God Loves Order, But When? How?
God is about order as seen in 1st Corinthians below. But is he against chaos? God loves order, but is order God? How can we think about this?
In 1 Corinthians 14:33 it says
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.
In the passage, the Apostle Paul says that having people speak in unknown tongues for the church is nonsense as people cannot understand. He then indirectly says that God is about order.
Christianity Today has a very good article up explaining how God is a God of order. They say he is not capricious and changing, so we can trust him.
Furthermore, the article talk about how God made and maintains an ordered universe. This is true, and I have no push back on what Christianity today said. I want to add something.
God Loves Order, But We Need to Think More
If the Charismatic Christians have an ecstatic meeting and people are even slain in the spirit and fall to the floor all over, does this violate God’s sense of order?
Does God get ecstatic? First let me state that God is more rational and serious than the toughest father. He is also more compassionate than the most motherly mother. God, who created these emotions, surely has more than we do. How about a Biblical example from 2 Chronicles 5:12-14?
12 All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. 13 The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang:
“He is good;
his love endures forever.”
Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, 14 and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.
The event is Solomon bringing the Ark of the Covenant into the newly finished Temple in Jerusalem. Who had an ordered plan? Solomon. Who carried it out well? The Levites. Who caused chaos? God.
Does this mean God is a God of chaos? No, God is operating within himself and purposely caused chaos. I think we can say that he was happy, perhaps even ecstatic.
Let’s See God Better
Physics has shown that the electrons in the atoms are in a kind of chaos. The chaos in the atom works perfectly. This case, chaos is in a sense of order or proper purpose.
God’s purpose in creating chaos in the temple was showing his acceptance of what they did and the heart they brought to it. He was not being arbitrary. I think it is reasonable to say he was being emotional and emotions are not always ordered. They do have a good purpose however and signal us like God was signaled in his spirit to create a happy chaos. God is the God of the happy chaos. I think when right hearted charismatics worshipping God fall down before him; it is happy chaos.
God is a God of order. However, order is not God. God and His principle of love always stands over order. We should not forbid uncontrolled happiness or repentance fort example. In Corinth, we could ask if people speaking in an unknown tongue were showing love to those who cannot understand and must sit and listen every week.
God definitely thinks there is a time when order must be thrown out the window as we have fallen upon his love. See also Love is Dynamic.
That is our God. Be free to love him ecstatically. He loves you the same and the angels of God celebrated with God when you believed. Do not worship your rules and order when God and his love calls for something else. Think what is God’s heart, love or order? Then, we will know the right path.
