My daughter approached me with questions about the invisibility of God. She wanted to know why God does not reveal Himself more plainly in our lives, why our prayers seem to go unanswered, and why God often works slowly. I realized that her questions were the result of deep contemplation. She had come to her father, the house’s spiritual leader, and was asking to know the answers.
It was an important moment. I told her that she had asked the same questions theologians, Christian philosophers, and pastors have been trying to answer ever since the Christian Church began. I told her that God does make Himself known to us very often, but not always in the ways we want. How would He be God if He always did what we wanted? We talked about the mystery of God’s ways, of how it is good that He does not answer all of our prayers – since what we sometimes want turns out to be a bad idea. We talked of how He is in control, of how He knows so much more than we do, and how we need to trust in Him by faith. I told her that I sometimes wondered the very things she was asking, and though I have some answers I could give her, I told her that we couldn’t really know for sure why God is so mysterious sometimes.
I could tell from her expression that she did not fully appreciate my answers. She wanted more. She was hoping that her father would be able to give her a definitive response that would make complete sense. But, I could not because I cannot reach to heaven, pull God down, and show Him to her and have Him answer her.
“It is okay not to know the whole answers to those questions,” I told her, “because the God that we serve is so far beyond us that we will have questions that we cannot answer as well as we’d like.”
She smiled and said that that made sense.
At that point, I could not help but remember one of the greater pieces of wisdom I learned in seminary. A professor went to the chalkboard and pronounced to the class that he was going to teach us one of the most important things we would ever learn. Intrigued, I paid close attention. He then wrote these words: “There is a God. You are not Him.”
Over the years, that simple truth is echoed in my mind. God is so much greater than we are, and there is so much about Him that we do not understand. He truly is incomprehensible, infinitely wise, incredibly wonderful, and even paradoxical. When we enter heaven, I am sure that we will have many answers revealed to us. Until that day, it is okay not to have all the answers. Therefore, the words of Habbakuk 2:4 ring true: “The just shall live by faith.”
