The Never Ending Mystery

-

Here are more good thoughts on the mystery that is God, quoted from Open Doors, June 30, 2014.


MYSTERY
He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ…   Ephesians 1:9
     Human beings always want to know “why?” and “why not now?” But it’s precisely because we are human we cannot know. That’s why mystery is so important to understand. The entire book of Job is all about the “why” of suffering and in the end God invites Job to see a bigger picture than even his suffering.

     Creation is a mistake if all you see is your suffering. But if you lift your eyes wider and let your gaze roam over the whole universe with God, you can also see that creation has even more beauty and grace.

     So we are to value mystery because it enables us to feel God’s love…love that was fully revealed in Christ.

     Sometimes we get to see “why?” and “why not now?” (one of the good aspects of growing older). Often we don’t because we are the players of life in the universe, not the playwright.

    Christine Mallouhi in her excellent book, Waging Peace on Islam, makes this significant conclusion:

     The victorious and triumphant Christian life does not conjure up pictures of suffering and death and feelings of abandonment. But this was all part of God's victory in Christ. If this was the path the Master trod why should it be any different for the servants? Jesus cried out "why?" and "where are you?" to God when circumstances were crushing him. God is always greater than our understanding of him and there will always be mystery about him that causes us to fall down in awe and worship. This mystery, which we want to tidily categorise, keeps causing struggles in our life. Every time we get God tidied up like a ball of rubber bands, another end bursts out and the struggle begins over again, until we learn to live in faith with untidy ends. If everything is clear then faith is irrelevant. We are not called to solve the mystery, but enter it.[1]
RESPONSE:
Today I will value mystery because it enables me to feel God’s love.
PRAYER:
Thank You Lord that though the world around us if full of suffering, it is more full of beauty and grace. Help me to trust You and value mystery.

[1] Christine Mallouhi, Waging Peace on Islam (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2000), p.52.


Open Doors is an organization that ministers to persecuted Christians in all countries where it is dangerous to be a believer.  It's a great resource for learning about true faith among our brothers and sisters around the world.  You can sign up to get encouraging e-mails from this organization on a regular basis.  You can also pray and give to their ministry. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ten Ways to Open Your Heart to Renewal

-
The beginning of a new year is a natural time for thinking about renewal. We say good-bye to an old, tired year and look with hope and expectation to a new one. A clean page. A fresh chance. A time to think about how to make our future better--more productive, more significant, more successful, more joy-filled. For Christians, thoughts of renewal usually revolve around God. We belong to Him forever, but we are vacillating human beings, and our relationship with Him can easily stagnate. We need times of refreshing. We need to come again to the fountain of living water. We need to long for Him so deeply that it drives us back into His presence. Thankfully, God prompts that longing. He never forces Himself back into our lives, but the restlessness we feel without Him invariably draws us. So what to do when we feel the restlessness? When we become aware that something's not right in our spirits? God is the One who must rescue us from the doldrums of spiritual lethargy, but there are st
Read more

No Footrpints in the Sand

-
Image
My heart is heavy.   Summer weather has finally come.   I should be enjoying the August sun and the season of rest before school starts.   Instead I'm struggling to hang onto joy.   What a waste of beautiful weather! But sun in the heart doesn't always follow sun in the sky.   That's life. Maybe I've been reading too much world news.    No.   The problem is closer than that.   I'm seeing the spiritual apathy and emptiness in my own little world.   And, too often, in my own little heart.   I'm comparing the fruitful way God used to work, in both my world and my heart, with the spiritual barrenness that seems to surround me.   I wonder, sometimes, if God is even able to reach any of us in our current culture of self-satisfaction and apathy.   A TIME FOR DOUBTS It's somewhat comforting to know I'm not the first to feel this angst.  This morning I opened my Bible to Psalm 77.   In verses 1 and 2, David says, "I cried out to G
Read more

Five Common Myths About Sharing the Gospel

-
Image
This article was originally posted in the FECB blog on January 22, 2013 We mean well.   We really want our friends to know Jesus.   But too often we approach them with wrong ideas in our heads.   If we really want to be effective witnesses, we should be aware of five common myths about evangelism. Myth #1: There are two kinds of people:   them and us.   It's a mistake to see everyone as being on one side of the fence or the other.   That's not the appropriate metaphor.   There's no fence.   There's a road, and we're all walking on it.   For sure, there's a point in every person's journey when they choose to follow Jesus. But it's only a step along the path.   The road continues.   None of us has arrived until we get to heaven, and we're all learning as we go.   The people we want to share Jesus with are just fellow travelers.   Realizing this opens up a whole new way of seeing others, and it will change the way we reach out to
Read more