In his book, “God In The Dark”, Os Guinness talks about ‘keyhole thinking’. Of course to our grandchildren today we might have to explain what a keyhole is….! Guinness reminds us that, amongst other things, our detectives today have security cameras and listening devises; and they may use phone taps to help solve crimes. But a hundred years ago those tools were non-existent. Sometimes crimes were solved by what someone had seen by looking through a keyhole or by listening at a keyhole. That theme was not uncommon in the detective novels of that time. By peering through a keyhole a witness had seen that it was the butler who did the deed.
Guinness points out though that there is a serious limitation to this method of solving a crime. The problem is that a keyhole only gave a very limited view of the room on the other side of the door. The keyhole view did not permit you to see who else may or may not have been in the room at that time. A piece of conversation picked up by listening to a keyhole might miss a crucial piece of information that set the context for what was heard.
The point is, says Guinness, that it’s possible to have a keyhole view of God’s dealings with us, with the result that we misrepresent Him. We form judgments about God’s character with only some information; sometimes on the basis of very little information. There are those who are quick to claim that you cannot believe in a God who permits the corona virus to devastate the earth. That’s keyhole thinking about God.
In the Bible, a man who struggled with keyhole thinking was the prophet Habakkuk. This prophet was upset because of the godlessness and violence that he saw in his society and He asked God what the Lord was going to do about that. It seemed to Habakkuk that God just didn’t care. When God, in His good time, answered Habakkuk’s question, He basically told the prophet to fasten his seat belt because the ride was about to get a whole lot bumpier: Look at the nations and observe – be utterly astounded! (1:5). The shocking news for Habakkuk was that God was going to raise up the Babylonians to discipline Jerusalem and the people of Judea. And we know that this is exactly what happened some years later in the seventy-year exile of Israel in Babylon.
Of course that didn’t solve Habakkuk’s keyhole thinking. He comes with a second complaint. How on earth can God allow an even more godless and violent people to come and drag off Israel like fish in a fishnet? (1:15). A good question! And while we are at it we Aussies would want to ask a few other “keyhole questions”. If God really wants to deal with the mess that our culture is in, why does he do that with a four-year drought, followed by horrendous bushfires, followed by a virus pandemic? Habakkuk’s question bothers us so often: Surely your eyes are too pure to look on evil? (1:13). Wouldn’t it be much better for our society here in this land if God had sent Australia a revival rather than this present pandemic?
Chapter 2 of Habakkuk begins with the prophet repenting of his keyhole thinking about God. So he declares that he will watch and wait for the Lord to give him a clearer understanding of God and His ways. He wants to get beyond a keyhole view of God.
The heart of God’s answer is found in verse 4 of the second chapter. God tells the prophet that the righteous will live by his faith. In many ways that hardly seems like an answer. The Babylonians are coming…? Fine, just live by faith! A four –year drought…? No worries; just live by faith! Corona virus? Ditto! That sounds horribly like the advice we might give to a little kid who’s crying: Chin up kid, just say a little prayer and everything will be sweet.
No! Faith means resting in a God who is bigger than what we see through the keyhole. Faith means resting in that God who has revealed some other things in His book. Scripture constantly seeks to broaden our view beyond the keyhole. That He is the God who is in total control of this universe. He is the God who knows the number of hairs on our head and who oversees even the fall of a sparrow to the ground. He is the God who sent His own Son to die an agonising and cruel death so that our fellowship with Him might be restored. And for those who live by faith He promises that He will make all things turn to our good.
The prophet Habakkuk took that lesson to heart and that’s why the book that bears his name ends with one of the most amazing statements of faith and trust found anywhere in the Bible. He tells us that his heart pounded and that he trembled and that fear was like decay in his bones. And yet… what does he conclude?
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.
The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.
We who have just celebrated again the death and resurrection of Jesus are not only saved by faith and forgiven by faith, we are also called to live by faith. All around us are people who are only too ready to endorse a keyhole theology – a view of God that is limited to what we understand according to our human thinking what God should do and how He should act in this present crisis. We need a bigger picture than what can be seen through a keyhole The big picture of the Bible is that God can be relied on when there are no grapes on the vine, when the bushfires rage and even when a pandemic keeps us isolated from each other.
John Westendorp