I love it. I love not knowing any more about “The Lord God” than I have to know. Like the old analogy, you don’t have to understand how a car works to be able to enjoy the sheer driving pleasure of a mini cooper [ok perhaps I tweaked the analogy a bit to my own liking…].
This week I was reading my current book, Searching for God Knows What, when the author Donald Miller, discussed the struggle that the people of Jesus’ time had with understanding His identity. Donald brings up the point that Jesus surpasses all limitations of our language, and therefore cannot be explained. PERIOD!
“In an exchange recorded in the book of Exodus, God is speaking to Moses through a burning bush. Moses asks God a seemingly adolescent question, knowing full well he was speaking with God: ‘Who should I say sent me?’ Moses might well have been asking, How do I explain You? What is Your identity? And within God’s answer to the question we feel the limitations of language. God simply answers: ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ The Jews would know well this encounter between Moses and God, and it would have undoubtedly come to mind when Jesus answered His inquisitor’s similar question by repeating the phrase “I AM.” And yet it is a fitting reply for a Creator explaining Himself to His creation. God did not answer, “I EXIST,” or offer one of His names, all of which are metaphors invented for humans, but rather, “I AM.” Climbing inside letters, God explains,I encompass, I am beyond existence, I am nothing you will understand, I have no beginning and no end, I am not like you, and yet I AM.
Immediately after reading that I dropped my book and laughed, amazed at how ridiculously awesome God is.
Today, I am reading in Genesis. I am reminded of the Donald Miller episode the day before in c03v20-24 in which the NLT version [current favorite ?] consistently refers to Adam as “The Man”, and the entity we know as God as “the Lord God.” simple enough, but read this..
“Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become LIKE US, knowing both good and evil…”Im shaking my head right now, because I know that ive reached one of those “awesome God” moments, where I realize that I too have the same limitation in words, and therefore cannot express how this makes me feel.
Im so amazed at how I don’t have to understand you.. to get you..
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