Do We Really Know God?
A song and a prayer
Rows and floes of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
Looked at clouds that wayBut now they only block the sun
They rain and they snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way (Words and Music by Joni Mitchell)
I have had the privilege to go on trips that have taken me far into the deep abyss of the gulf and the sea. I am always amazed at the beauty, power, magnificence, and even terror of this mighty liquid expanse. At night, the darkness is almost palpable, with the moon and stars more brilliant than ever — the tiny shards of light dance on the waves. Then, the clouds roll in, and the waves increase. An electrifying arch of lightning streaks from one horizon to the other, and for a split second, all before me is lit in beauty.
The ship convulses as each wave causes a teeter-totter effect. God nearly shouts to me, “I AM the one who violently crashes these waves. I AM the one who makes the swimming creatures below you. I AM the one who sounds the thunder in the night. I AM the one who controls the howling wind. Yet in all this danger, I AM the one who whispers sweet peace, love, and forgiveness.” I stand amazed and awed.
If this earthly sea is vast, then the vault of God’s knowledge knows no end. God asks Job in chapter 38,
Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?
Job responds in Chapter 42 by acknowledging that God can do all things and nothing can halt His plans.
John F. Kennedy once said,
The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.
I can attest to Kennedy’s adage. The older I get and the more knowledge of Christ I gain, the more I realize my lack of understanding. I admit my stupidity.
Joni Mitchell wrote these words in a song titled, Both Sides Now
I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all.
I can’t comprehend the sea, which gives me only a microscopic glimpse of God’s splendor, so how am I to really know God in all His glory? In the presence of God, I know that even God’s foolishness is wiser than any human wisdom.
I am humbled and like Job,
Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:6, NIV)
I do know this one thing: I have given my heart and soul to this unfathomable Creator of the vast deep sea. He chose the foolish things in the world to shame the wise, so I yield to my readers the tiny gems He bestows through me, but I must apologize; I am the first to say that the amplitude of God is incomprehensible to me.
With my mouth agape in dumbfounded wonder, I write about God, but do I really know God at all?
