“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:9
Who can begin to comprehend Jehovah?
I cannot understand this God who is so awesome as to call the entirety of the universe into being . . . with the spoken word.
How is it possible to grasp the power that made a path through the sea, felled a giant with a stone, calmed the storm with a rebuke, and brought the dead to life?
Why would this God be willing to give sinful creatures His precious, sinless Son . . . and then turn His back on that same Son as He dies for us?
I do not understand this love that cries forgiveness for His executioners . . . with the last, few breaths He takes. How is it possible for someone to love us this much?
I cannot wrap my mind around this infinite grace that takes a condemned sinner . . . and makes him redeemed.
There is no way I can begin to probe the power of the empty tomb. The ramifications are endless. The blow it was to Satan will never be fully comprehended by any human mind. Yet the hope it gives me is beyond astounding!
I do not understand how this same God can let little children be killed. Or let little girls be sold into the human slave trade. Or let homes be torn apart by greed, selfishness, and hate. How can this God of such immeasurable proportions not do something to stop it? (Please read note at bottom of post)
Why didn’t He stop us from killing His own Son?
I simply cannot grasp how His ways work. I cannot see the view of my life from the mountaintop. Why does He ask me to surrender, trust, and take up my cross to follow Him . . . when I cannot see the entirety of the road ahead of me?
This love.
This power.
This grace.
This God.
To understand this God would be to put Him in a box. To bring divinity down to our level of comprehension. How does one gather together the winds of heaven and hold them in their hand? Are you able to draw up all the waters of the ocean and encase them in a jar? Can you sweep together the stars of the skies and hold them in your arms?
To contain our God would reduce Christianity to nothing more than another religion.
Why, in the arrogant presumption of our human minds, do we even think we have a right to understand a God of such width and depth and height?
He simply is. Always has been. Forever will be.
I cannot understand this love . . . yet I would die for it.
I do not fully grasp this grace . . . yet I will live my life proclaiming it.
I cannot comprehend the magnitude of His forgiveness . . . yet I weep for it.
Although I cannot understand the entirety of this God we serve . . . I still choose to believe.
And yet, someday . . .
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there by any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
Revelation 21:4
Then I will understand.
On Man’s Free Will:
In the comments below, Marilyn brought out a point that I had left out of this post. I would encourage you to read it! It is a point that Lowell also brought to my attention. And I’d like to clarify it a bit.
Regarding questions of how God can let bad things happen: we are all born with a free will to choose right or wrong. If we would have been created without free will, man could not do that which he was designed to do – bring glory to God. Yet man has fallen and chosen to do sinful things. There are consequences from sin that hurt not only themselves, but others. However, this was man’s choice. Not God’s.
To heal us from our sin, He gave us His Son. He loved us fallen creatures this much!! The blood shed at Calvary can cleanse away every sin and guilt — for those who ask Him. But, again, that is a choice man must make for himself. To ask for forgiveness or to turn away from it.
In this post, I left out man’s free will and I am grateful for those who pointed it out.
~ Kendra
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MM says
Dear Kendra… you write so beautifully and eloquently… and perhaps you and I are soul sisters… enough people think we look alike, lol! Your writing stirred my heart today, and lets me rejoice in the fact that while I may not understand all God does, I believe Him, I love Him, and I worship Him… and one day when those tears are wiped away, we will understand, praise God!
One simple lesson I’ve learned is that God gave us the power of free choice when we were created. That free choice caused Adam and Eve to fall in the garden, and that power of free choice has caused mankind to do terrible, terrible things throughout history. But GOD in His great and infinite mercy, loves us still, in spite of ourselves, and our choices, and there is HOPE for us at Calvary. At Calvary, all the mess our choices have wrought for us can be undone, and changed In Him. God could make everything right in the world, and someday we know He will… but until that time, we have hope in this life and the life to come because of Calvary. I too, like you, often sit and look at the stars, the skies, the beauty of the world around me and simply marvel at my Creator, because I cannot understand or comprehend it, I can only worship Him. And in that worship, I find hope, peace and love eternal that carries me through the moments of life that astound, hurt and cause our hearts to weep. In HIM there is Hope, hope beyond this world, and in spite of the choices made by people who do not know the Lord… there is hope at Calvary if they choose to accept it. The wonder of Calvary!
Much love to you and your dear family on this Easter… may the richness of the sweet presence of the Lord be with all of you as you worship our Risen Saviour! He LIVES!
Kendra says
Thank you, Marilyn! I should have included that within the post itself, so we are adding it onto the end. Thank you, my friend.
Laura says
Thanks for drawing our minds to The Supreme Sacrifice.
Kendra says
We just got home from communion not too long ago . . . I always love communion on Good Friday! It was a special evening. Now Lowell and I are helping the youth sing a few songs for Easter morning. 🙂 I love remembering my Savior!
Plain Bridget says
Thank you for being a light in the darkness.
Kendra says
Praying God keeps us all faithfully shining in this world!