I have witnessed a host of cliches today, this day of days after the election. We all live out so many cliches, and we all cling to a host of our favorites. For the sake of our identities, these come in handy. They divert criticism as easily as they confront it. They close arguments as quickly as they open them. And they serve as shorthand for what we believe, allowing us the free space in the more critical parts of our minds for weightier things like football, partisan politics, and what to make for dinner.
As a Christian surrounded by Christians for most of my life (including now), the cliches I encounter most tend to be Christian in nature. Which is why on this day of days, the day after Donald Trump has been elected, I have seen them in spades. And because of what has happened, because I have asked serious questions of my fellow Believers and received many of their cliches in response, I've been thinking about a couple in particular - how they've come to be, why we believe them, and what they can tell us about what is actually true.
The biggest cliche of them all is that of God's control. This is actually more an issue of poor theology than simple cliche, but cliche nonetheless it is. I summarize this with that favorite term of many Christians, "sovereignty." While I doubt that most of my friends and family actually think so, the cliche is that God Is In Control, meaning that either a) He has ordained the events in question exactly as they occurred, or b) He is literally controlling them in real time, a kind of cosmic puppet master. Again, I doubt that most Christians I know mean either of these things, but their conviction about God's direct involvement is real, it just so happens that they haven't thought it through. Because really and truly, Free Will is what makes the grace of the Gospel possible. So no, I don't believe that God Is In Control in the sense that His most desired outcome will be achieved. Why else did Jesus tell us to pray, "Your Kingdom come, your will be done," if His will is already being done anyway?
I think the primary reason that this cliche is so often trotted out is because we can't stand not knowing. When shit hits the fan, when what's happening doesn't make sense, when you can't find an answer to the question, "Why would God let this happen?", it's just easier to shrug and say, "God is in control (I guess)." Which is not to say that God is not in control in this sense - He knows the endgame. That's the reality and power and beauty of Jesus's victorious claim "It is finished." God's will has already been done because Jesus defeated death and took the sting out of sin. In light of this simple yet unfathomable truth, the outcome of the 2016 presidential election looks a long way off from God's "plan" and the cliche God Is In Control starts to sound like a pretty lame retort to, "How did we elect this man?"
Another note about God's sovereignty before I move on. One of the more sinister and hidden aspects of this cliche and the poor theology behind it is the self-centered nature of the claim. Take our current election as an example. It would be supremely selfish, narrow-minded, short-sighted, and insulting to the power of God to say "How could God let Trump get elected?" The presumption is that the American political system is of as much significance to God as it is to us. But the retort that God Is In Control is just as selfish, because it presumes the same thing. The biggest difference between the question and the cliche, though, is that the question is usually honest, while the cliche is simply thoughtless.
Which brings me to a cliche especially ripe for the plucking. This one is going to be as common, if not more so, than the first, and it is God Can Use Anyone. Whether the speaker claims that God Uses Broken Vessels, or that they are a Sinner Saved By Grace and therefore God Can Use Anyone To Accomplish His Will, it largely comes back to the same issues as the first cliche. When we have some stake in the person in question - and believe me, as citizens in the USA we all have a stake in Donald Trump - we are almost eager to trot out this cliche. And the Biblical poster child for God Can Use Anyone is none other than King David.
I think there's several reasons we love to abuse King David as our archetypal forgiven screwup. First of all, no one else in the Bible earns the lovely description of "a man after God's own heart." Frankly I suspect we all secretly want this to be said of us, which is what makes David's story so delicious. David was an arrogant, good-looking, and lucky man who came into all kinds of adventure, fortune, trouble, and sheer fun. He was courageous to the point of being suicidal, yet always came away unscathed. As every Christian will point out within five minutes of mentioning his name, David had the gall and disgusting judgment to impregnate a deployed soldier's wife and have him killed in battle to cover up the deed and its outcome. That God would forgive a man like this, much less praise and bless him, is simultaneously infuriating and elating. To realize what David got away with is to realize that anything is possible, even for an obnoxious low-life prick.
What forever frustrates me about this cliche though is the laser-like focus on this singular event in David's life. His deplorable behavior becomes a kind of twisted model for leadership in a way; if only you will repent, it doesn't matter if you'r an asshole! While this is exactly true in one sense - it is, after all, the essence of God's grace and redemption - it's also entirely false in another sense, namely reality. I seriously doubt that Bathsheba moved on from the experience of David's (probable) assault, the death of her husband, and ensuing life of embarrassment without any scars. So you see, while God did love David anyway, David was still an asshole who left behind some serious destruction. And I for one don't believe for a second that this was a part of God's "will."
But of course, Solomon was the product of this unfortunate copulation, which just goes to show us what redemption really is. The cliche that God Can Use Anyone seems to inherently assume that God won't use everyone. But of course He can, and I believe He probably does so more than we're aware, given our tendency to give so much attention to the celebrities in our stories. What if Solomon had not been a wise ruler of incredible wealth, but rather a simple, kind, and generous farmer who had a few friends and loved his family? Surely that story is still one of redemption, even if it isn't very noteworthy. And in any given place at any given time there are thousands of Solomons without the wealth, power, or wisdom to be famous and therefore become cliches themselves. Perhaps that is a big part of their blessing.
The problem with God Can Use Anyone is not that it is untrue. Few cliches are untrue, strictly speaking. The problem is the way we employ our cliches. To tell your angry, frustrated, confused, and saddened friends that it's okay that Donald Trump was elected because, you know, King David, is to be both tone deaf to the real cries of their hearts and to be shallow in your understanding of redemption. To say to people honestly grieving the shadow of dark things to come under the unpredictable regime of a man like Trump, "God is in control," is to betray not only your ignorance of God's sovereignty, but also your lack of empathy for real doubt and fear, if not your contempt simply for different opinions.
The simple problem with these cliches is this: they do not further a conversation about the real Heart of God. The Gospel is a beautiful message - it's The Good News - but it requires us to move beyond cliches and childlike understanding of scripture to a pure-hearted passion for love, victory, and redemption. David was a man after God's heart because that was what he was after, not because God needed a mascot for redemption. I hope for myself as much as I hope it for anyone that we will leave our cliches behind and ask and try to answer the hard questions when they come. And brothers and sisters, they are coming.
