Too wonderous a God

“There are three things which are too wonderful for me, yes, four which I do not understand: The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man with a virgin.” (Proverbs 30:18,19)

These enigmatic verses are sandwiched between passages that refer to children that disrespect their parents and adultery. They speak of a relationship between God and Solomon, who has been taken by surprise and intrigue by a God who relates to him from different aspects and directions. Solomon is flabbergasted. God has rocked his world. He sits in amazement at the ways that God chooses to touch his life.

This is how God works in the life of someone who has been spiritually bankrupted. His spirit is broken; he is exhausted with his own efforts, and lays his heart out before God. Like Adam, he first runs away and covers his shame with the closest thing he can find. In Adams case, it was fig leaves. Adam is lost and destitute, having his relationship with God severed. No more evening walks with God.

Adam does not search for God. God comes looking for Adam. And so the relationship has been restored, Adam and Eve removed from the Garden of Eden so they can’t eat of the tree of life and live forever in their mortal condition. By God’s grace he leads them out into a world that will one day bring death and then immortality and incorruptibility at the day of resurrection. He has extended to them His mercy and not His judgment.

And so this is how we must restore our relationship with God. We must abandon ourselves, and by this I mean all of our resources we use to understand God from our perspective. God must come to us and relate to us from His perspective. How He does this is both awesome and wondrous.

God doesn’t shove theology into our faces. He approaches this relationship with supreme knowledge of our most inner selves. He knows everything that makes us tick, what moves us, what hinders us, and what is right and wrong about us. He doesn’t judge us; have unrealistic expectations, or an agenda other than healing what is broken. And in this way we begin to know Him—which is the true intent of theology.

His character is complex. We will never know Him completely, but He wants us to try. Knowing our weakness and our strengths, He comes to us as an Eagle, spreading His protective wings over us. He comes as a wise serpent provoking our attention. He comes as a ship in the sea, tacking in different directions, getting us off course, confusing us with the wind direction, but always calming the sea when we have called upon Him for help. He approaches us with the tenderness of a lover.

He’s the Spirit that comforts. He is the Father who protects and corrects. He is the husband that relates to us intimately. He is in Solomon’s own words, wonderful and mysterious. We know we are in a relationship with Him when we feel off balance and dizzy. We cannot initiate this relationship. All we can do is respond to it.