Early in his career, Will Smith, the actor/father/singer, was just Will Smith, rapper, and he had a song called “Parents Just Don’t Understand.” It was a comic look at the decisions that parents make (mild things like discount, un-cool clothes) that cause teenagers to groan. No, parents don’t always understand what is important to our children (especially when it comes to fashion); but the reverse is even more true – children do not understand the decisions parents make. How can they? Until you’ve had children of your own, you just cannot understand the concern, responsibility and love that go into parenting.
Is it any wonder that we (the children of God) cannot understand God and the decisions He makes?
I’m reading The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. Seems like on every trip I take these days, I’ll see one or two people reading it. It is Young’s attempt, through a fantasy encounter between God and Mack (the father of a murdered child), to explain the nature of God’s love for us and the decisions He makes. I’m not finished the book; but, while I completely disagree with Young’s Trinitarian view of the nature of God, I’m finding quite a few thought-provoking nuggets.
The fact of the matter is that we are not going to understand God while we are still human. We can’t. Our minds just don’t stretch that far. But the joy, the peace and the life come in trying, and in gaining ground through the effort.
If you read about George Washington, you learn about him. If President Washington could appear in your home and be interviewed by you, you would gain insights that just reading about him could not provide. If you could go back into Washington’s time, experience what his life was like – the culture and climate of his time, you’d be able to understand him even better. But, if, somehow, you could get into Washington’s head, hear the thoughts, work through the issues and decisions, feel the exhilaration and the pain -- if you could actually somehow live through a portion of Washington’s life in the person of the man himself – think of the kinds of insights you’d get! Did his wooden teeth cause blisters on his gums? Did he really love Martha? How did he feel about his role in the birth of this nation? Did he ever despair of it coming together? What was going through his head as he snuck across the Potomac River? You get the point.
The process is the similar in our efforts to get to know God. We read about God in His word –The Bible. We talk to (interview) others about God’s interaction in their lives through fellowship and it expands our understanding. We interview God in prayer. But if we could live as God…
We can’t, of course, get inside God’s head exactly. He tells us that our thoughts are not His thoughts. BUT, He can get inside us through the Holy Spirit. To the extent that the Holy Spirit lives in us we can begin to better understand God and the decisions He makes. We can expand our comprehension of His eternal, all-encompassing, unfathomable love.
The Bible explains that we “see through a glass darkly” now. We will see more clearly at Christ’s return, when the Kingdom of God inhabits the earth. It inhabits us now by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Little by little, more and more each day as we get and stay connected to God and Christ through the Holy Spirit, we can grow in understanding. For now, God must sometimes look at us, shake His head and say, “my children just don’t understand.” We don’t. However, we should keep trying.
Pentecost is less than a week away. It pictures the giving of the Holy Spirit to the New Testament church. Let’s all spend the week asking for more of God in us, so that we can better understand our incomprehensible Father.
Love, Nancy.
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