The Puppet Master

Let’s suppose the brain is controlled by a force beyond our comprehension. That force, which I will call God, plays on a grand chessboard, always trying to create a challenge that surpasses his own ability to perceive both the flow of the next scene and a response that might utterly upset the narrative, leaving the audience of one adrift, with no apparent course of action. That audience, perhaps it is you, might, like Job, look for answers in faith, and cry out “why am I here, what have I done”.

There is, in this scenario a possible explanation for God’s heavy- handed answer to Job’s appeal.  God has succeeded! He has spun a web too devious and self-effacing. Unable to concede that he is not entirely omniscient, he is unable to confront Job with an amazing display of insight. Instead he roars as thunder, belittles Job, and through Job, all mankind.

Can we take from this explanation an insight into our real freedom? We, who are made in God’s image, must look elsewhere. Once the page is turned, the deed done, we cannot, with assurance, look for the essence of wisdom outside our own pathetic grasp.

It may not call for trumpets, but it is ours, and like God we may succeed, though we fail.