You mean I have to work at this?

Is this what I really signed up for?

For some reason, this God of the Bible insists, continually, consistently, on risking everything by working through His fallen creation, fallible people like Abraham and Sarah and the whole Hagar debacle.  Or the David and Bathsheba affair, (out of which eventually came Solomon.)  Then there’s the terse separation between Paul and Barnabas over some young guy named Mark (who later wrote said gospel…) 

And what about Jesus, who entrusted His infinitely important message to twelve goofballs, well…make that eleven, since one was a turncoat who off-ed himself after greasing the Lord’s way to a gruesome execution.  Even without modern technology, one would expect a little more insurance then those few guys. 

But wait!  We’re not done, not by a long shot!  Let’s bring up the canonization process.  I mean, it’s not like the English Bible just superstitiously fell out of the sky, or appeared in a cave vision, or was found buried somewhere in the ground in a treasure chest.  Somehow, when it comes to what most people consider to be “religion”, that would almost be easier to believe than the way God planned it.  Once again, as always, this perfect Creator, for some reason, chose to hand down His precious communication by way of—you got it—His most imperfect humanity. 

And don’t think for one minute that there was unanimous consent even concerning which books belonged in the corpus of material considered “Inspired Scripture”. Again, that would be way too safe, or comfortable.  This God of ours is most inconvenient.  He makes us ask, and seek, and knock. (Do I hear a Bible verse coming on…?)

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.”

He is also sorely demanding.  He gave us more gray matter above all else in creation.  And then, good grief!  He expects us to use it to find Him.  (Oh dear, here it comes again…)

“And you must love the Lord your God with…all your mind…”

Doesn’t He know I’m a 21^st century American, and I have intellectual standards?  Give me some scientific proof if you want me to have this thing called faith!  (Uh, oh…)

^“One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, ‘Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.’”

Admittedly, there are questions that are difficult to answer, doubts that are uncomfortable.  But this I have found, and write here for the record.  God’s working through His creation, through very imperfect “you and me”, is one of the most endearing qualities of the One Who fashioned the universe to put us in it for Himself.  This, as well as inviting us to walk with Him on an investigative journey into His character, His reasoning, and most of all— His love.

It’s never too late to get started.

Never.

 

Matthew 7:7; Mark 12:30; Matthew 12:38  Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.