I've got 29 years of breathes lived so far - a good 12 of them where I've been aggressively pursuing learning of Jesus - the last 5 or so of which I've been bathing regularly in scripture (in a way that's more than just the sprinkling I've baptized myself with since I could read).
While doing my best at serving and equipping fellow betrothed believers as a part of a local church, I'm becoming more and more confident in who God is (i.e. that I'm seeing a clear and accurate picture of who God is). What I'm struck with at the moment is how simple His heart is. No, no, I'm not trying to pull off that cocky, somewhat condescending persuasion I sometimes pick-up from preachers trying to turn their amps up to 11 - hear me out.
I'm pretty much seeing, all throughout scripture, that God's heart and mind could pretty much just be understood as a Dad who wants a big family to enjoy all that He has with. Seriously, that's it. From Genesis-naked-in-the-garden to Revelation-awestruck-at-seas-of-crystal, I keep seeing that same strategy on God's part in relation to how He's interacting with humans: He wants us happy with Him, like a great-grampa at his family reunion - all his kids playing in the yard, music blasting, grills fired, stories recounted, good times.
I think parents and those in authority can relate to this: they just want folks to get along with each other. If that could be done without the judicial and executive branches of government, all the better. But in experience - that don't work so hot. What's the end of all that? For people to treat each other well; to love each other.
But after all those words, here's my point: The God of the Bible, Easy to Understand; The Bible, Not so Easy to Understand. This could ruffle some feathers, I'm sorry, that's really not my aim. I'm just trying to communicate an analogy which I think displays why we get so theologically messed up and confused scripturally.
Any musicians reading this? How about computer users? I suppose just about anyone who ever learned or is learning anything can relate to this. Have you ever learned "just enough" about something to be dangerous? That can be some shaky middle-ground: when you know just enough about something to start operating out of it, but not enough to troubleshoot things when they go wrong. It's like that place where you haven't quite gotten a handle on just how much of something you DON'T know. Perhaps that little bit of knowing something gets you too big for your britches, and you think you can run the whole marathon after learning to lace your boots. There's just a lot of time and content that our scriptures cover - multiple ages, multiple cultures - just about every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. That's a lot. He's a big God. Our history is a big history. This stuff isn't so easy to get after a quick read through.
I think it really helps that new believers have a pretty good sense that there's a lot they don't know - which really helps us rely on God's knowing how to take care of us. It's when we get into adolescence and think a driver's license grants us the wisdom and the right where things can get really rocky.
So why am I saying this? I suppose because I can, but also because I really think that it would help a lot of not-so-young believers to get tethered to their Good-Hearted Father by allowing themselves a lot of grace when it comes to their trying to resolve all their questions from experience and scripture. You guys should feel free to live a long time in that tension of unanswered questions, where you're just not sure why things look as messy as they do at times, all the while being affectionate with The Overseer of all things.
If you build your faith upon your understanding of the bible: not so stable. If you build you faith upon the God of the bible: stable. I hope that made sense - I'm not trying to do a switcheroo here. Be free to question and doubt and walk and love - all at the same time - God can really handle all that.
