’s prophecy reports that God wants to argue things out with us, God has the fortitude to withstand our attempts at arguing with God. The notion that God is ok with arguing is nice; the idea that God is inviting us to argue with God, that is stellar.
It is through arguing that I can clarify what I think, even if it’s arguing with myself. With Scripture, there is plenty to question and even argue about. The Psalms are full of instances where the psalmist is arguing with God. Arguing is a high form of communication, I think. When we engage in an argument, we’ve decided the other person is worth arguing with, that their opinion matters, and we care enough to broach a topic of disagreement. There are plenty of instances where I won’t engage in an argument. It’s not worth it. I either don’t care about the person or their opinion enough to engage. To argue with God says that it’s worth it, God’s worth it.
The accompanying reflection is from Teresa of Avila, a 16th century Spanish Carmelite nun and mystic. She focuses on God speaking to us through other people, through good books and sermons, or even our own trials. But when we get a little more aware of God speaking to us and when we’re better at communicating with God, that’s when evil forces also try to speak to us.
When we begin our spiritual journey, we don’t argue with God; we take things on face value and simply do as we’re told. When our spirituality and relationship with God matures, we are more willing to argue. The challenge is knowing whether the argument is a genuine argument of my good intentions, or the devil’s weaseling in and causing me to question and argue, carrying the devil’s work to God.
How do we tell the difference? How do we know if our arguments are devil inspired, or God-invited arguments from my soul? Maybe it’s about prayer. And also being honest with ourselves. There are times I’ve asked for advice from someone, when I know that the right answer is not the one I’m leaning towards. I ask advice to endorse my less-than-stellar choice, knowing all the while that what I’m proposing is not the right course. I’m looking for someone to either convince me of the error of my thinking, or support my dumb idea. But somewhere inside, I know it’s the wrong choice. Maybe when we argue with God and we know better that’s not a God-invited argument.
I know I need to be on the watch for engaging in arguments that are devil inspired. I just hope I can tell the difference.
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