“Our Capacity for Mystery.”

“Can you fathom the depths of God or discover the limits of the almighty?” -Job 11:7

This post is vital. Read every word. Not because Garrett Shrouder made it (all I really did was type what I felt convicted on so all glory to God), and not because of any other reason besides the fact that what is going to be addressed is extremely… vital.  So even though it might be a little long, read it, please. For your sake, and for the sake of those you might share Christ with.

Consider this: Would you follow God even if you didn’t know a single thing about Him besides that He is truly God and there is no other?

That question, as loaded as it is, is what I truly believe every true Christian should ask themselves. The correct answer should be “yes” without hesitation, but too often the reality is that our service to God is hindered by the mysteries that surround Him, and the mysteries that surround the places He calls us to. Another good question to ask yourself is, “If God leads me into a circumstance that is truly mysterious, will I be faithful?” Again, the answer should be yes, but you see, in our flesh we have a deep corruption that we fail to recognize sometimes. The corruption is that in order to truly be effective, or comfortable as a Christian, we have to know things. We can’t be in the dark. And it’s precisely that corruption that I am rebuking. You really think God would ever keep us in the dark?? He’s the Father of Lights, for goodness sake! But, in order to drive this point home, let me give you the source of the corruption. 

I’ve heard a lot of teachings on what the true temptation was that Adam and Eve fell to in the Garden of Eden: pride, arrogance, hate, discontentedness, and many others. But I’ve noticed something else, perhaps even at the root of it all, I can’t truly say. But I know it’s there. Pay close attention… 

Adam and eve are straight chillin in the Garden. All is super spectacular. They dwell in a state of perfection, are over all life on earth at that time, get regular visits by Elohim, and are basically free to know and do anything. God, in all of His infinite wisdom declares that, although they can eat any fruit in the Garden, they should not eat the fruit of one tree. ONE tree. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They had everything, and could know anything. But what they couldn’t know, being in a state of perfection, was what “evil” truly was. They probably understood the concept, but they didn’t know it. It was that temptation to know something mysterious that overcame them and plunged the world into darkness. And we are their descendants.

I don’t know about you, but realizing that aspect of the story incites in me an urgency to better understand what I am supposed to do when faced with God’s mysteries. Granted, some of His mysteries are meant to be understood, and He is faithful to teach us what we need for salvation and holiness during this earthly life. After all, Daniel boldly declares to King Nebuchadnezzar that “There is a God in Heaven who reveals mysteries…” (Daniel 2:28a) And God has repeatedly given us so much more evidence and clarity than we could ever deserve, in order to bring many to repentance and to an eternal life in His presence. Think for a moment… He has done many miracles in the sight of men to prove His authority to the weak hearted, He has given us the Bible, and He has, in His unending mercy, produced all manner of physical evidence to support it. He even let Thomas touch His wounds so that Thomas would no longer doubt! Understand this, in the perspective of religion, there is no other that is made as clear as Christianity is to everyone. Don’t believe me? Just look into it. But I can’t help you do that right now… This isn’t a blog that is meant to give evidence for God’s reality. This is a blog to show that we serve a mysterious God, and that we don’t have to be afraid of that. 

Mystery is difficult. I get it. Being in the midst of it is incredibly uncomfortable. Have you ever had someone tell you a riddle that you didn’t get, and after a few minutes of pondering it, you finally ask,”What is the answer?” Then the person says to you, “Nope. Can’t tell you. You’ve got to figure it out for yourself!” If you have, then you know of the burning anger that comes from the very depths of your being that swallows you and very nearly turns you to the Dark Side. You do one of three things at that point, 1.) You beg and grovel until they finally reveal the juicy answer, only to be disappointed by how simple it was, 2.) You obsess over the answer every single second from that moment, and are either driven into insanity, or you finally figure it out at 3:00 am, and *shocker* become disappointed at how simple it was, 3.) You do like me and simply forget about it until you see that friend again, and when they ask if you got it you play it cool and say, “Oh yeah. Too easy.” And then you tell it to someone else all clever-like and hope that they answer it so that you can go tell your friend the answer super confidently. That’s the way that most humans typically face mysteries. But not all of us. Let’s look at Jesus’s mother for an example. She was literally called to be the earthly mother of the Eternal God in the flesh. From the moment of conception she is met with mysteries concerning that calling. In Luke chapter 2, Mary and Joseph rest with the newly born Messiah as shepherds come and worship Him. Imagine being a parent and watching some random dudes coming all sweaty and nasty out of the fields singing praises to your child. Even after being told that her child was the Messiah, Mary was stupified by this. It says in verse 19 of that chapter that Mary was “…treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.” Mary shows us that God’s mysteries are treasures in our hearts worth meditating on. Beautiful. Not simple riddles to grab at and insert logical conclusions. We tend to do that rushing when we reach our maximum mystery capacity. This brings me to the title of the blog: “What is our capacity for mystery?”

John Piper asked that, not me. So if you for some reason thought that I was wise enough to ask that question, I’m sorry to disappoint. But now that I know that question I’ve extensively searched myself for the answer, and encourage you to do the same. Where is that line in ourselves where we say, “God, I simply can’t handle it anymore. The mysteries are too much?” Where do we begin to think we have to have answers or we can’t trust in Him? Where do we begin to take matters into our own hands, applying answers based on fallible earthly logic, so that we can “solve” the mysteries? Taking another seed of wisdom from John Piper, I give you this quote: “If I see something (about God or in God’s word) that feels too severe I cry, I struggle, I may not preach it right away, I talk to people… I say, ‘God, Help me please! Don’t let me rise up over your word, and tell this book what it has to mean.'” 

Oh, snap. 

Quickly, go grab the pieces of your mind that exploded so you can finish reading this!

Oh, how often we do tell God what He has to mean! We, I, so frequently apply our own interpretation to a Holy mystery based on convenience and earthly logic! Oh, this difficult area… existing in the mysteriousness of the Almighty God! We desire concrete knowledge, so much so, that we would even risk relationships with others, and even with God Himself in order to get it. Think about all the puzzles and riddles we have that we like to solve! Or, think of all the crime solving TV shows! (Shoutout to the new Sherlock episode that just aired. Another mind blower.) We just don’t know how to cope with mysteries sometimes. Especially God’s mysteries.
This is also most of the problem with trying to share the Gospel with unbelievers, they just look for too many answers, and aren’t content with what God has already graciously provided. Ask any atheist (primary millennials), and you will get the same spill: “there isn’t any evidence for God,” or “I would believe in God if I understood why He can claim to be so good, yet still let bad things happen.” And then, the enlightened Christian offers to give them the greatest gift God has ever given to a world of darkened doubters: faith.

What an amazing gift faith really is! And how little that sentence does to actually tell it… But the Apostle Paul tells it better: “In every situation take the shield of faith and with it you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” (Ephesians 6:16) In that chapter Paul breaks down all of the greatest things God has given to Christians in this world to combat darkness and spread the Light of Life, and he specifically names “faith,” calling it “a shield” that can literally demolish the flaming arrows of the evil one. What are those “flaming arrows?” Doubtless, most of them are temptations to try and interpret mysteries God does not intend for us to know yet, or to turn away from Him because His mysterious ways. Faith is the barrier that surrounds our hearts and allows us to store up the Holy mysteries and meditate on them. Scriptures we don’t understand (ones we think we do), deaths, pain, suffering, areas that earthly logic doesn’t cover (and areas we think it does), anything mysterious, anything lofty, anything beyond us. All of it. It allows for us to reach as high as our God-given minds can, and still step back in awe of Him, realizing how big He really is, and how small we really are. It allows for us to be faced with confusion and things that would make even the strongest ideas crumble, yet still love Him enough to ask Him about it and be content when He replies with, “Not yet, my child.” Faith is the knowledge that we have all of eternity to ask about every single aspect of an infinite God, and to receive answer after answer, filling up that eternity with knowledge of Him, and rejoicing with each gained insight. Faith is to look into the Heavens and know that God is mysterious, and be just fine with that. To ponder His mysteries with His other children, and never allow ourselves to become so prideful that relationships are ruined. Faith is a mystery in itself.

God is mysterious. Mystery is difficult, but good. Faith is our tool to use in the midst of mystery. These things I pass onto you, as God saw fit to give them to me. Don’t mimic our original earthly parents and fall to the temptation of “knowing” more than we ought to know at this time. Our mysterious God has given us enough knowledge right now to grow closer to Him, or to begin a relationship with Him. And while we seek Him on this earth, He will continue to teach us more by His Spirit.

We praise you, oh mysterious Yahweh. 

Thanks for sticking it out to the end of this thing. I love you guys. Let me know what you thought about this blog by commenting here, on twitter (@BearleeAfloat) or by sending me an email (bearlee.afloat@gmail.com), and while you are at it, let me know how I can be praying for you. Any comments are encouraging and allow me to know how I can better serve you guys.

-GLS

“Pro Deo et Sua Patria.”