Daily devotion – What I never will comprehend!
The Wonder of God
Have you ever been completely stumped by how something works?
I have always been amazed by car builders, mechanics and people in other skilled trades. I am not particularly blessed with the ability to fix things, but I can stand and watch someone build or repair a motor, or take an old, rusty heap of a car and transform it into a beautiful piece of machinery, and I am fascinated.
I still don’t understand how records—the old black vinyl kind—can store music and then play it back through a tiny diamond-headed stylus. There is so much about electronics, engineering and craftsmanship that I simply cannot comprehend.
I often find myself asking, “How does that work? How does it do that?”
And then I realise there is so much more in my Christian walk that God does that I cannot fathom.
How does God change a person’s heart? How does He take a sinner and make him a new creation? How does He strengthen us when we are weak? How does He give us peace in the middle of a storm? How does He provide exactly what we need at the moment we need it?
There was a time in my life when, if I couldn’t understand something, I wanted to study it, investigate it and work out exactly how it operated. I wanted to find the wires, the mechanism and the reason behind everything.
But as I have grown older in the Lord, I have learned something very important: I don’t have to understand everything God does in order to trust Him.
James gives us a wonderfully simple instruction:
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
— James 1:5
God doesn’t tell us that we must first understand everything. He tells us to ask Him.
More and more, I am learning that what God desires from me is not that I understand every detail of His workings, but that I trust Him by faith.
I no longer need to spend my days looking behind the curtain searching for the “trick”, the mechanism or the explanation for everything God is doing in my life.
Instead, I can simply stand back and watch.
I can watch God work in a life.
I can watch Him answer prayer.
I can watch Him provide.
I can watch Him strengthen the weak.
I can watch Him bring peace in the storm.
I can watch Him change hearts and transform lives.
And I can stand in awe.
There is something wonderful about reaching the place where we no longer need to have God completely figured out. After all, if we could fully understand God, He wouldn’t be God.
Isaiah reminds us:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.”
— Isaiah 55:8
There will always be things about Almighty God that are beyond our understanding. His wisdom is greater than ours, His ways are higher than ours, and His power is beyond anything we can comprehend.
And that should not frustrate us—it should awe us.
The older I get and the longer I walk with the Lord, the more I find myself simply enjoying the wonder of Almighty God. I don’t need to know how He does everything. I just want to trust Him and watch Him work.
The heavens themselves testify to His greatness:
“The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.”
— Psalm 97:6
Look around you. Creation declares His glory. Look at what He has done in your own life. Look back over the years and remember His faithfulness.
Perhaps today you don’t understand what God is doing in your circumstances. Perhaps you cannot see the answer, understand the timing, or comprehend how He could possibly work everything together.
That’s okay.
You don’t have to understand the how to trust the Who.
Our God is Almighty. He created the heavens and the earth. He knows the beginning from the end, and nothing is beyond His ability.
So today, stop trying to find the wires behind the curtain.
Stand back. Watch God work. Trust Him. And be amazed.
For there is no greater wonder than the wonder of God.