Beyond Understanding

"God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour." Job 37:5-6

God is awesome. It totally sent my heart doing cartwheels this morning when I read "he does great things beyond our understanding." He does just that, each and every day. This morning I woke up and when I looked outside there was frost on the snow. Each blade of grass was individually coated with a layer of light frost, and has swiftly been melting away with the rising sun. Why does it do that? What purpose do these light frosts serve? God knows. God knows why he sends the frost.

Just the other day, I walked out of the grocery store with a bag of oranges. You'd have thought I'd brought home a jackpot, the kids were so delighted to see oranges! Only God could create a cycle of seasons that bring forth new fruit just as we're tiring of the old. Our delight with apple season has been waning for a while now, and to peel those fragrant oranges was such a treat and a delight. That first bite of orange for each of us was truly something special and wonderful. Now, come March, when we're truly tired of oranges, those first fresh strawberries from the south are going to replace them. But for now, God has delighted us with His mysterious ways.

Sometimes God's ways beyond understanding are more difficult. Why is Andy laid off so early this year? Why are so many people struggling with finances? I know, more than anything else I know, that all this is because God has His ways. At just the right time, God is going to do something so special, and so wonderful! What He does is going to be so awesome that we're not going to be able to explain it any other way than God did it. When all those around us, and all those who know us see what God is going to do, we're going to have such a wonderful testimony! They won't be able to deny that He exists and that He is wonderful beyond comprehension.

My children are beyond my understanding most of the time! They are such amazing and wonderful little people, and I marvel at them every single day. Every day I thank God for the honor of raising these little treasures for His Glory, and someday they are going to share that glory. Honestly? I'm beginning to wonder about that. The last few times that we've been at dance class watching Abigail, Zander has been drawing a crowd. It's like all the kids in the hallways at the dance school are drawn to this little boy. Everyone wants to play with him or sit by him or talk to him, and as I watched him last night share with other kids and have a good time playing with them, I couldn't help but see a little Jesus in there. I bet Jesus was a lot like that when he was five years old. I bet all the kids in his neighborhood wanted to play with him, because there was something special about him, and all they knew was that they went home thinking that they had a great time. Mysterious ways indeed!

There are times, I admit it, that I wish I did have understanding. My human brain wants to understand the way things work, the way things are, and the way things are meant to be, but you know what? My spirit is understanding that my brain is not going to comprehend all that God is and can and will do. My spirit is taking over, and it's my spirit that wants to rejoice all day long. And so I do! It may be totally silly to some people, but all this driving back and forth we've been doing has been like a treasure hunt for me. As we drive along, I watch and see what wildlife God is going to show me today. I've seen every bird you can imagine, and most of them pretty up close and personal. We've seen dear, skunks, raccoons, squirrels, cats, dogs, and other farm animals, and every time I see an animal I think about the amazing God who created everything to be so unique. Why did he make a male pheasant so beautiful? Why does the female partridge have those feathers that stick straight up off her head like antennae? Why on earth are there so many wild turkeys in our area! (And do they taste good- I wonder?) When I see a critter, I rejoice, because God made it and put it right there for me to see it.

God's ways are mysterious, and my human brain cannot begin to understand. But my spirit, the part of my being that belongs in heaven, rejoices in God being God. I rejoice every time God does something different or new. I hate snow! I hate cold weather, but when it snowed almost a month ago, I rejoiced, because God did something different. I feel like there is something inside me about to bubble over.

"This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24