Schwetzingen, Germany
I am not attempting to be controversial here or offend anyone in this series. I reason that God will bless me with a potential wife if it his will, and I am open-minded concerning the issue.
Some of my observations:
In Genesis 2:18, Scripture states that it is not good for man to be alone, and in 1 Corinthians 7:7 it describes a gift of contentment while being single. Based on these verses it is too simplistic to assume that each Christian will either be blessed with a mate, or be content. In my view this is where studying theodicy (the problem of evil in a theistic universe) is useful. If a person leans towards accepting a free will theodicy, knowingly or unknowingly, he/she may tend to blame an unhappy unfulfilled Christian for either not getting married to someone God has supposedly provided or for not being content and struggling with singleness related issues. It may also be assumed that God will eventually either provide a Christian with a mate or contentment. This approach makes assumptions about how God works within creation. This presupposes that God meets every Christians true needs in life if there is a level of faith and obedience, and I believe that this is only true in a sense.
Theologically, I deduce that God will primarily meet a Christians needs in order that the divine will and purposes are completed. However, we must reason that there are Christians that are blind that need to see, amputees that need limbs, cripples that need healing, and so on. These people have natural needs that are not being met within God's will, and it is also reasonable to assume that singleness in some Christians is a lack of needs being met. This does not make God an evil being, as he is under no obligation to meet the needs of sinners, since Christians are saved by grace and do not have any human righteousness, as described in Romans 1:17, and 4-5. Without our own righteousness Christians have no moral standing before God and therefore existence and any blessings from God come from his grace, and not because God is morally obligated to meet our needs. A Christian is justified in Christ alone as in Romans 5:1.
To say that all we need as Christians is a relationship with God and Christ is again only true in a sense. If I was to die this moment and be in the spirit paradise described in Luke 16, and 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, I have absolutely no doubt that all my needs would be met, except for the need for a physical body, which God ultimately promises believers in 1 Corinthians 15:35-58. In contrast even though God is with me currently, being with Christ now in a corrupted creation does not mean all my needs are presently being met and that is an aspect of the problem of evil. Having unmet needs while an infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, holy God exists is an aspect of theodicy, and I believe a sovereignty theodicy can deal with the issue better than a free will approach, because for one, sovereignty theodicy, and my sovereignty theodicy generally better recognizes that God can will evil for the greater good while his motives remain pure. As John Calvin states in The Institutes:
We thus see that there is no inconsistency in attributing the same act to God, to Satan, and to man, while, from the difference in the end and mode of action, the spotless righteousness of God shines forth at the same time that the iniquity of Satan and of man is manifested in all its deformity. Calvin, (1539)(1998) Book II, Chapter 4, Section 2.
It is ultimately true that all of a Christian's needs are met in God and Christ. Every blessing I have in this life and I will have in the next is in Christ, but that does not mean that in this current temporal, sinful environment, if all of my needs are not being met it is because I am not trusting in God sufficiently, or does it mean that all my true needs will be met in this life. Ultimately because of Christ's atoning work and resurrection I will have all my needs met as God culminates his Kingdom as described in Revelation 21-22.
In the meantime, faith and philosophy means I should be open to opportunities, positive change and progression...
CALVIN, JOHN (1539)(1998) The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book II, Grand Rapids, Wheaton College.
