Thought for Today
Psalm 19:8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
Psalm 130:1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
Luke 1:33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
John 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
Sometimes our faith asks us to grapple with very difficult, almost impossible to understand issues and ideas. I’m not thinking about any of the specifics of dogma or any particular theological doctrines. I’m thinking about Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,” and I’m thinking about the implications of that simple statement of fact.
Humans are temporal, finite beings. God is eternal. Moses asked God, "Exodus 3:13 If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God’s response is simple, straightforward and mind-boggling, "3:14 I AM WHO I AM." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" We sometimes refer to God as ‘the Great I Am,’ but do we ever think about what that means?
The word ‘forever’ appears 289-404 times in the Bible. The word ‘eternal’ appears 47-80 times. We confidently avow that God is eternal, and he is. Do we ever stop to think about what that means? Genesis 1:1 tells us that God existed before time. My mind cannot conceive of the idea of there being anything ‘before time!’ My mind also cannot conceive of there being anything before God. My mind has a very human ability to simultaneously believe things which seem to be mutually exclusive.
When I think about God, I am faced with the very perplexing question of how a temporal, finite mind can conceive our infinite, eternal God. And, as I think about all of that, I find myself asking the question of the psalmist, “8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; 4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? 5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.” What indeed?
Those of us who suffered through calculus learned how to deal mathematically with concepts like infinity. Those of us who were privileged to attend seminary were taught about the fact of eternity. Can any of us truly claim to really understand such ideas? What does forever mean?
Our earliest ancestors-in-the-faith grappled with these same questions and issues. Irrespective of whether you understand the Creation stories in Genesis as metaphor or historical fact, it is obvious that those ancestors understood God as existing outside of time, of God creating time itself. They, and we, believe God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. They, and we, believe God is infinite and eternal. We believe that as true, real fact, not mathematical construct.
The author of Hebrews wrote, “11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” For me, that is the best definition I have ever found for faith. I do stand in awe at the reality grasped by the psalmist; I ask that same question, “what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” But I have faith!
My mind can (thankfully) simultaneously feel inadequate to understand God yet have that assurance of things hoped for and conviction of what I do not see. As I write this, the beloved children’s hymn “Jesus Loves Me” is playing in my mind.
I do not need to understand the impossible concepts, the complex philosophies. I have faith. My faith transcends my very human limitations. And that is enough. Now, all I need to do is act like I have that faith. All I need to do is love God with all I have and to love my neighbors as myself.
Stay safe, have faith, trust God,
Pastor Ray