At second and third glance, you’ll see that Psalm 131:1 bulges with potential discussion. But at first glance, what does Psalm 131:1 say to you?
“Lord, I try to stay out of trouble. I try not to get a swelled head because I know there’s a lot of stuff I can’t do (e.g., unlike Tomo-chan [from Azumanga Daioh])”
Most of us understand what the word proud means. Offer a few synonyms for it:
“boastful, self important, main, excessively pleased with one’s own looks/abilities/accomplishments/possessions/positions/station”
What are the top three reasons why you think God hates arrogance based primarily on the fruit of it in your own life?
“It prevents me from truly letting God lead my life.
“It diminishes the benefits of Bible study (when I get distracted by thoughts of how often I’ve studied a passage before or, worse, how much longer than ‘him’ or ‘her’).
“It makes me afraid to speak Jesus’ name to strangers, acquaintances, neighbors, etc. for fear of awkwardness.”
Read Job 38:1-2; then write verse 2 in your own words:
“‘Who are you to come before Me and offer suggestions when you have no idea what you are talking about?’”
Now read Ecclesiastes 5:1-2. In most translations, verse 2 is comprised of two sentences. Write the second one in this space:
“God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.”
According to [Deuteronomy 29:29], where do you think the line of distinction, however, faint at times, may fall?
“Some mysteries are too great and too deep for this side of the veil. Perhaps in heaven more will be made known.”
Let me point the question straight to you: how do you deal with questions that seem to have no answers? If you deal with them poorly, say so. An honest appraisal is always best. If you’ve found a good way to deal with them, share it.
“Sometimes I do just cry and perhaps ask him loud between sobs, ‘Why, God? Why? How can you let this happen?’ I don’t believe He causes it, but I know He allows it because I know He is all powerful and capable of preventing/stopping it.”
Dearest Rachel –
Boy, does your answer to the last question in this study feel familiar since your departure. I’m sometimes glad you’re not the one having to deal with this situation, but you certainly pondered your reaction to its possibility more than I had prior to actually having to confront it in close reality.
Still, the fact of the matter is that, while God knows everything that is going to happen, and is more than powerful enough to control and direct them all, bad things happen to ‘good’ people, and we don’t understand why. If the book of Job is any indication, we don’t necessarily even have a right to ask – or, more to the point, we can ask, but we don’t have a right to demand an answer from the Almighty about it. After all, who are we, especially compared to Him? There is so much going on behind the scenes of every event; we can’t possibly know or understand what dominoes may fall toward the good side for any given ‘bad’ event. And He isn’t obligated to tell us, especially when we probably are in no condition to understand or appreciate these proximate effects, anyway.
As you point out, some things are too great for us to know on this side (and it’s possible that the effects won’t be made completely clear over the course of our lifetimes, or several yet to come). It would be nice to know whether you have the answers now, but unfortunately, there’s no way for you to confirm any of that to me (or anyone else on this side of the veil).
Maybe the whole point of it is that we need to keep ourselves humble, recognizing how little we know of the big picture. No matter how much we might know in human terms, it’s but a grain of sand in the Sahara in comparison to what’s out there to know – or not to; there is undoubtedly much that we’re never going to see or understand, no matter how hard we try. Consider the galaxies that are outside of our observable view, trillions of light-years away, and moving away from us at nearly the speed of light, even as we’re moving just as fast in the opposite direction; they may be out there, but if we can’t see them, how will we know what and where they are?
So, too, it is with God’s plans. Sure, we may not be rushing away from Him at the light speed – although there are plenty of us who seem to be trying to do just that – but there is so much in His orbit that is on His other side, outside of our view, like a planet on the opposite side of the sun. Just because we can’t see it doesn’t mean that it isn’t there, and to ask Him to step aside so that we can see it is not our right to do.
Perhaps you can see and understand these things now, honey. I wish you could let us know about the pearls of wisdom that exist outside of the confine of space and time that we can see, but until then, just keep an eye on us, and wish us luck. We’re going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 