Mystery

Everyone knows that kids ask really great questions. And sometimes the questions are tough to answer! Here are a few questions I’ve heard recently: “If God created everything, then who created God?” or “Why would God create hell?” or “When is Jesus coming back to earth?”   These are all awesome questions! And the thing I love most about these questions is that it means you’re thinking about the Lord. But, these questions don’t have easy and clear answers.   In fact, there are a lot of things about God that are somewhat of a…..mystery. A mystery is just something that’s hard to explain or difficult to understand. And certain things about God will always be a mystery us. Why? Because we are humans that can’t understand EVERY. SINGLE. THING. about God. Sure, we can understand a lot about Him, especially as we read the Bible which teaches us about who He is. But, the Bible doesn’t give clear answers to every detailed question we might think of.   And I want to tell you something…..that’s okay! It’s okay for God to be a God of mystery. It’s okay that all of my questions don’t have perfect clear answers. This is important! If I were able to figure out every little thing about the Lord and how He works and thinks, then I might start thinking I could do His job for Him, which wouldn’t be good.   We should see God’s mystery as reassuring to us that He’s way bigger than we are and able to do much more than we can ever imagine. So, let’s be okay with the mystery, deal?!   Romans 11:33-34 talks about this when it says, “how very rich are God’s wisdom and knowledge! How He judges is more than we can understand! The way He deals with people is more than we can know! Who can ever know what the Lord is thinking? Or who can ever give Him advice?”   That verse says God’s ways are more than we can understand, more than we can know. So, if anyone ever tells you that they know everything and they have all the answers, just know that’s not possible because this verse tells us that we won’t ever figure out all the things about the Lord. Kinda mindblowing, if you ask me.   One last thing as we’re talking about this. Yes, God is a God who has some mystery. But, He’s also told us A LOT about who He is in the Bible. So, don’t get discouraged that God will always be a mystery about everything. There’s a LOT to know and learn about Him for your entire life! There will just come a point, on some questions or topics, where we have to be okay with NOT knowing every detail. That’s where we trust what we DO know about Him and go back to the main truths in the Bible.   So, let’s talk about a few things… You can pause after each question to discuss. And, like always…don’t overthink it! The point is to get us talking:   1.     What hard questions do you have about God? 2.     Now ask the adult you’re listening with what questions they have about God? What is a mystery to them about the Lord? Remember how our verse said that God’s ways are more than we can understand and more than we can know? That’s for everyone, kids AND adults! So, ask your adult what is a mystery to them about the Lord. 3.     Do you think it’s cool or not cool that God has some things about Him that we can’t figure out? How do you feel about His mystery?   I hope you had great discussion! And I want to tell you on the last question, if you don’t love that you can’t figure everything out about God, then we can pray and ask Him to help you have more trust or faith in Him. He can help us with that! It doesn’t mean He will tell us all the answers for our questions, but He will help us to better trust who He is and trust His goodness even in the mystery.   One last time, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “How very rich are God’s wisdom and knowledge! How He judges is more than