I’m glad that God is bigger than my theology, i.e., my study and understanding of him. If God is no bigger than what our finite and jumbled minds can make of him, then there is no real worship, trust, joy, and admiration for us to behold that which is beyond our own reasoning. And yet, we so often get frustrated and down-right surly about our limited knowledge that we come near to accusing God of being so secretive in his ways. But we can’t have it both ways: if we are to be awe-struck at something grand and awesome, we can’t complain than we don’t fully understand. That’s the aim of all knowledge of God in his word – it’s to see the incomprehensible and rejoice. So . . . let’s look at some big stuff about God and see if your God is bigger than your understanding of him, and yet find him all the more glorious to your affections.

1. God Sovereignly Ordains things that He Morally Opposes

Joseph’s brothers became jealous of his status in their father’s eyes, so they kidnapped him, lied to their father about his whereabouts, and sold him into slavery. Many more unfortunate and evil things happened to Joseph. But at the end of the story, Joseph confidently rejoiced, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Gen. 50:20).

Job’s life was satanically attacked and some of his family and servants were murdered. Satanic activity and murder and stealing are things that God Morally opposes, and yet, God Sovereignly ordained that these evils fall upon Job. Even Job understood this, saying, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong” – (Job 1:21b, 22).

Samson was a sexual baboon chasing after prohibited Philistine women, doing “what was right” in his own eyes. But the reason why he was sinning, and acting against God’s Moral will, is because “it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines” (Judges 14:3, 4). The Lord brought the house down!

Israel was immorally attacked by her surrounding enemies and Israel then destroyed her enemies in battle. But the explanation goes like this: “For it was the LORD’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed. . .” (Joshua 11:20).

Jesus’ cross was planned by God. All the lies that led up to his kangaroo trial and the murderous venom poured out on Christ, were all against God’s Moral will. But it was his Sovereign will that orchestrated the whole event (Acts 2:23; 4:27-28).

Though this is all too much for my understanding, I rest in God’s sovereign hand over my life, especially when evil comes upon me. For I know that it too was from the hand of God for my ultimate good and hope in God.

2. God Can Stop You From Sinning but Sometimes He Chooses Not To.

Abimelech was going to have sex with Sarah because he was told that she was Abraham’s sister, and not his wife. But God stopped him in the middle of the night. Abimelech thinks that he chose to do the right thing and not sin. But the Lord said, “. . . it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.” (Gen. 20:6).

The Sons of Eli were having sex with women as they, the young virgins, were serving at the entrance of the tent of meeting (this would be like the pastoral staff of a church having sex with the single women in the foyer before worship). Eli told them to stop their wickedness but his sons would not listen. The reason why is, “for it was the will of the LORD to put them to death” (1 Sam. 2:25). God used the Philistines to kill them (4:11).

In Christ, the reason why I do not sin more than I do is not because I’ve got more will power than others, it is because the Lord is restraining me.

Outside of Christ, the reason why you do sin is not because God respects your self-determination and exercise of free will, it is because he is planning to put you to death.

Even for everyone who does not know Christ, and has no Spirit to control their sinful appetites, you would be more wicked than you presently are if God were not restraining your sinful urges. God is merciful to the wicked every day.

Though this is all too much for my understanding, I will not deceive myself thinking that my choice for sin says something good about my will power. And I will not deceive myself thinking that my choice for good is because of my will power.

3. God truly feels anger and compassion at the same time, but not with the same passion.

“. . . though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men” (Lam. 3:32, 33). God angrily crushed Israel for her idolatry and wickedness. But like a parent who spanks a child, God did not want to do this but he did it anyway. And he did not do it “from his heart”, that is, he did not enjoy what he was doing in the same way that he enjoys doing good things.

Though this is all too much for my understanding, like a child who can’t sit down for a few minutes after dad or mom leaves the bedroom, I believe that God loves me when he hurts me. But he does not enjoy it like he enjoys playing with me: that’s his real enjoyment. He hurts me so that he can protect all the good times that he plans to have with me.

4. God hears the prayers of millions and empathizes with each one completely all at the same time.

Jesus is capable of weeping with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice – at the same time. He is a high priest who hears the prayers of all of his children at the same time and can stay fully engaged with every prayer without distraction. God can hear a thousand of his children cry Psalm 22, and hear another thousand sing Psalm 150 – all at the same time (Rom. 12:15; Heb. 4:12ff).

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. But I’m so glad that he can hear us all at the same time, with all of his emotions perfectly suited to each prayer.

5. God does not desire that any should perish but that all come to repentance, while at the same time he sees to it that many cannot repent so that they will perish and receive their just due.

God desires that you repent (2 Peter 3:9) while at the same time the ability to repent is a gift that God may or may not grant (2 Tim. 2:25).

Jesus spoke in parables intentionally to hide the truth so that some will not be able to understand and therefore repent, having their sins forgiven (Mark 4:11, 12).

Jesus calls sinners to come to him with genuine appeal, but at the same time, along with his Father, hides the truth of the gospel and only reveals the truth of himself to whomever he chooses (Matt. 11:25-30).

God hardened Israel’s heart against himself so that the gospel will go to the nations (Rom. 11:7-12).

“The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble” (Prov. 16:4). The lost are like irrational animals, “creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed” (2 Peter 2:12). The only reason that Pharaoh existed was so that God might show that he was more powerful than the highest man on earth, destined to be destroyed (Rom. 9:17, 18).

Though this is all too much for me, I am humbled to the ground that God did not lock me up in my sin and justly leave me to die in my sins.

6. God is both fully God and fully Man at the same time, in Jesus.

He was born of Mary (Luke 1:31). He is Son of God (Luke 1:35). This is wildly beyond me, but at the same time, it is irresistibly beautiful. There is a real substitution for my sins – a real man lived a sinless life in my place. O what grace?!

7. He has written all my days in advance and yet calls me to live all my days for him.

Psalm 139:16 says, “in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” For David, this truth did not result in a passive and negligent life. He did not cynically murmur, “Well if God is so sovereign and already has my entire life decided and written down, then there’s no point in getting involved and making decisions.” No, David took comfort in the fact that his entire life was in the Lord’s hands and at the same time wanted to turn away from every wicked way as God searched his heart (vss. 23, 24).

Though this is all too much for me, I take pleasure and comfort in the fact that this day, with all of its good and bad, including my own contributions to it, were written in advance. This does not make me feel like a puppet, but rather a son whose Father in heaven will leave nothing to chance for my own good.

I thank God that he is not like me. He’s much bigger.

Suppressing the truth that Christ was raised from the dead is like trying to suppress surprise lily’s from coming up (I took this photo yesterday from one of our flower beds). Of course, you can dig them out or pour Round Up on them. But that does not nullify the truth: they are there and they are coming up for a reason:

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them” (Rom. 1:18, 19).

After a long, sub-zero, snowy winter, something beautiful is happening – in fact, it was happening when it seemed hopeless. Underneath the still frozen layer of ice and snow, life was working itself upward, up out of the ground. What power? What glory? What reason for joy?

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made”     (Rom. 1:20).

Do you know why you feel hope in the springtime? It’s because you were made in the image of God. More importantly, you were made to know the God who raises the dead. Why is that? Because one day you will die and you can’t do for yourself what needs to be done. Are you prepared to die? Are you done with holding down the truth? Do you still deny the feelings of hope as flowers begin to burst out of the ground? Don’t be a fool and trade in your hope in God for hope in yourself (Rom. 1:21-23). If you deny this plain and simple truth of creation God may give you up to more blindness and more sexual dysfunction (Rom. 1:24-27). Your life will spiral downward into the very things that you despise in others (Rom. 1:28-31), and irony of all ironies, you will condemn yourself for judging in others the very things that you do, giving yourself a high approval rating while down-grading others as worthy to be judged (Rom. 1:32-2:1).

Two Surprises – take your pick:

One day, You will either be surprised and overjoyed with delight with what it means to be raised from the dead in Christ – to know what real human existence is all about, or,

One day, You will be surprised and bewildered with disbelief with what it means to be thrown down by the judgment of Christ – to know what real human suffering is all about.

Look at the Lily’s, then turn to Christ in faith and repentance of sins. Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved. Saved from what? Saved from the consequences of the very sins that you disdain in others. Saved from trying to do enough good works to earn your way into eternal life. Saved from guilt and shame. Saved from fear of dying without knowing Christ. Saved from wondering if this is true only to find out that it is. Saved from being a slave to sin. Don’t you want to be surprised with joy?

My wife and I truly enjoy a good movie – like the recent uplifting movie, “Gravity” (boo on the pun). But, I’ve never watched the Oscars until last night, for no special reason other than to say that I have.

Things that I appreciated that are a reflection of something that I want to say below, but first:

1. A good story, told well and shown well, is captivating to our sense of being a human. We know ourselves and our world best when we see both told in a story.

2. Stories told well do not take place by chance. The months, even years of time that it takes to produce one good story is breathtaking: look at the credits of a movie and notice the amount of people that it takes to pull it off; think of the brain-cracking hours of script-re-writing and “take 53” moments that happen in a movie to get it right; stand in awe and wonder over the brilliant talents that come together to put on paper, then film, what they see unfolding in their minds; believe that not one frame per second (30 frames per second) is left to chance to tell the story.

3. Finally, all good movies create a problem to fix. There is no such thing as a story that does not have some kind of tension that draws us to a resolution.

And therefore:

I felt sorry for the very people who spend their lives working so hard to tell a good story, yet live so blindly to The Story of all stories. Of course, not all are blind, but it seems that most are. If we are by nature story-tellers and cannot make sense out of our world without telling stories, and seeing ourselves in one, then does it not make sense that a very detailed, personal, grand Story-Teller is casting the Hero of all heroes?

I appreciated that Glenn Close said, “thanks,” to all the recent deceased in the film industry, who contributed in their own way, a “story” to be told. It is right and good to show respect to people who helped make a good story come to life. And it is right to feel loss when people are no longer with us. Having observed this: if there is no higher point to the stories we tell and live, then by reason, we would not care one bit about stories and those who tell them, and live and die for them. How inconsistent it is to so appreciate story-telling and then not believe the reason why we appreciate them?

All good story-telling is Diachronic, not Synchronic. Diachronic is a word that means the present is connected to the past and the future. Synchronic is a word that means the present is not necessarily connected to anything by intention, but only by coincidence. Not one movie last night that was up for an Oscar would have gotten that far had it been told, synchronically. By nature, humans want to know why and where does this lead? We want to see real, intentional connections to people, places, and things. We can’t and won’t follow random. And we can’t just watch an event without wanting to know the meaning of the event as it relates to other events.

So if you think that your life is to be interpreted synchronically, that is, you’re here for a little while, and when you’re not – poof, you are being hypocritical to yourself since you like good story-telling. Or if you believe that when you die, there is some marshmallow cloud with unlimited internet access where you can float around and do whatever you want – don’t you see that you are not being honest with what your heart is telling you? Don’t you see that you are suppressing a truth that you can’t seem to shake? And that truth is: You were made in the image of a real and personal God who wrote the greatest script with Jesus at the center, and you were made to support the main actor. You will either support the main actor with your adoration and joy and trust and hope and allegiance and satisfaction and worship, or you will support the main actor in your rebellion the way any villain supports the hero in a story: The true hero always wins as the malcontent is defeated. And everyone cheers for the true hero!

Dear reader, do not think that you should have played the main part to your life-story. Only Christ is qualified to take center-stage. See yourself as “supporting-actor,” and you will discover the true meaning for your life.