Our strange God

The author Philip Yancey writes of his experience of someone who keeps fish in an aquarium. At times he has to remove infected fish from the aquarium to better care for them. But the fish in the tank panic at his approach. He is actually caring for them but they see him as a threat. His attempts to help are not appreciated. He is too big, too incomprehensible.

When we consider Job, we might liken him to one of those fish. He can’t make sense of God. He even sees him as some uncaring threat who is making a mess of his life. We ourselves might find ourselves asking from time to time about what God is doing in our life. We might, unlike the fish, acknowledge with our heads that God is good. But our hearts may raise all sorts of questions.

Ultimately, we can’t figure God out. God reminds Job of this. God’s ways are not our ways. True, God has revealed himself in Jesus and has given enough information to enable us to trust him. But this information is sufficient rather than exhaustive. We know enough to trust him but that doesn’t mean we know all his ways.

Our faith in God rests on the fact that we know him to the degree that we trust he knows what he is doing. But that doesn’t always mean we know what he is doing!

Blessings
David Reay