The Wonder of God

One thing I love and appreciate about God is He is immutable and consistent.  Being eternal and above all God is not susceptible to influences of modern society, and His wisdom does not shift with the times.  In God and His word there is an objective clarity and permanence that is not found in anyone or things of this world.  A person's opinions can shift like the breeze, and their conduct can resemble a chameleon that adjusts to their environment.  I respect people who take a stand on God's truth, and I find their insights by God's grace endure the test of time.  It is encouraging to know there are many great thinkers whose intelligence far exceeds my own who were not ashamed to make the living God and His word central to their thoughts and perspective.

I have been reading G.K. Chesterton's In Defense of Sanity lately, and he is exceptionally brilliant.  I am glad that some of the time I understand what he means and enjoy his sense of humour that crops up often.  Though most of his writings in the book hail from the early to mid-20th century, I like that he applies the timeless wisdom of God to the consistent nature of fallen humanity.  As God is always holy, righteous, just, loving and good, in contrast man remains predictably sinful, conceited, arrogant and proud.  Rather than talking down to anyone as being "holier than thou," Chesterton thinks thoughts through with a copious use of paradox and sound reason.  Though the current events and hot-button topics of his day are quite different than ours, his philosophical approach and clever logic has not aged a day.

I was particularly intrigued concerning a few observations he made about sceptics, and despite our modern education and the information available at our fingertips it seems sceptics have only multiplied.  I found this quote very useful to consider:  "The best that can be said for the sceptic is that he cannot say what he means, and therefore, whatever else he means, he cannot mean what he says." (Chesterton, Gilbert Keith. In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G.K. Chesterton. Ignatius Press, 2011. page 337)  With the abundance of information today, there is the real risk of misinformation, whether it be malicious or accidental.  In this world full of deceptions, half-truths and agendas, the Bible remains a bastion of truth we can count on to reveal God and His wisdom for us.  It is truly a joy to look upon God with wonder.

On the topic of pride and sceptics Chesterton mused:

"It is a weakness; for it is simply settling down permanently to believe what even the vain and foolish can only believe by fits and starts, but what all men wish to believe and are often found weak enough to believe; that they themselves constitute the supreme standard of things.  Pride consists in a man making his personality the only test, instead of making the truth the test...It is pride to think that a thing looks ill, because it does not look like something characteristic of oneself...But the self as a self is a very small thing and something very like an accident.  Hence arises a new kind of narrowness; which exists especially in those who boast of breadth.  The sceptic feels himself too large to measure life by the largest things; and ends by measuring it by the smallest thing of all.  There is produced also a sort of subconscious ossification, which hardens the mind not only against the traditions of the past, but even against the surprises of the future.  Nil admirari becomes the motto of all nihilists; and it ends, in the most complete and exact sense, in nothing." (Ibid, pages 348-349)

It is good when we measure things by ourselves to discover we are frighteningly small, for this is God's grand design in revealing Himself as almighty and over all.  It is in knowing we are nothing in light of a city, nation, this planet or the universe--a temporary blip of life here one day and gone the next--that God's loving pursuit and sacrifice for our salvation and eternal relationship with Him is magnified.  The best of men see themselves in the worst light, and we are all granted the capacity by the warm light of God's grace to humble ourselves before Him and others.  God did not put forth the challenge for people to prove their worth by ascending to heaven and to knock on His door:  He implores us to bow the knee right where we are before Him in faith, worship and adoration.  The love of Christ constrains us to remain consistent in our awe and gratitude towards Him.