“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)

One of the more interesting ideas presented to my mind recently is that God can be found in the contradictions of theology, meaning that there is truth presented in all Christian ideas of God and yet each is only a glimpse of His total being.

Theology is man’s pursuit to understand a God who is understandable and unknowable at the same time.  Each time we examine a part of God’s nature we come to see Him a little more, and yet the polar opposite idea of who He is can be true at the same time.  I can hear you saying now, “My God what a strange thought!  Are you saying that the Roman Catholic and the Protestant expressions of faith are both correct?”

Yes, I am.  I am trying to suggest that each has only embraced a glimpse of His nature.  God is highly organized like the Catholic Church in hierarchy, and yet He is also very much free-spirited and non-hierarchical like the house church movement.  Each expression of the Christian faith is really a prophetic glimpse into the nature of our God.

God is both near and far at the same time.  He is both loving and severe.  He is both father and mother.  He is Jesus, the Son of Man who could be hung upon a cross and the One who sits eternal upon the throne with fire in his eyes.  He is like the fire, but he is also like the rain.  He is in the earth and in the sky.

We can understand God by making generalizations about His character and by describing what He isn’t.  He is both the seed and the tree.  He is the beginning and the end.  He roars like a lion and yet is as meek as a lamb.  He is in the light and he is in the darkness.

As soon as you think you understand God, He reveals Himself to you again.

I have had encounters with His humility and His severity.  I know what it is like to desire Him near and to desire Him to be far off.  I know what it is like for His Spirit to touch me like a gentle rain and I know what it is like to be completely bent in fear by His presence.

There are some things that we know about God.  We know what He calls holy, because it is defined in His word.  He will not argue with you about what constitutes sin.  You cannot negotiate with Him.  All you can do is turn from sin toward Him.  You can have one or the other, but not both.

And yet God is with the saint and with the grossest of sinners at the same time.  He is touching them both, drawing them closer, constantly in communion with each.

He is with the Republicans and the Democrats.  Wherever man lives, God is found in the midst of them.  And while we may not understand how this might be, God is comfortable with each one of us and our differences, even when we war with one another.  He is in the prayers of opposing forces.  He is in the prayers of opposing teams. He loves each one the same.  He loves you enough not to let you stay in the place where you are currently. He is drawing you deeper unto Himself, constantly feeding you His manna from heaven.

God is in the contradictions, and as we embrace the contradictions, we come deeper into wisdom and into God.