Understanding God

“Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: ‘Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

‘Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand.  Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?  On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone-while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

‘Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, “This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt”?’” (Job 38:1-11 NIV)

Recently a student said she had spent most of the semester trying to figure God out and had finally just accepted that wasn’t going to happen.  Good choice.  

God is just too big for our minds to get hold of.  When beset with all his troubles, Job tried, but the Lord reminded him just how small and limited he really was.  It is always tempting to try to figure Him out and some, in their ignorance, seem convinced they have done it.  But there is no greater fool than the one who thinks he can fully explain God as if describing some character in a movie.  

I was thinking yesterday evening as I was driving home from campus, passing residence halls, apartments, and homes.  In each there are many rooms and behind each door to each room there is a unique person.  No one else in the entire world is exactly the same.  And God knows that person intimately. (John 2:25)  Now expand that to the town of Boone and the surrounding areas.  Go even further to the entire country—over 300 million people.  Or to China—over one billion people! Each person unique; each known by God.  

Think of the intricacies of creation.  Millions of scientists around the world for decades have been studying its various aspects and have learned much, but any credible scientist will confess their research still only scratches the surface of what there is to know and learn.  God is just too big, too awesome to even come close to fully understanding.  

So today, if you have been trying to figure God out, recognize it is a fool’s errand.  He is just too big and too far beyond you.  But do know this:  He has given us enough of a glimpse of who He is through His creation and through His Word to know that we can trust Him even when we can’t figure Him out.

© Jim Musser 2014