The mystery of God has become the single most important aspect of my faith over the past few months. I continue to desire to learn more about God every day and understand His goodness, but at the same time, I end up at the end of my days being drawn closer to the Divine not by the answers I’ve received, but instead by the things God has left purposefully ambiguous. It is hard to reflect on God’s goodness when we are living in a state where we don’t know what is next or when we are down in the dumps about our job (or lack thereof) or when our neighbor is dying of cancer. However, it is reassuring to know that no matter what we are thinking or feeling, God is God. I had a friend share some thoughts with me this week about how it is so easy for him (and all of us) to base our feelings off of our current situation. We ask, “How could God let this happen?” First off, God wants us to ask these questions! The Bible is filled, front to back, with people asking why God is doing things the way He is and for me that is really encouraging. It is reassuring to know that God wants to hear us yell at him and praise him depending on our circumstances and how we are feeling. However, it was good for me to reflect that when we are in a rough situation or grieving for someone else’s, we often times can begin to put ourselves in the center of the universe rather than the Divine. I do not mean to be insensitive as I know the pain and hurt we all observe, but at the same time, it was a real humbling realization for me to know that God is in control and loudly hears the cries of the oppressed.
If you leave with one point from this video, though, make sure that it is that it is OK to go to sleep at night without all the answers. Any theologian who continues to claim truth in every realm of life from God or the Bible is probably in danger of legalism rather than simply remaining awestruck by the loving, omniscient God of the Universe.
My hope is that this video resonates as loudly for you as it did for me.
Posted on February 3, 2009 at sometime around 5:17 pm
Nearly every time I am driving through a new city, I check out the different radio stations. Of course it is all the same (and usually about the same place on the dial). You have the rap station up in the 106 frequency, country at 105/103, top 40’s music around 101/96, Christian around 90, and indie or jazz at 88/89 on the FM dial. I throw that out there just as information for the next time you go to the next major city as a general guide, but it also serves my first point: radio is so predictable.
MTV killed the art of music. It took what used to have to be pictured and turned it into a visual platform. It is like when a children’s book, such as Chronicles of Narnia, gets turned into a movie and a child no longer has to make up a picture of Aslan (not that I did not enjoy the movies, just saying…). The imagination and open-ended side to the songs is now gone. That is what makes music good though! That ambiguity that allows you to identify with the song with where you are at and how you are feeling makes for a beautiful interpretation. Since every teenager has raging hormones that they do not know what to do with, MTV plays videos that play to their desires (well…they used to play music videos anyways). Don’t worry, I’m not insulting your intelligence by stating we live in a culture plagued by sex, it is just that when I went to MTV.com earlier today, I found this on the side panel: Read More »
