atheism

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “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

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” – Romans 11:33

Humanity’s oldest question may be only one word long: why. We have answered many “whys” about the universe—about stars, seasons, and gravity—yet each discovery seems to open the door to even deeper questions. When suffering touches our lives, the question becomes painfully personal. Why death? Why tragedy, broken relationships? And still, the answers often remain just beyond our grasp.

Scientific atheism pretends it can answer all our questions, from astronomy to psychology and biology to zoology. Yet, like an annoying two-year old, we can still ask “yes, but why?” Of course, a big question is why does God’s incomprehensibility matter for how we live and suffer?

Great Mysteries in Job

In the Bible, the book of Job seems to lead us into so many of these “whys” with a few “hows?” Why did God let satan torment Job? Why did God have to punish a man who seemed so loyal to Him? The scripture has God telling Job something we humans just don’t like to hear:

“Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” – Job 11:7

My father struggled with this very problem of “why?” He couldn’t allow himself to acknowledge that if God is God, then there is no ability on our part to fathom Him in entirety. I’m not even fully assured we will understand Him completely when we find ourselves in the new heavens and new earth.

God is God and we are not. Oh, we may try really hard to fill our minds with solutions to the mysteries of the world. But let’s be honest, there are just some things we are not meant to know, at least not yet. As modern people we get caught up in thinking we know so much more than the ancient peoples. We set ourselves up thinking we don’t need God to explain anything of this world. But the more we “discover” the more questions we find ourselves asking.

Knowledge Revealed

“He replied, ‘The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables so that, though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’” – Luke 8:10

“It is the glory of God to conceal things” Proverbs 25: 2

I love how these two scriptures tell us something so amazing about God. It is His right and authority to conceal things. And because we are told throughout scripture how much God loves us, I would imagine He conceals things we can’t understand or accept at this time. Scripture also tells us that He has been revealing secrets to us for a long time.

When Jesus came about 2,000 years ago, He came revealing the Kingdom of God. In parable after parable, He showed us what God’s kingdom is like for believers. And for those who hate God, they struggle to see His truths. I’m always surprised at how atheists view God and specifically the Christian faith. They call it a “cult” or “hateful.” Yet all Christians know that we come freely to Christ to repair our broken lives. We are told to forgive, release all greed and malice, avoid immorality, love others especially our enemies. While not every Christian is a perfect example of this, we all should be working towards these goals.

Mystery In The Ordinary

Living our ordinary lives in light of God’s mystery was the topic of my BSGs’ study on the book of Ruth by Alistair Begg called “God of the Ordinary.” Naomi was a perfect example of a person who struggled with the “whys” of life. She became bitter and angry with God. Then through others she began to see Him at work in ordinary people in ordinary situations. God revealing Himself a bit at a time to her and her daughter in law, Ruth. As believers we have to opportunity to see God’s providence in retrospect. It’s a gift to look over generations and see Him at work in the most ordinary of ways.

Friends, we all ask “why” throughout our days. We should be comforted, however, knowing that God has us safely positioned in His great plan. When tragedy strikes, illnesses are revealed, or relationships fail let us look to God the incomphrensible in faith knowing we are in good hands.

I Am Not Skilled To Understand (1^st stanza) Dora Greenwell (1873)

“I am not skilled to understand
what God has willed, what God has planned;
I only know that at his right hand
is One who is my Savior!”

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So God created mankind in his own image in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

Recently, an archeological site in Jordan was determined to be the site of the ancient city of Sodom – destroyed by a meteor of fire. That fact is now added to the 1000s upon 1000s of texts and archeological finds supporting details found within the Holy Bible. As author Eric Metaxas explains in his new book, Is Atheism Dead? , science, rather than moving us farther away from proving God’s existence, is actually moving us closer.

The desire by scientists to prove or disprove God does prove something else – our human desire to be connected to something greater than ourselves. In fact you could argue there is really no such thing as atheism. If we haven’t submitted ourselves to the one and only God and savior then we have most likely submitted our lives to something else. In our yearning for connection some turn their job into their worship. While for others it is nature, money, self-improvement, the mystical, and all other manner of things the Creator has created.

Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns. Jeremiah. 2:28

Since the beginning of time we humans have sought not just the answers to the universe but a connection to it. I’ve heard it called the “God spark.” Something within us that seeks Him, not always knowing who or what we seek. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit moving in and out and around us whispering to us to look heavenward. Far too many turn a deaf ear and instead seek the world for this connection and are never fully satisfied.

I was recently asked why I started going to church. About 25 years ago my oldest daughter, then around 4 years old, started drawing angels. And singing about angels and asking about angels. We didn’t attend any church or even talk about God. It wasn’t during Christmas season. Her questions were so innocent and yet deeply yearning for answers. It sparked me to start asking those same questions. Mind you, even though I came from an atheist household, I always believed God existed. I just didn’t know anything about Him. But with that innocent child’s questions our family began a journey.

I am so thankful that God put some of Himself in each and every one of us so that we would have that yearning to be re-connected with Him one day. So many of us just need to be directed to the Creator instead of His creations.

Tag: atheism

The Incomprehensible God: Living Faithfully with Unanswered “Why”

The God Spark