The mystery......  

I wonder if you, like me, keep coming back to some words that dropped into your spirit one day like smooth pebbles into a deep pond. And when you least expect it, their wisdom ripples over your life once again. These profound words from Eugene Peterson are now part of my DNA: ““Mystery, for [the apostle] Paul, is not what is left over after we have done our best to reason things out. It is inherent in the very nature of God and his works” (As Kingfishers Catch Fire).
Even as a child, my sense of logic always needed to see how the pieces fit together. I am an avid reader, and ‘Who Dunnits’ of all kinds made up the bulk of my reading from the very beginning because I enjoyed the challenge of figuring out where the plot was headed. To this day, I don’t like loose ends, always preferring to complete one project before starting another and saying “I don’t know” can seem too much like an admission of ignorance, instead of an opportunity to learn. So, you get the picture. A tidy mind, where everything makes sense, is not good for embracing the ‘unknowable’ as a brave venture into mystery.
It’s no wonder then, that it took me a long time to understand that my faith In God was not dependent on what I could rationalize but rather on what I could NOT! What intellectual freedom became mine when I finally grasped that no matter what philosophy or philosopher I appeal to, God cannot and will not be explainable, ever! He chooses to reveal himself to the humble questioning heart in ways my mind is too restricted to grasp. God is neither enigmatic or fickle, but the great, ongoing mystery of the soul that resists shallowness and longs for depth. The more I read of the Word, the more I see that mystery is a vital ingredient of faith and with King David I say, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.”
Many years ago, when hymn singing was a daily part of school life, we used to make our school hall rafters ring with these amazing words that thrilled me then – they thrill me still. We were blessed with a choir mistress who encouraged loud singing 😊!
“Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above
Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.”

I am moved by the great grace of God, far-sighted grace that put the building bricks of my faith in place from childhood. “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it” says Proverbs 22:6.

I have learned to live with the mystery …

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