Mission Monthly – April 1998
Hardly a day goes by without hearing the worn out question, “Why?” Just yesterday, while at my teaching assistant job, I heard a conversation held by several high school students criticizing God and the Church, proudly waving the banners of science and moral freedom. It hurt me to hear their doubt bordering on anger. I did not enter into their conversation but these words came to my mind as I hoped that one day they would discover faith and the mystery of God’s true love for them:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55.8-9
It is neither lofty to think on God in this way, nor does it make Him unreachable or unknowable (remembering, of course, the Orthodox teaching of St. Gregory Palamas that God, though unknowable in His essence, is knowable through His energies). It does, however, in understanding the true meaning of this passage, make us aware of our own limitations when seeking answers to the challenging and sometimes unanswerable questions of our lives. Maybe a better question for us to ask (certainly one that would reflect a necessary humility in approaching God) would be, “My God, where do I begin?” Or, if one is a little further along in their pilgrimage, “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief!”
Stories from Holy Scripture again and again force us to reconcile the unreconcilable, especially in the Old Testament where, we are reminded by St. Paul, the righteous and holy people of God “died in faith, not having received what was promised… All of these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive… ” (Hebrews 11:13, 39). One can only imagine the distress of Abraham at being asked to sacrifice Isaac, his son born of a miracle; or of Joseph when he was forsaken by the jealousy of his brothers; or of Moses or Job. The purity and faithfulness to the uncompromising and incomprehensible command of God, as witnessed to in the many examples of unparalleled courage, has to be mindboggling to our undisciplined, over-satisfied, instantly gratified, self-determined, personal-right seeking, out-of-control society.
Why should I believe in God? Why should I go to church? Why should I pray, fast, support my church, give to charity, forgive, be moral, love? Why… why… why? In all the distress expressed in the lives of God’s saints (both from the Old and the New Testaments) I cannot imagine them asking these questions! Rather, I can imagine them asking “How?” How do I believe in God in the midst of all the circumstances He allows in my life? How do I worship? How do I pray, fast, give, love and forgive? How… how… how?
If there is one question answered in God’s Holy Church, it is this: “How are we to live in Christ?” The standards are in front of us with clear teachings on how to worship, to pray, to fast, to give, to be accountable, to love, to forgive. Unfortunately many of us who havereceived what was promised, who boldly proclaim “Christ is born! Glorify Him!” and sing, “Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!”, are just too busy asking the prideful “why?” instead of the humble “how?”!
This time of Great Lent with all the disciplines associated with it is like a journey through a foreign land to us more closely associated to the customs of sin than to those of God’s Kingdom. Even if one understands the Lenten language in their mind, it is only God’s Grace through simple obedience that grants understanding in the secret chambers of a transfigured heart. The Word of God comes from the Church, speaking to the Church and to the world in Scripture, Tradition, Practice and Discipline. No matter where one is on their journey towards God’s Kingdom there is truly only one simple need: humble obedience to the whole of God’s Word. It is only when we learn to ask “How?” that God may even partially allow us to understand “Why?”! God’s thoughts and ways are truly higher than our thoughts and ways, as they transcend our limited and created nature; ours is only to be zealous to live the very words of Jesus: “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”