"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known" I Corinthians 13:12
Many years ago there was a masked magician who did several TV specials revealing "The Magician's Secrets." The show would show one of the common magic tricks we have seen most magicians do and then the masked Magician would take us "behind the scenes" and show us how it was really done.
He said he did this to force magicians out of their mediocrity. He wanted them to do better, to achieve excellence. I always doubted that his motives were all that altruistic. I always wondered if he did this simply because he wasn't a good magician himself and this was the only way he could make any money. Or perhaps he was a disgruntled magician who wanted to get back at others in his profession. My favorite thing was that he wore a mask in order to protect himself from the anger of other magicians. I always pictured a Hit Squad made up of Doug Henning, David Copperfield and the guy who used to sell TV magic cards when I was a kid.
The show proved to be immensely popular because we all enjoy having the veil pulled back. We like to know exactly how something is done. We experience satisfaction when we have closure and can fully understand something. It's one of the reasons why, when a film is previewed with more than one ending, the open ending is usually panned by the audience. We just don't do well with mystery.
This struggle with mystery is one of the places we most often struggle with God. We wonder why God does some of the things he does. We wonder why He apparently turns a blind eye to other things in life. We wonder, in all truthfulness, why God isn't doing a better job. And all we get back from God when we ask questions or make accusations is silence. God seems content to leave us in the mystery.
Look at the book of Job. When you get right down to it, the story of Job is the story of a person struggling with the mystery of God. Job wonders why God is picking on him. He wonders what he did wrong. He wonders is God is as powerful or even as good as he assumed. What I have always found interesting about the book of Job is that Job doesn't ask God to fix everything. He simply wants answers as to why. He doesn't want to live in the mystery.
But whether we like it or not, mystery is part and parcel of our relationship with God. We can't do away with it. God tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9 that "My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways." When God finally answers Job, He chastises him for assuming he can hold God accountable, and tells him that, even if Job were given God's answers, he wouldn't be able understand them (Job 38)
God is other than us. He is the creator, we are the creation. We can never know everything about Him or fully understand Him. And do we really want to? Do we want a God so small and powerless that he is accountable to us? Or a God so bereft of magnificence that we could comprehend Him and understand everything about Him? In order for God to be God and fully all that He is, we must know that there will be times we must live in the midst of mystery.
So is that it? Are we to simply shut up and let God be God? Not necessarily. Although in full disclosure there are many times in my life that things would have been much better for me if I had done exactly that! Look again at the Scripture from 1 Corinthians at the beginning of the blog. He gives us some valuable insight into how we are to live in the midst of the mystery.
First, Paul tells us to accept that there is mystery to the relationship. Again a completely knowable god might not do us a lot of good. But Paul reminds us that, just because God is not completely knowable, it doesn't mean He is fully unknowable. Paul sees through a mirror dimly. It is not a blank wall. Paul means there are some things he can see and know about God. We can see and experience God's Mercy and Grace. We can experience His love. We can at least begin to grasp the power and awesomeness of His presence. We can be filled with His Holy Spirit.
What Paul seems to be saying in essence is this: "Look we can never know everything about God. But there are some things we can know. So let's spend our time and resources on what we can know about Him first and let the rest go for now. I know God is Love for instance. But it will take me the rest of my life to comprehend what that truly means." Paul is saying we have enough on our plate now.
But Paul also gives us a promise. Just because we live in the mystery now doesn't mean we always will. One day we will see Jesus face to face. And we will know Him fully even as He knows us fully. I love that. Paul doesn't say when we get to heaven Jesus is going to sit and explain why things happened to us the way they did. No, he promises us something even better. We will know Jesus as fully as He knows us. And in the end that will be enough. And, for that hope, I'm willing to wait and live in the mystery a while longer. How about you?
In Christ,
Rev. Dr. Brian Jones <><
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