The Eccentric God (part 2 of 3)

God is eccentric! He is unusual. He will not be defined by what we consider acceptable.

He is extravagant, wasteful, unpredictable, inventive. Extravagant in His grace, wasteful with His liberal overtures of love, and He clearly operates on His own timetable. He is unpredictable and often finds joy in crafting solutions to our concerns that are conceived in His mind and way outside the boundaries of our best thinking. 

I have spent many, many hours attempting to define God with lists of character qualities, to box Him in with His Word in order to predict His next move, to behave myself impeccably and in so doing predispose what He is honor-bound to do in response to my good behavior, just as Job did throughout his book. To no avail. 

I have concluded: God operates outside the usual and deviates from the acceptable—that is, the plan I would have Him follow—with disarming frequency. It seems there is no other conclusion to be drawn than to enter His world and get to know Him on His terms. Job arrived at the same conclusion (ref. Job 42:1-6). 

Rather than defining God as seems best to me, I am beholden to ask Him to tell me about Himself. Rather than imposing upon Him what I think seems good to me, I am remiss if I fail to ask Him for His perspective. Rather than tell Him what I consider acceptable, I need to hear His definition of acceptable. 

As Paschal said, “God created man in His own image and man returned the favor.”

Oh, my! I do not want a God that I have created. I do not want a God designed to meet the needs I am aware of in my life based upon my assessment of my needs. I do not want a God who is no bigger than my pint-size mind can conceive and my earthly perspective invents. 

God wants to be known. More about this next.