Mystery of God

If there is one thing the new wave of authors and speakers (like Rob Bell and Mark Batterson) are helping us with is coming back to the mystery of God - the fact that we can't put God in a box.

I find it interesting that God didn't reveal himself to the religious leaders but to Mary and Joseph (common people) and shepherds. Why? Probably because the fundamental mistake the religious leaders made was trying to force God to fit in their religious boxes.

Instead of being conformed to God's image, they tried to recreate God in their image.

What they ended up with was "a God in a box."

Jesus healed people on the Sabbath, and instead of celebrating the amazing miracles, the leaders plotted to kill him. Why? Because he didn't fit in their box.

We can't put God in a box.

That's one of the by-lines of Christmas. We can't put God in a box. Who would have thought that God would have chosen to impregnate a 13 year old girl, by His Holy Spirit, so that we could reestablish our relationship with him. Can anybody reading this explain the virgin birth? How about the trinity?

I would suggest that some things just aren't meant to be "figured out." That there is an element of mystery that remains and will always remain in our walk with God. That's why God is God. If we had God "all figured out" he wouldn't be God!

In his book Rumors of Another World, Philip Yancey says there are two ways of looking at the world:

"One takes the world apart, while the other seeks to connect and put together." He goes on to say, "We live in an age that excels at the first and falters at the second." Similarly, I think there two ways of approaching God. One approach takes God apart; I call it the theology of dissection.

We make God manageable and measurable. We reduce God to a set of propositions or seal tight theologies or divine formulas. We fall into the trap of reductionism. I'm not suggesting that we don't put Scripture under the microscope. But if we aren't careful, we end up with a God in a box. Or in the words of A.W. Tozer, we end up with a God who can "never surprise us, never overwhelm us, never astonish us, never transcend us."

Have you been surprised by God recently? Or is your relationship with God so stale, so routine, that you have it "all figured out"?

Isiah 55:8,9 tells us about God that, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

May this Christmas be a time when we celebrate the mystery of God.