Understanding/Acceptance

“You can love completely without complete understanding,” writes Ken Gire in one of my favorite books, Windows of the Soul. And thus he makes note of a great difference that I know in my own life I struggle with. It is the difference between acceptance and understanding.

Have you ever noticed that the older you get, the more you realize how much you don’t know? It happens over the natural course of our lives – as we grow as individuals, we begin to see just how large the body of knowledge is in the universe and can only start to comprehend just how little we actually do know.

In the same way, God is an infinite God, whose ways are higher than mine, and whose thoughts are way above my own. He is sovereign, that is, He does what He wants without a conference call, board meeting, or stockholder approval. In one sense I look at that and feel a small amount of unfairness, but I think a realization of God’s complete sovereignty over everything will breed a life of peace, hope, and comfort.

There are many actions that God takes that I will never understand completely. But God has not asked me to understand why He runs the universe the way He does. In fact, I think such knowledge of that ‘why’ is beyond our comprehension. For example, we all believe in grace. Yet I think very few people can claim to really understand it. That is because by definition grace is ‘unmerited/undeserved favor’. In its nature, it does not make sense. It defies the ordinary, confounds what is logical, and confuses the strict.

Why does God create people knowing they will stray from Him, in effect, ensuring the certainty of an eternity in hell? This may be a question to which the answer is not understandable in my present frame of mind. Only as I begin to understand how small and insignificant I am in comparison to God will I start to comprehend the question of His authority in my life, and in the lives of everyone else.

A teacher desires to teach his or her children knowledge of subjects: math, elements of science, reading, writing, and many other useful things we require as adults. Yet the question can be posed: why does a teacher impart knowledge to his or her students knowing that some may use that knowledge for evil?

Solomon in Proverbs writes that the beginning of wisdom is to acquire wisdom. It is in the realization of what I do not know that I can only begin to learn. I don’t think we should ever give up seeking knowledge and understanding. We are to get wisdom, and with our getting, get understanding.

I don’t what to confuse what understanding is. I think that understanding may be more of what God would do in a given situation. It may be less of why God does what He does as He runs the universe. As opportunities arise in my life, the growth in and knowledge of God will allow me to make the right decisions – to do what He wants from me because I will know His heart, His mind, and His will.

The question is commonly asked: how can a loving God send people to hell? Perhaps the real question is: how can a righteous, just, and holy God send anyone to heaven? As I ask my questions to gain a further understanding of who God is, do I keep the completeness of His person in focus? It is wonderful to know that God is love; it is a scary thing to know that God is righteous, holy, and just. “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” Scripture says (Heb 10:31), and how true it is. And yet it also says “Let us fall into the hand of the Lord for His mercies are great” in Second Samuel 24:14. On the one hand, God is just, and how scary it is to fall into the hands of a just God. On the other hand (as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof would say), the hands of a merciful God is where I want to be.

Peace with God

Romans 5:1 tells me that "Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." What a deep verse. Through the price that Christ paid on the Cross (the "satisfaction" or propitiation of my sin), I can be justified (receive the righteousness of Christ) by faith and have peace (YES, PEACE!) with God. C.S. Lewis writes that in his opinion faith is more of ensuring stability in your reasoning -- your emotions and mind will wander to and fro, but it is faith that provides the firm rock on which to remind oneself of what is true. Perhaps that is really what faith is -- how can I have peace with God, receive Christ's righteousness, and have my sin covered? It certainly looks terribly improbable, but praise be to God that it is true. "And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ." (1 John 5:20)

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." (Eph 1:3) It is truly a good day.