Sometimes God just doesn’t make sense

November 3, 2009

I’ve heard religious people attempt to refute this, but their reasoning clunks to the floor of the laboratory of life in pieces.

There simply are times when God does not make sense.

Tell me this thought has not occurred to you! Name the situation, the baffling circumstances, the challenging intellectual argument, the scientific deduction, the inexplicable relationship issue. I don’t care what anyone says; sometimes God does not make sense.

What are we to do with that? Let’s think for a second.

Are there things that make sense to you as an adult that did not when you were a child? Sure.
Are there ideas that have cleared up after you got more information? Yes.
Are situations that make sense in hindsight that were baffling when you were in them? Of course.
Even Garth Brooks sings “Thank God for unanswered prayers.”

Here’s the deal: there are some things that make no sense while we’re in them because we are not yet capable of understanding them at the time but make sense in looking back. Because God is timeless He can see the future but it would fry our circuits if He tried to explain.

A second line of thinking… Are there things that make all the sense in the world to you but others cannot grasp? And are there things that you cannot “get” that others seem to understand without trouble? Ever had a conversation with a rocket scientist? My eyes glaze over after about 30 seconds. Yet when I talk about relationships with them, it appears I am talking about, well… rocket science.

Here’s the deal: there are some things that make no sense to us because we don’t have the education and capacity to understand. Same with God – while we’re in the middle of stuff, it is not that He is incapable of explaining them. We are incapable of comprehending if He did.

BACK TO GOD: Would you really want a God who would make sense all the time. Think about this because it is a trick question. On the surface, we would say “Yes! Absolutely!” However, that would mean …
Our God would not be able to see the future nor would His knowledge be greater than ours.
We could be our own God because He would be our size, no greater than us.
God would not love us any better than our ability to love. (Uh-oh!)
God would not have any greater mercy and grace for us than we have for ourselves or others.

Seems to me that the fact that God sometimes does not make sense, that sometimes we cannot understand Him is actually A GOOD THING.

What do you think?

Boldly, Herb

(To listen to Herb via the internet go to http://www.newsongpittsburgh.org/sermons.htm )