My Paisley Chair

Funny how something will trigger a memory that you haven’t’ thought of in a long time. I was thinking about a list of “dos” and “don’ts” the other day when I was reminded of this episode.

I was on the phone, the old-fashioned kind tied to the wall by a spiraling cord, for a bit too long obviously. Giggles and squeals were coming from the kiddos and my initial thought was “Oh, how sweet, they are entertaining each other,” but then realized they were having a bit too much fun and the laughter was somewhat muffled. That’s when upon further investigation – to my horror – I found them! And yes, they were having way too much fun.

You see, the screams, squeals, giggles, and laughter were coming from the garage. Definitely not a place for a 2^nd grader and kindergartner to be unsupervised. “Again, again!” bellowed the instructions! I opened the door to find my 5-year-old hanging above the garage floor grasping loosely to the rails of the garage door by his fingertips and the tips of his tiny toes. While his partner in crime repeatedly pushed the door opener to make it rise and fall. It only took a nanosecond for me to envision him splatting on his back on the concrete floor! I braced the precariously hanging child as his sister pressed the opener one last time. They braced themselves for the trouble, they instinctively felt coming.

There was no,” wait until Daddy comes home” for this one! If I hadn’t been so concerned for their safety, I might have noticed how much fun they were having. I might even have overlooked the fact that the garage door was damaged. “What were you thinking?” Obvious answer … “It was SO fun!” and “You never told us NOT to ride the door!” In their defense, they were correct on both counts. They were having a grand time, and I had never instructed them on the dangers associated with hanging upside down over concrete. Adding to my angst was the quick calculation that I didn’t have funds in the budget to cover the repair.

Maybe I should have been satisfied with “all’s well that ends well” as they promised not to joy ride the garage door in the future. However, for several weeks, I would awaken from a dead sleep with this nagging question on my mind: “What else have I not told them NOT to do. I am quite certain God doesn’t have sleepless nights wondering what all He hasn’t told us NOT to do (please excuse the double negatives).

In reflecting on this delightful/frightful episode, I am aware of how much our world has changed! The world I grew up in, or even when I was raising my kids, no longer exists. Gone are the days when “Because I said so,” from a parent was sufficient. Even with resolve to reason with my children, when answers were age appropriate, sometimes “Just because” was all I could muster. The options of lengthy explanations, and or delayed responses to instructions, weren’t available. Neither were we allowed, “back in the day”, to question, much less challenge, authority figures. Critical thinking was not held in high esteem as it is today, nor was it encouraged (tolerated) until much later.

To the point …

To the point, there is a limit to what I can wrap my head around. While I believe God encourages honest questions and invites us to “Come let Us reason together” (Is 1:18-20), there will be things that remain forever beyond my grasp. God asked Job “Do you think you can explain the mystery of God?” We could learn a lot from Job and other Bible characters who, when asked a question by God, put their hand to their mouth or fell on their face. God gave us a heads up that His thoughts are beyond us and His ways higher than ours (Is 55:8-9), so we shouldn’t be too surprised when we don’t get it. The mystery we can know now, though hidden for generations (Col 1:26-27) is Jesus!

One of the most wonderful things about God is, He is incomprehensible! Though He invites honest questions, He is not obligated to answer all of them. While He extends encouragement to reason with Him, is it even possible for us to completely understand the One who gave us the ability and power of reason? He does say that He reveals secrets to His children (Amos 3:7), just not all of them. There is a level of mystery that we must live with since we committed to a walk of faith and trust. He is worthy of our trust, and He gives us enough faith to experience the life abundant that He promises.

Our culture of immediate gratification, along with a growing atmosphere of distrust toward authorities, can negatively impact our journey of faith. Thanks to tools like Google, instant answers cause us to be less accepting of uncertainty. When these cultural trends are brought into our walk with God, it can be easy to cave to expectations and pressure to have all the answers and understand mysteries. However, in the fullness of time, all will be brought into the Light!

I don’t have the mental band width or energy to worry about all the things I’m NOT to do! God’s Word has adequate instructions to keep me busy for a lifetime with just the 2 commands Jesus taught: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself “(Mark 12:29-31).

At the end of every day, I come to this: He is God, I am not. He is Father, I am child. Because He said so is sufficient!

Scriptures Referenced:

Job 11:7-8 “Do you think you can explain the mystery of God? Do you think you can diagram God Almighty? God is far higher than you can imagine, far deeper than you can comprehend, stretching farther than earth’s horizons, far wider than the endless ocean.”

Prov 25:2 “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

Is 1:18-20 “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword”; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Is 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Amos 3:7 “Surely the Lord GOD does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”

Col 1:26-27 “The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

1 Cor 13:11-13 “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now, we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”