Hope of Harmony – But Not As We Expect

We were having a conversation about God. Again.

In the conversation we looked at how He as the authority spoke creation into being. It responded in the light of His word because He is authority. He speaks and it is. No one has that power. No one. It’s something that makes Him unique as the author of all creation. He is literally the one who made it all happen and without Him it doesn’t happen.

Looking at Him as the authority and everything made by the power of His Word we also looked at what it is to be made in His image. That and the mandate to have dominion over creation which we do in reflecting the image He beams through us.

It’s all good, it is indeed very good when it is working in the harmony that He created. As this is God, though, what we also looked at was that creation and the created order was not meant to be something we could easily condense. Condense and simplify and enact as though there were simple techniques to the way things should be. That is no clearer seen that in how we relate to each other as fellow image bearers.

We are not straightforward and simple. We come in various guises and characters. So it should be no surprise as we gather together that this harmony that God institutes in creation can be experienced, but not always as we expect it. Even when we come to an understanding of how we’re meant to operate in a given context, there’s something innate about us as growing creatures to suggest that there’s more that can be expressed and experienced in whatever parameters we see as appropriate. His order is clear, but it’s not always as we expect it. If we limit our expectation of Him to be among those who are like us and agree with our model, we knock off an important part of the manifold wisdom that is the hallmark of His creation.

So we marvel at the brilliance of the author of creation who speaks everything into being but does not limit Himself to our narrow confines of comfort. His order and our way of experiencing that harmony is there … but not always as we expect it.

That’s both very daunting, very challenging and very exciting.

(Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash)

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden