As human beings, we want so
much to understand everything that is going on in our lives. We’d like to see
everything that has happened and everything that will happen in a neat box all
tied up with a pretty ribbon. However, God doesn’t work that way. You can’t
place God in a box. Our God is way too big and far too great to be contained.
He works in ways that we can’t possibly comprehend. As it says in Proverbs
20:24, “A person’s steps are
directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand their own way?”
No, we can’t understand how God works – and that’s a good thing.
If we could understand God’s
ways, then His actions would be limited to our intellectual capabilities. I
don’t know about you, but I want a God who is limited by nothing! A colleague
of mine once put it this way: “I don’t want to pray to a God who I can
understand!” I want God to have ways to make things happen in my life when I
don’t see a way. I want a God who can make sense out of my messy life when I
can’t see a way to clean it up myself. I want a God who is bigger and smarter
than me!
Friends, let’s remember that
when we go through things in life that we can’t understand, it’s OK. We don’t
have to understand. God understands and that’s all that matters. As it says in
Proverb 3:5-6, “Trust in the
LORD … lean not on your own understanding … and he will make your paths
straight.”
With prayers
for shalom,
peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
