I Just Don't GET It!

"For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."
                                                                - I Corinthians 13:12                                                     


I have to be honest here.  Sometimes I could really give Doubting Thomas a run for his money.  I think, like my dad could do, I tend to over-analyze everything.  If someone is in a bad mood, I decide they are mad at me for something.  I've done something wrong....or maybe they've found out what I'm REALLY like.  I constantly look for reasons for things, explanations for things, analyzing the 'hows', 'whys', and especially the 'ifs'.   If something doesn't seem logical, then I just can't support it.  Although I do tend to take people at face value until they prove me wrong again and again, when presented with information I can't explain I usually have a negative reaction to it.

As I said, my dad was that way.  I think that's why he had so much trouble accepting the gospel.  I mean really, does it make sense that someone can do pretty rotten, horrible things, and then later be accepted with open arms by a Holy God?  Everything wiped away in an instant?  Nope, no sense at all.

As He sometimes does, when I begin thinking about a certain concept, God brings it to the forefront again and again for me.  I was thinking about my major "doubt"  yesterday, and had written down the title of this blog before church.  Lo and behold, the pastor was preaching about things in the Bible we can't understand.  He said, "Don't try to think it through...it will give you a headache.  Just believe it....that's all you have to do."  He's right.  If one tries to understand all the mysteries of God, it will give you a headache.  And doubts, and fears, and misunderstanding.  He was speaking in particular about God as the 3 in 1, but there are other things that are unexplainable too.

My major doubt has always been about the need for Jesus' sacrifice.  I am completely convinced that it was necessary because the Word makes that clear, but  I have never understood why it was necessary.  I have thought about it and thought about it, and I just can't get it.    Of course I understand that we could NEVER get it right...that we need a Savior.....I get all that.  But why did God require that sacrifice to make it ok?  Why couldn't He just say, "Well, I know you can never do it..so I'm just going to forgive you when you ask and it's all good."

I'll bet if you're honest, you have some things you have questions about too.  May not be my question, but I have heard many question the "whys" of  God.  It's just who we are as human beings.  We don't get what He has in mind sometimes.

But here's the deal.  I'm not God......and you're not either.  We don't understand everything this side of heaven.  Believe it or not He makes decisions and does things that are above our level of thinking.  It says it this way in the Word:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.  "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
                                             Isaiah 55:8-9
So the bottom line is, I don't have to understand.  I WONT understand this side of heaven.  All I need to do, as expressed by my pastor, is just believe it.  Believe it, accept it, and go from there.  Because to do more leaves room for doubt, which cripples me as a Christian.  Believe.  That's the only part of this wonderful, amazing equation that I have to complete.  God, in His infinite wisdom, has set everything else up completely in my favor.  So easy, and yet it requires that I give up something.  My desire to be analytical, critical, 'right'.  The pride that tells me I have to prove something to make it true. 

I don't have to "get" it.  I just have to go with it.  And that act, the act of acceptance, belief, and understanding I don't have all the answers is all He asks. 

Christmas is a time when it seems easy to believe.  The birth of Jesus and all the wonderful music and peace of the season make it so simple to just go with it.  But if you wanted to analyze it, (and some do), you could come up with a few things that are unbelievable here too.  A virgin birth?  A star that guides people to a particular place?  Angels appearing?  Not really a picture of day to day activities.  Somehow, though, we seem to accept that a little easier than we do some of the other mysteries of God. 

"And straightaway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, "Lord, I believe!  Help thou my unbelief!"
                            -Mark 9:24

 Apparently , He even knew we would struggle here, cuz He addressed this in the Word. too.

Enjoy the time of the birth of the Savior.....even if it's a rough Christmas due to loss....illness......whatever.  Bask in His promises.  Trust in His wisdom over our circumstances.  Believe, and ask for help with unbelief.  He's got this.  Merry Christmas!




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