Getting What You Want
Sometimes humans get exactly what they ask for, and the result is exactly what they deserve.
Perhaps you long for a simple (no touchscreens or luxury frills), lightweight (3,000 pounds), uncompromised (performance-oriented) sports car (five gears, three pedals, two seats). It should have a V8, but not a big thumping one, and two turbos. It needs to look fast at all times, so brawny tack-on fender flares, a deep chin spoiler, and aggressive rear wing are mandatory, along with a height no more than 45 inches. Go ahead and get greedy: it needs a flat-plane crankshaft too.
Behold, the 1996 Lotus Esprit V8, a car that satisfies the 21st-century purist’s wishlist. Back when it was new, it satisfied 90s purists too, by taking a simple, uncompromised Lotus sports car and giving it power to compete with all the big players. With 349 horsepower, it went 0-60 in 4.1 seconds, or a tenth slower than a Viper GTS. It reached 150 mph in 29.7 seconds, just one second behind a Ferrari F355. It was, and is, the car purists asked for.
But the complaints were deafening. People complained that Lotus had simply stuffed a powerful engine into a 22-year-old car, which, of course, they did. It was hard to crawl into and difficult to get comfortable in (thanks to narrow footwells and a narrow cabin). It had a lousy Alpine stereo and no creature comforts – not even power seats! The twin-turbo 3.5-liter V8 drank fuel like a 427 but had the low-end torque of, well, a 3.5-liter. Its flat-plane crankshaft gave it a rough, clattery idle and would beat you up around town with its aggressive driveline windup. The clutch takeup was abrupt and high. And the thing was just impossible to see out of. People wondered if they gained anything by the inception of the Lotus Esprit V8.
By nature, complainers complain. Lotus spokespeople could tell you all about that, but so could the prophet Malachi:
“You have said harsh things against me,” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty?’” (Malachi 3:13-14)
When he delivered these words to Malachi, God began with “I the Lord do not change” (v. 6). God is saying, “I have been the God your soul needs and the ultimate satisfaction your heart desires.” But God’s people, by the nature of their humanity, insisted (and still insist) on complaining. Things like surrendering your selfish desires, seeking peace with your family and neighbors, and asking your Creator to continue shaping the life he has designed for you are wonderful goals but they sometimes sounds like a lot of work. The thing you want (and need) is available to you, but it seems “futile,” and you wonder if you gain anything by following God.
Any of these complaints are complaints about God that can nevertheless be held against God. It plays out like this:
When you ask for patience and God guides you into a situation that can teach you patience, and you complain that God isn’t delivering you.
When you ask for help from addiction, worry, or fear, and God leads a helpful person into your life, and you complain that God isn’t doing anything and people are just nosy.
When you ask for stability and peace and God gives his unchanging truth to you in the form of his word, the Bible, and you complain that God’s very nature is outdated or uninteresting.
If the path God has led you to seems futile, perhaps some gratitude and perspective are in order. The path God has in mind for you is similar to the one in the days of Malachi: they both ended at salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus. That has been God’s ultimate goal since the very beginning. Humankind deviates from this path frequently (really, really frequently), and if anyone has the right to give up, it’s God. Yet he doesn’t. He can’t. He won’t. He loves you and deeply desires for you to walk with him, and maybe turn some of those complaints into praises. After all, much of what you complain about could be things you’ve asked for.
The Esprit V8’s engine was super high-tech: a quad-cam, all-alloy unit with hydraulic lifters and twin Garrett T25 turbochargers delivering 5.8 psi of boost. It was a wonder from an automaker traditionally too small to build its own engines. But the construction was pure Lotus: a deep-center sheetmetal backbone with double-wishbones in front and a multi-link rear suspension beneath a fiberglass body. You can call it primitive, but it granted the Esprit a low center of gravity and a low overall curb weight. So maybe you should call it a blessing.
John V16 is the intersection of God and cars. Please support our work and donate a V16-powered 1940 Cadillac Series 90 Sixteen to John V16. Or share this article with a friend.
