It’s difficult to accept the fact that there are things the Lord doesn’t tell us. He doesn’t let us in on all the plans. He doesn’t give us all the insight, or the scoop on the whys and hows of the universe.

Our feeble, human minds cannot hold all of the knowledge of God, for He is so much bigger than we could ever be. And yet, we still try. Because our sinfulness will not allow for something to be bigger, greater, more important, more mysterious, more powerful than we want to let it. This is basic First Commandment stuff, people. There’s a reason that God put it first on the list.

“You shall have no other gods before Me.”

But we try so hard to reign God in. We give Him limits when He is limitless. We remove His majesty, divide His divinity, denigrate His name. We put God in the box of our minds and try to keep Him there.

“A good and just god would have turned away the hurricane.”
“A righteous and fair god wouldn’t have let that child be molested.”
“God can’t be in the bread and wine at communion, or in the waters of baptism. That just doesn’t make sense.”

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:9 (ESV)

God is a mystery to humans. He is higher, stronger, bigger, and more kind and compassionate than any person. He is more confusing, strange, and difficult to comprehend than anything we can possibly image, because He is beyond our imagination. How can we ever hope to prove ourselves to a being that is unprovable to the human mind? And that is why it is our faith that is so important, given to us not by our own thoughts or our works, but through the Spirit. It is that faith, which comes from His Word, that saves us. It is our faith in His Word that brings us comfort before His magnitude. Faith brought through His Word in the Sacraments. Faith that allows us to say, “His Body IS the bread, and His Blood IS the wine, and we receive forgiveness in our communion with that Body and Blood.”

Oh Lord, Jesus Christ,

So many things happen in this world which we do not understand, cannot comprehend, and will never be able to explain. In these times of struggle for those who are suffering, we ask for Your comfort and protection. Bring peace to those who are in the tempest of sin and earthly strife. Bring Your healing hand where it is Your Will, and let Your Word be preached to all the nations. Lord, we thank you for that which we do have, for that which You have given and will give to us. Allow us the strength to provide for those who need our help, and send Your Spirit to grant faith and hope to all.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Amen!