The moment I think I know something about God, is the moment I have slipped over an edge. I may know what God has revealed about Himself in scripture, but does that really hold God to my interpretation of those printed words?
I know that I don’t know and I am OK with that. I can give God as much space as he needs in my life. Then and only then can God really be God in my life.
Honor as a verb- means we should handle the mystery with weight, gravity and due respect, and that we accept as valid God’s right to be mysterious and not tell us everything.
If we don’t allow God that privilege, we are holding Him to our own ideas. If His boundaries are the leather cover on our bibles, He’s just not very powerful.
Imagine just for a moment if you would that the God who spoke the universe into existence, with four little words, as the bible said, would be held captive by the printed word.
Sounds silly put that way doesn’t it? Let’s try another.
Do you think God is in heaven looking down at us with a smirk, tapping his foot waiting until we have grieved, tarried, fasted and prayed just enough? And then he says, “OK, that’s just the right amount, I will answer now.”
Would you even want to put all your trust and faith in a God that could be manipulated like a Chevy could be by a Chilton’s manual. For all you young whippersnappers out there, long before Google, and even computers; mechanics and even do-it-yourselfers such as this man was, would buy or borrow a Chilton’s manual and it could tell you how to assemble, disassemble, rebuild and repair any part on any car, considering that you had the correct manual to go with your car.
Could God really be handled like that? Is the Bible a manual for God or US? (Hint-Look in the mirror.) And, Before you want to burn me at the stake, I do believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God.
If I “Honor the Mystery of God,” I will pray, fast and be confident that God has answered my prayer, and if I don’t see what I want, well, that’s the mystery.
If we miss the mystery, we miss out on some of the best parts of our relationship, but if we will allow Him room to do what He wants, without us understanding what the heck He is doing, it will free us up to enjoy Him and clear a lot of religious wreckage out of the way.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
We can enjoy life, if we enjoy God, Jesus says to be of good cheer in the middle of trial, tragedy and heartbreak. It is in the midst of these things that “honoring the mystery of God” does us the most good.
I know that I don’t know and I am OK with that..
James says, “if we doubt we are like a ship tossed in the sea.” What if we would trust the direction of the ship to the Lord? We’re sailing, keeping the course but following the wind and current he gives us. The destination is the answer to the mystery.
1Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
God hides things for us to find later.
1Corinthians 2:9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him."
One of my favorite passages,
Proverbs 25:2 It is God's privilege to conceal things and the king's privilege to discover them.
I would rather discover than memorize.. wink wink
