Hi Friends,
How is your week been?
One phrase, spoken by a fellow truth seeker in a zoom call a few weeks ago, has been rolling around in my mind this week.
It’s okay to leave room for the mystery and glory of God.
I don’t know about you, but I am the kind of person that likes clarity and certainty. Give me the steps and I will do them. Show me the plan and I will implement it. But give me a blank piece of paper and I am not sure where to go from there. Black and White is my jam. Grey is murky and full of mystery.
Life and knowing God is full of mystery and glory. We don’t and can’t see and know everything about life and God.
Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:12 (NLT)
I find it comforting to read Paul’s confession - even though he was a top Pharisee and expert at the Scriptures - he didn’t know everything, completely. He had partial knowledge about God. There was mystery there. There’s murkiness like a fuzzy reflection.
Only partial clarity.
And that’s okay.
God is often silent when we prefer that he speak, and he interrupts us when we prefer that he stay silent. His ways are not our ways. To live with the sacred God of creation means that we conduct our lives with a God who does not explain himself to us. It means that we worship a God who is often mysterious – too mysterious to fit our formulas for better living. It means that God is not our best friend, our secret lover or our good-luck charm. He is God.
Craig Barnes, President of Princeton Theological Seminary
One line from Craig Barnes quote above pops out to me - To live with the sacred God of creation means that we conduct our lives with a God who does not explain himself to us. BUT, I want explanations to all my “why” questions, don’t you? And especially my “Where were you God, when…” questions.
This week I was asking the “Where are you God?” question as I studied some horrific passages in Scripture from the lives of three women:
Dinah from Genesis 34 - the daughter of Jacob, raped by the prince in her town then bartered. Her brothers were grieved and angry and took revenge over the whole town, killing every single male and capturing the remaining women and children.
Jephthah’s Daughter from Judges 11 - Oh boy, this is heart wrenching and so unnecessary. Her father makes a vow with God. If he is successful and returns home he will sacrifice the first thing that greets him. Who should open the door, so happy to see her father, but his daughter. So he murders her as a sacrifice to God!
Levite’s Concubine from Judges 19 - this is a totally disgusting story that I don’t even want to repeat here, you will have to go and read it yourself.
At the same time as reading the above stories I was watching the Netflix docuseries on the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints called “ Keep Sweet Pray and Obey” . Where men didn’t just have 3 or 5 wives but over 60 wives! and some were only 12 years old.
My heart grieved and raged on behalf of these 3 woman, the woman in the FLDS and women throughout the ages and right now in 2022 who have been and are being abused, raped and have no control over their own lives.
Where is God?
While his glory isn’t evident to me in these stories, his mystery hovers like the brooding spirit over the waters in the creation story. My first reaction is WHY? And WHERE are you God?
The answer I received by the end of the week was - He’s there and here, grieving along with us.
Jesus was and is the answer to my lamenting this week. Isn't he always the answer?
When we can't work out the mystery of God, we can look at the person of Jesus and breathe in his love for…
women,
the downtrodden,
the lost,
the broken hearted,
the misfits,
the weak, poor and blind.
Me and you.
Jesus brings the glory and fulfills the mystery. And in some way brings a clarity.
How are you traveling this week, friend? In whatever state you are in, Jesus is right with you, demystifying God, showing his glory and pouring out his love to you.
Join the conversation
What stories from the Bible make you question - Why? or Where is God?
click the comment button below and let’s discuss the mystery.
This Week’s Resources
~Listening to this song on my walk this week - “Good Good Father” by Chris Tomlin. Loving the affirmation that we are loved - that’s who we are!
Keep Leaning into Jesus, Father and Spirit
I use to be so black and white....I am so pleased God has worked in me to change me to be more accepting of the grey areas which are everywhere. To live in the grey areas really. So much has happened in my life that would stress me out if I needed all the answers. I am less stressed now with accepting that God is not surprised by ANYTHING that happens. This has especially helped me recently with helping support my daughter going through a marriage separation. And during this horrible time, I have been led by God what to pray for her and her baby, and not to pray what I think should happen, etc. This helps me rest in Him!
I love the song you shared at the end..... thanks