Imagine finding a well on one of your walks. Peering into the dark abyss you are curious about its depth, or if it holds water. Pulling a coin out of your pocket you throw it in and strain your ears, hearing nothing. Imagining the incalculable depth puts a chill up your spine. You finish your adventure at a fountain in the center of the park. There are many coins littering the bottom, easy to see in the shallow water. Here is a picture of the wisdom of God compared to mankind’s accumulated knowledge and assumed grasp of nature, science, technology, psychology, and physics. We stand on the threshold of unleashing artificial intelligence onto the scene and revel in our incredible capabilities, but it is a spit in the ocean compared to the universe maker’s power. Our shallow arrogant technological and material perspective has shriveled our perception of the God Who set everything we see (and don’t see) into motion, balances it in symphonic harmony, and imagines into existence both the breathtaking beauty and brilliant physics that hold all things with their diverse dynamics in concert.
This thought occurs to me as I am reading through the Old Testament and wonder at the ways of God revealed in His interactions with His chosen people. Many of His commands, especially about diet and sanitation have fairly understandable logic. Others are counter intuitive and some seem like sheer mysticism or superstition. Perhaps He knows something we don’t! The whole interconnectedness of humankind with the environment is shrouded in mystery. Adam disobeys the one prohibition and the earth is cursed. We are told in Romans 8 that all of creation is groaning to be “set free from the slavery of corruption”, and this liberation will accompany the “revealing of the sons of God”. And then there is the “land vomiting out her inhabitants” because of immorality. Abel’s blood “cries out from the ground”. “The earth mourns when her inhabitants sin” (Isa 24:4-5) and “the earth is glad” when God brings justice (Psalm 96:11-13) Natural man, one without the Spirit of God enshrined in his soul as its compass, finds explanations for such riddles by dismissing or diminishing the narrative as mere allegory. Or one could make God the mysterious force in created things. This is not hard to do as the Spirit of God flutters over the waters of chaos as a bird before the creation story, lights upon Jesus as a dove, the Father appears in a burning bush, manifests as light, cloud, thunder, and lightning. Animism seems very plausible, which makes it all the more interesting that the God of the Hebrews very emphatically prohibits limiting Him to His manifestations and making gods of those things. The idols of the nations exemplified this mindset and were to be assiduously avoided lest they infect the thinking of His people. The very first commandment deals with this. We smile condescendingly, but throughout history, apart from revelation of Scripture, most peoples deified the unknown, stopping at the manifestations and missing the creator behind them. Romans 1 says that instinctively mankind recognizes that there is a supreme power. These days it is science and technology that tantalize our reasoning, eliminating the need for a God Who reveals Himself in such mundane and incomprehensible ways. Dt 29:29 ends a comprehensive warning about the curses of idolatry and self rule: “Only the Eternal knows the secret things. But we and our descendants are always responsible for what has been revealed to us, and we need to obey every word of this law.”
Of course we are too sophisticated to be taken in by a religion of allegiance to a confusing, inexplicable, demanding God. We would much rather bow to an impersonal force which requires nothing of us – the universe. Animists see deity in created things, their vision of God stopping at the threshold of truth, worshipping the seen rather than the revealed. Or maybe the provable – science anyone? Perhaps fascination with the existence and manifestations of the spirit world is more palatable. Mysticism, spiritism, worship of ancient gods and goddesses – these are not references to Old Testament stories, this is current practice – and on the rise. All stop short of the One Who created and controls all these realms. These gods are too small – way too small. All of what they worship are “Indeed … the mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?” Job 26:14 Read that verse again! We have seen only the edges?? Wow!! We have trivialized God to satisfy reason, logic, or will. We do it to our peril.
The question to myself and my believing hearers is this: “Is MY God too small as well?” Before I smugly congratulate myself on avoiding profound spiritual deception, let me examine my connection with the God who is “a consuming fire” as well as a “redeemer”. Am I truly choosing to prepare myself for that day when faith will become sight? Am I intentional about refusing the culture’s approval in favor of God’s? Do I exude religion instead of love? Am I immersed in His presence? Does my life demonstrate my belief? Do I follow Jesus or my pet doctrines? Am I in relationship or merely moral? Do I invite Him to challenge and change me? Do I constantly seek His voice, thrill His heart, revel In His character? Do I seek His face or His hand?
Ask! Seek! Knock! Is your God too small? I hope not!
Selah and Shalom
SALTSHAKER 