Saturday, October 31, 2009

The God of the Bible: The Greatest Mystery Ever

The God of the Bible is disarmingly unpredictable. The person who wants a nice, rational God with consistent answers to their prayers will be disappointed to find that He's a God of paradox instead. I learned that the hard way—through life experiences.

By the time I was grown, I thought I knew God intimately. I also thought I knew the rules of the game: obey the Ten Commandments, pray, read the Bible, go to church. In return, I would enjoy God's protection and provision. Good would come from evil, right would prevail, and my parade would never get rained out.

What a jolt to discover that I was subject to the same discouragements, travesties of justice, and tragedies that befall all of us at one time or another. Where was God's protective shield? Did it matter that I was a Christian? But I wasn't willing to give up on God so readily. I had fallen in love with my Maker at an early age, and despite the twists and turns of life, I knew this mystery had an answer.

In my book, Living Between the Ditches: When God Makes No Sense, I reveal my conclusions. I wish I could tie up my concept of God with a pretty ribbon and present Him to you in a beautifully gift-wrapped box. But when you think about it, God didn't exactly present His one and only Son that way, either. Jesus was born in a cattle stall—or cave—to parents whose character had been questioned by their townspeople and without even enough clout to get a room in a nice inn. Although we'd like to think of Jesus as handsome (the Bible says he wasn't "comely"), charismatic ("Isn't this the carpenter's son?"), and popular (He was betrayed by a friend and the crowds cried, "Crucify him!"), Jesus was an itinerant preacher supported by love offerings and without a bed to call his own.

Since Jesus was and is part of the Godhead, has existed forever, and made our world (see John chapter 1), you would expect a more lavish lifestyle (He owns the cattle on a thousand hills) and a bit more acclaim (Lord of Lords, and King of Kings). Jesus claimed that He and the Father were one and the same. So, if Jesus' defied all expectations of what He would be like, certainly His Father is not easily boxed by our human frames. God is masterfully complex.

In researching the God of the Bible I discovered a paradox that remained true from Genesis to Revelation: We can know God. God is mystery. I also discovered the rich meaning of this truth, how it enhanced instead of diminished my faith, and how much more I cherished my relationship with Him. God's mystery is majesty; his presence is overpowering. We can both know Him intimately and not know Him well at all. Sound absurd?

In the next installment, I'll share the main story from the Bible that helped me understand my dilemma with the God of the Bible.