Why?
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NKJV. (Emphasis added).
These words of Scripture speak of the coming to earth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, for the second time. That event is eagerly waited for by the saints, aware of the prophetic words which seem to be fulfilled, readying the earth for this great second coming.
If you’re like me you’ll be looking at world events and saying, Come Lord Jesus!
Now I’m excited and keen for that to happen, but I got to thinking about a few words of Paul in our text for this Brief Word.
Descend from heaven.
The earth is as it is, but on the great scheme of things with all the planets and stars and galaxies, which way is up and which way is down? And can we point to a place where heaven is? Jesus will descend, but which way is it to descend, and from where?
I got to thinking. We know God is not physical, He is spiritual. Therefore we (humanity) who are very physical in nature, cannot see, cannot know, cannot understand the spiritual realm, and as much as we look into space, into the stars and galaxies, we will not see where God is, we cannot see His dwelling place, we cannot see Heaven. Because space is a physical realm. And as vast and limitless as it is, God, created it all, and as Master of it all He is therefore much much bigger than that realm.
God is spirit, and can only be seen, known, understood and worshipped in the spirit. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24 NKJV).
Therefore, all of mankind’s efforts and conjecture, debating and intellectual reasoning, is useless and totally fruitless. Man will never see God’s dwelling place, they will never know Him or explain Him in human terms, because, God is far beyond, above, greater, bigger and outside of the physical human realm.
However, the only way humanity can see anything of the abode, the dwelling place of God, is if God Himself, gives humanity a revelation of it, and picture of it, a small insight into it.
Because:
- The incomprehensible cannot be understood by the comprehensible.
- The unlimited cannot be known by the limited.
- The immeasurable cannot be referenced by the measurable.
- The eternal cannot be quantified by the temporary.
The realm of God, cannot be explained by humanity. God cannot be explained by earthly things. The realm of the spirit cannot be explained, understood, measured, by the realm of the human mind because the realm of God, the spiritual realm, is just so far far above and beyond the limits and understandability of the human mind.
Remember what Isaiah said.
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. For 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 NKJV.
And Paul says this.
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! Romans 11:33 NKJV.
Now here’s a tough thought. We all have things we pray for, or pray against. We pray God will do this or He won’t do that. But sometimes those prayers are not answered, and we are confused, and ask God, why?
Can you see what is going on here! The limited is asking something of the unlimited. The natural is asking some of spiritual. The human is asking something of the Divine.
Remember, God’s thoughts and ways are just so far higher and beyond the human thoughts and ways.
We know God is God, He is Spirit but He is also love. And so, God, in His love, and grace and mercy, brings to us, and opens to us, and reveals to us, and pulls back the curtain as it were, so that we can see just a minuscule picture, a glimpse of the earthly and heavenly reality of what God is doing, sometimes in regards to our situation, sometimes not.
Sometimes we live with unanswered prayers, questions without answers and mysteries remaining unknown. To live with a clouded view when we expect a perfect view of the lake and mountain ahead of us, is to live in the place of absolute trust. Trust in He who has all the answers, He who has all the knowledge and understanding of all mysteries.
As we rest in the One who does know all these things, we rest in the intimacy of relationship with Him, and in His Omniscient wisdom for the timing for revealing to us what He wants us to know, when He wants us to know it.
My wife Wendy at one time had a tragedy in her life and she lost someone very dear to her. But she’d recently been told to, “Never ask God why”. So, she asked a different question of God, which gave her clear guidance from the Lord.
If you’re like me, you’ll be wanting to know the answer from God to many why questions concerning the things happening or not in our lives. When our children are very young and they’ve learned to talk, they are learning so many things, and constantly ask us, why? Why this, or why that? They are still young but as they grow and mature, they grow in an understanding of the things of life. They also grow in an understanding that some why questions have no answer just now (especially to a young inquisitive mind).
A wise parent may know the answer to their child’s why questions, but holds it because they know the child is not yet mature enough to understand the answer.
When we ask God why, we are asking for something He knows and understands and we don’t. Now whether our question is answered or not, does not change who God is, and it does not change the deservedness of God, for our worship. God is still God and is still worthy of all our worship.
We worship God primarily for who He is. When we are able to worship God for who He is irrespective and without reference to any of our mysteries and the unknowns in our life, or our why questions, then we are making progress in our walk and intimacy with God.
That’s what God desires. Intimacy. Closeness. Relationship.
If you’re bringing to the Lord many unanswered why questions, maybe pause and ponder, release and relax into the arms of our all-knowing, forever-loving Heavenly Father.
