As you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the body in formed in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
the Maker of all things.*
As I write these things Anne is in the kitchen cleaning out the freezer. Me, I’m doing the lofty things, contemplating God and the universe.
I’ve often been intrigued with the passage above. It’s right out of the Bible, the book that talks the most about knowing God. The point isn’t that we can’t know God, just that there’s infinitely more to know.
Any person or generation not ready to admit this is shortsighted at best, arrogant at worst. Or maybe it’s just “human.”
“God,” says an old hymn, “hides Himself in light.”
No wonder we can’t see Him. Or do we . . . in everything?
And what about the universe beyond . . . where we can barely see . . . or not at all?
Is God way out there and way in here too? Is He keeping the cosmos together and at the same time aware of (and concerned with) my little plans and worries?
If the wonders of nature weren’t enough to bowl us over, what about the not-just-imaginative speculations into parallel universes, quantum physics, chaos theory, and mathematically dividing infinity by infinity?
It’s real evidences of such phenomena that certain very bright minds among us are grappling with. And what about the mind itself? A complete mystery . . . not to mention the brain that carries it . . . an inner galaxy in gray mud that no one understands.
I suddenly recall the words of some modern mystic I read: “Lord, who are you? And for that matter, who am I?”
It’s all beyond knowing.
For now I think I’ll go help Anne clean out the freezer.
____________________
* Ecclesiastes 11:5
Our Lives Together
Its About Life
9:52 am
“Lord, who are you? And for that matter, who am I?”
To which God replies “”Who am i? I am omniscient, so i have no ‘self’ to speak of. I would have to break out of this omniscience and experiencing the suffering of humanity for a few years, before i knew who i was, let alone who you are!!”
re : see C.G Jung’s “Answer to Job” :)
10:04 am
And I hope you really DID help with the freezer, instead of just writing about it ;) Another great article!
11:01 am
Haha, this is so true Hyatt, some day’s I see myself in Christ, seated at he right hand of God and other days I see myself as an insignificant ant. These two feelings seem to come and go like the wind, without rhyme or reason.
11:20 am
I’ve always loved the mysteries. We only know enough to know He’s there … that’s it. The question is, can I live with that? I respect the speculations on God’s ways, but I embrace only that which I do know. One, that He is there and is not silent (F.Shaeffer), and, two, that his heart is love, and goodness, and mercy, towards me. All else is mystery, both His specific will and his unpredictable ways. As Mr. Beaver, the prophet in Lewis’ Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe stated, as the kings and queens pondered the whereabouts of the Lion, Aslan … “He’s not a tame Lion, you can’t keep him down, you know.”
12:45 pm
In my all-time favorite movie “Les Miserables”….at the
end, they sing “when you LOVE you have seen the face
of GOD”…….I like to think on that…..
Barbara Mitchiner
1:13 pm
I don’t understand the work of my pilot when I’m on an airplane…. but I sure am glad that he or she is flying it.
3:12 pm
OHHHHH….can I just say, praising the Lord this morning has overwhelmed my heart with gratitude and emotions I cannot even begin to put into words. Who is God???? that He should love me so much to reach down and touch my heart in this way that I cannot even speak of it! I LOVE HIS PRESENCE!
3:36 pm
Hyatt, I will take your word for all of this lofty talk, in the meantime my 3:30 p.m. brain and body is more geared to finish cleaning my house. I think I need to study the deeper things very early in the a.m.. Don’t we all struggle with one foot in each world?
6:44 pm
I think it is time to contemplate my navel. Then help my wife with the freezer.
7:05 pm
OHHHH I do think of these points you have made so often! I think, oh I am just an ant or a speck of sand but then I am not because He loved me and all of us so much He sent His only son into the world to die for us! We must be ever so important to Him! all our little needs etc……. Then I ponder on the universe at times and I get tears in my eyes at the vastness and complexities of it all and how big our Lord is!!!!!!!! Or thoughts of the earth or just a human ——-or just an ear!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I realize that I just can’t put my arms around all this easily. Thank you for reminding me of the Lord’s majesty!!!! It reminds me of the verse, “He is the power, the greatness, and the glory, the majesty and the VICTORY, the heavens and the earth are His, and he is exalted as head over all!!! Amen!!!!
7:34 pm
It is noble to ponder the nature of God.
It is even nobler to do the work of God, such as create order out of chaos, as described in Genesis 1. Cleaning out a freezer is such kind of God-work.
7:40 pm
You are so right Hyatt. If God created the universe, and every night the stars are aligned always perfectly the same way, and the earth spins on its imaginary axis. I am truly amazed beyond words
1:01 pm
Thanks Hyatt :) I am the deep and lofty contemplator in my household too. I came to the conclusion long ago that all things are made of the substance of God Himself – therefore whatsoever I do, for good or not-good, is to Him.
10:59 am
Ah, a favorite subject. In my work I speak with people delving into the human genome every day, looking to solve the mystery of life. Where is that little computer buried in there that controls everything? Much like the atom splitters looking for the God Particle that holds it together and makes the atom function. Perhaps seeking to prove there is no God, just nature providing continual accidental results.
They are looking in the wrong place. God holds everything in its place. The control comes from the outside. Millions of cells in your body, all doing specific things to provide the form and function of all our organs. Each cell performing a dozen things at once, without any one of which the cell will die. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? God spoke them into being simultaneously. How ridiculous that we would think we can know the thoughts of God. How exciting that we will see him face to face someday.