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I’ve had this somewhat silly wish lately that Moses would do a little more editorializing in the book of Genesis.
It’s been awhile since I hung out in the Old Testament, you see, so I thought I’d flip back there and start reading this month. But oh my, I’d forgotten about some of the, um, interesting stories in Genesis. To put it mildly, they’re not always all that PG-rated. (Take Lot and his daughters, for instance…)
But they’re told so matter-of-factly. And sometimes I just want Moses (traditionally credited as the author) or God (since the Bible is the inspired Word of God) to throw the ultimate journalism rule aside and editorialize on what’s happening. Why is this or that story included? Am I supposed to learn something from it or is it simply a matter of history? Is there a life application here I’m just not seeing?
In other words, I don’t get it.
Still, I’m continuing to read. Because I know there’s meaning here.
And it struck me the other day, that’s sorta how we have to live life, yeah? There are things we’re never going to get, things about God we’re never going to grasp during this life. And yet…we’ve got to keep on living and keep on believing and keep on exploring a God whose ways are so much huger than we’ll ever understand.
Understanding that I’m not always going to understand…and being okay with it. From a scholastic perspective it might sound backward to say that’s a sign of maturing faith, but I think maybe it is. It’s about trust, isn’t it? Which isn’t quite as difficult when answers are staring us in the face.
But when we’re stumped?
When circumstances don’t match up with our understanding of God?
When we’re struggling to see the purpose in what’s happening?
That’s when trust is at its hardest…but probably also at its realest.
What do you think? Are there things in the Bible–or in life–that stump you? Some people might say not understanding everything is a sign of faulty faith rather than mature faith. How would you respond to that?
Comments 21
There are plenty of things in life and the Bible that stump me. I think the Holy Spirit gives us understanding when He wants us to have it; not a minute before, not a minute after. When I come across something that bothers me, I ask God for understanding. But I also ask Him to continue to help me move forward in my relationship with Him, even if He chooses not to reveal the answer to my pea brain. I think a mature believer is the one who can humbly admit they aren’t capable of understanding anything on their own.
“pea brain.” LOLed at that. 🙂
And I so agree with your comment, especially that last sentence. If we COULD understand everything on our own, what’d be the point, right?
Heck yeah, there are things that throw me and stump me. I find intense freedom in being able to say there are things I don’t know. His ways are higher and I’m cool with that–I surrender to that.
~ Wendy
Exactly–freedom. It’s actually comforting to me that don’t know everything.
Right now I’m stumped and studying a particular story in the Bible, but I am praying and believing that God will help me see what it’s all about or at the very least to help me find something in it that I can apply to myself. Sometimes, He makes us dig and dig for weeks, shedding no light. I think just to see if we’ll search for the treasure or give up. And some of those stories, I think, in the OT that are like, “Shut. Up. Why is that even there?” Are to show the depravity of His people and how far they fell from the days He rescued them from bondage and it applies to us because we’re not above it either. (Like the whole Gilead thing. Geez! Freaks me out every single time.) I’m okay with saying I don’t know, but I’m always in the back of my head thinking on it and wondering about it, or going back to it. 🙂
What I love about you, Jess, among many things, is how much you really do study the Bible…I mean, you don’t do at-a-glance reads, but you actually dig in. And that’s awesome to me. Plus, I like that I get to benefit from it through your blog. 🙂
Lol! I’ve always felt that way about the New Testament epistles instead of the Old Testament stories! Somehow every time I read a story, I can see some new angle. But even with that said, yes, there are oh, so many things I still don’t understand. And I’ve come to be okay with that. Because who wants to serve a God small enough to be understood? I’m glad my God is so much bigger than I am, that His thoughts and ways are so much higher than mine. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to trust that He’s got me and won’t let go.
“Because who wants to serve a God small enough to be understood?”
Yes! I think you just summed up everything I was trying to say in one sentence. 🙂
Wouldn’t it be awesome if Moses ALSO editorialized by leaving comments or notes. Like talking about how gross something was, or whatever. That could be pretty funny.
Ahem.
But yes, stuff in the Bible stumps me all the time. I’m particularly mulling what you said about whether we’re supposed to learn something or just understand it as part of history as a whole. That’s tough, isn’t it? So often, I think we TRY to always apply something to our lives. So what can we learn from Lot and his daughters? Uh, well, the obvious, but that’s not really an issue for most of us. Instead, I can look at that story and see the irony in the fact that the only people God saved from the most sinful cities in the world were also sinners in a few big ways. It puts into perspective JUST how sinful Sodom and Gomorrah must have been.
Now I’m just rambling. Hopefully you get what I’m saying.
Haha, yeah like if he used some sort of “Insert Comment” feature like in Microsoft Word. Hehehe…
Your comment had me nodding my head and thinking, “Yeah, maybe a lot of this history–some of which almost reads like a tabloid mag–is simply revealing that humanity hasn’t really changed. We’re all sinners…we’re all in desperate need of a savior.”
Great question, Melissa. I agree with Jessica. One of the things I’ve discovered as I read through the Chronological Bible each year is that the OT shows how much God loved His people and us. Over and over again, they sinned. God punished. They repented. He forgave and for a while they worshiped only Him…then the whole cycle would repeat itself, most of the time getting worse and worse, until finally He put them in captivity. But even there, Judah prospered. Then once again, they fell away and silence rained from heaven for 400 years. The He sent His Son, showing again how much He loved them and us.
Oh, I love that Pat–the OT showing us how much God loves us…and too, the fact that he never, ever gives up on us. Even when he got to the point of wiping his creation clean with the flood, he still let humanity continue on through Noah and his family…
There is a LOT in there that stumps me – and now that I’m a mom, my daughter sometimes asks me to explain it, and I have to tell her that no, sometimes we don’t understand everything in scripture. But just like eating food that might not be your favorite (but you do it anyway because you need nourishment) reading God’s word is always beneficial to us.
Love that last line. I think maybe even when I don’t get God’s Word, it gets me…it’s living and active, I believe that. And the Holy Spirit is faithful to work in me even when I’m reading something that makes me go “What?!?!”
Yes, they are plenty of things that stump me. 🙂 But just like the scripture you quoted at the beginning, sometimes I have to remind myself the Lord’s thoughts and ways are higher than ours.
I almost have to laugh at myself when I realize that I’ve slipped into assuming God’s ways and thoughts are just like mine. It’s hilarious, really, that I’d assume He’s thinking the same way I am….He’s GOD, after all. It’s always a good thing when he gives us those little nudges–or in some cases, figurative cheek-slaps–to remind He’s in charge. 🙂
Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. I had to come to a place in my life where I recognize that there are just some thing (many things, actually) that I won’t understand this side of Heaven – and it IS a sign of maturing faith – being CERTAIN of what I do not see. I’m certain that God is in control – even (and most especially) in the things I don’t understand.
I’ve read passages in the Bible that made no sense to me in certain seasons of life – but suddenly they were opened up to me and I could see their meaning later on. But, yes, some of those stories are just plain interesting, to put it mildly. 🙂
Ooh, I like hearing that, Gabe, that there are things that may make no sense in one season of life…that eventually make sense in a different season. That’s cool…and it’s one of the cool things about our faith journey…God is always at work opening us up to what He wants us to see and understand when the time is right.
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