There was this assertion a friend made …, and I quote, “the mind of God is more important than the hand work of God.......therefore we should long to know His mind” Could you please explain the veracity or falsity of this?
ANSWER:
Well from the scriptures, it’s
obvious; the Mind of God is different from the Hand of God. But let me deviate
from answering to help us fully understand the implication of the case in
point. To begin with, to think of God as having hand, feet, finger, et al as
men do is quite misleading and doctrinally erroneous. God has no body or form
(except the body of Christ which was not revealed until after the incarnation).
Wouldn’t it be a contradiction to say an invisible, indefinite and infinite God
has a definite and a finite form? If God is such a composition or form then
there is someone greater than Him, because, the composed will obviously have a
composer and the former is less of the latter. The reference to any of the
above of God (as in hand, mind, etc) is merely connotative and not otherwise.
We can later discuss what Israel and Moses saw on Mount Sinai but now let’s
look at your friend’s point. I cannot tell the reason your friend cited but I
wonder why anyone will focus on the Mind of God more than the Hand of the same
or vice versa, I will particularly not advice that. Now the mind of God speaks
of His intent, purpose, and plans, in sum, His counsel and will. This is clear
from the scriptures: (Rom 8:27, 11:34, 1 Cor 2:16, Lev 24:12), among others. On
the other hand, His Hand bespeaks of His might, authority, power, but primarily
of His works. E.g. the Hand of God was on Judah, Egypt was judged by His finger
(the finger is part of the hand), Christ is sitting at the right Hand of the
Father (the right Hand talks of authority and power not a place or location),
and all of creation, the Bible says, are the works of His hand. (1 Sam 5:11,
Eccl. 2:24, 9:1, Ps. 28:5, 111:7). Etc. To submit an opinion, thus if I have one,
I will say that as much as possible, we should focus equally on both. Of course
the Mind of God precedes His Hand but I do not believe the former is more
important than the latter; thoughts like this have done the Body a lot of harm,
though they may sound and seem logical. The Mind is a cause and the Hand is the
effect, cause is nothing if there is no effect and there is no effect if there
is no cause. God’s Mind is the cause of His Hand which is the effect. The neglect
of His ways has led many ministries to several spiritual wilderness. Strange
things are done and approved in churches today because it is either those who
fall to this error are not aware of any of the two or both or better still are
aware of one but not both. God’s Mind is not more important than His Hand; they
are mutually in-exclusive and thus complement each other.
