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In the Book of Job, Job is confronted by God. Job has complained about his suffering. He has challenged God to a legal battle. When God confronts Job, Job realizes “things too wonderful for me to know” (Job 42.3).
Gregory S. Clapper, in When the World Breaks Your Heart, writes of putting together “very real sorrow” and “very real joy.” Only through this union, he observes, can the “Christian view of the mystery of life be complete.”
Simply put, there are things that we cannot understand. Clapper notes wisely that knowing life is supposed to be a mystery, that we are not simply inadequate intellectually or spiritually, can help revive and prepare us for the "next installment of mystery."
When we realize that life is both a gift and mystery, then we can once again push our boat back into the swift currents of lived experience with hope. The route may be uncharted, but with God’s divine wind in our sails, we can trust enough to take the rudder that is offered.
Trusting enough is a key idea in the above quote. We do not have to understand the complexities of life or the unknowns that defy our attempts at grasping; rather, simple, childlike, humble, and open trust is what God asks of us.
Another key idea from Clapper is “the rudder that is offered.” There is a mystery not only to the power of simple faith; there is a mystery to the life we each are given. We were given a life from an infinite number of possibilities. Today, your life is one of innumerable possible lived experiences. Trust entails accepting the mystery of the life we are given. With such gentle embrace, we can embrace our lives and wisely, courageously, and gracefully keep trusting enough to see them unfold in ways we could never have dreamed of.
Spiritual Exercise
What challenges is God calling you to accept now? What does it mean to embrace those challenges with childlike trust? Would you kneel or sit, now, and pray a simple prayer of gentle acceptance. Possibly, you would prefer calling a close friend to pray with you.
A Prayer
Spirit of Christ, I humble myself, accepting my inability to manage life or understand the mystery of the why of everything. I ask, now, for a simple, childlike trust to place all in your hands and respond to You with love, always. Give me the courage both not to act, when not acting is called for, and to act, when acting is called for. In Christ’s Name, I love You, Amen.
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