Skip to main content

Perfect

              As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 18:30)

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

Perfect? How many people lost their lives in the flooding in Texas? Some might say, “If His way is perfect, why is my life such a mess?” or “If His way is perfect, why is there evil in the world? Certainly, this isn’t perfect.” But these questions are the ones asked in the maze, or in the forest where our view of the whole is blocked by trees.

I saw something on social media recently about the dark matter and dark energy in the universe. This morning, I found statistics saying that we can only see about 15% of the universe, even when we use machines. When I stargazed, I stood in awe of the vast number of stars I could see, but I have never seen the nearest stars (The Alpha Centauri trinary), and what I could see was only a tiny percentage of the stars in our galaxy alone. And yet, there are people who say that the only things that exist (or the only things that exist and that matter) are the things they can see, measure, and control. And there are many more (ourselves included) that tend to think that we see enough and know enough to be able to judge whether or not things are perfect. And ultimately, things are only “perfect” if they are as we want them to be, which means things are only perfect if we are God.

In Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (which I need to read again), there is a story of a ride on a subway. There were children acting out and running around, while their father sat as if drunk. What a lousy father! At some point, the father shared that they were on their way home after his wife’s funeral. That knowledge put a whole different spin on the situation. It’s what Covey calls a paradigm shift. While we may think things are a mess, if we had more information, we might not think they’re a mess at all but are amazingly orchestrated. But because we have only our own, limited, subjective perspective, and they are not the way we think would be perfect, we stand in judgment.

If we are going to seek His face, as I mentioned yesterday, we must begin with the understanding that our understanding isn’t as good as it could or should be. We don’t have all the facts. We must be willing to approach God before God makes sense or gains our approval. We must be willing to acknowledge our own imperfection.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more