Consider the complexities you and I face everyday. From programming our TV remote to using your mobile phone (like an iPhone or Android). How about online ordering and finding the right information we need for the issue we are trying to solve. COVID-19 as one example.
Our world is full of complexity! Is not anything simple? I once asked a person for direction. It seemed like I could have followed my simple turn-by-turn directions. Yet, the description was more complex than the problem I was trying to solve. After listening to a long answer from one person that made me wish I had written everything down because after 5 turns I was loosing track of the her description. Then another person who was listening quietly interrupted. She simply said, “I know a simple way!” In just two turns she described to me a much more simple way. She simply started with a point of reference I was familiar with, “Do you know where Walmart is?”
How many times do we add complexity to simple things? I know I have been a contributor to complex answers. I love it when I instructions are written for dummies like me. I especially like pictures and illustrations. Diagrams help me to see step-by-step directions. It take more discipline to narrow the subject to simple answers. It takes more time to draft and re-draft answers to get to the point.
God is so infinite and complex. He is bigger than anything our minds can understand yet, He makes Himself known in simple ways. To Adam and Eve, he walked among them in the garden. To Abraham, he came in the form of sojourners and often angels. To Moses He was in the burning bush and gave Himself a name, I AM. The examples continue throughout the Bible.
The prophets and church fathers knew Him in profoundly simple ways! Reads Hebrews 12 to see what God said about each of our spiritual patriarchs. The gospel is summed up in just a few expressions of love and grace.
A good leader is able to take complex issues and simplify the answer. It doesn’t mean that it is easy for us but in our simple faith in God, we can find simple answers.
Today my blog is a reminder to remember that while God is complex, His solutions can be understood in simple terms. I remember that my parents often would tell me that to simply trust them. At times they would even say, “Because I say so!” Many times I would simply trust them. It was enough that they would just said because I say so. It is when we put our hand in the hand of God that we can learn to walk with Him through life.
I am reminded that the first step to understanding is relational. I love the now famed statement by Babby Mason, “When you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart!” God will care for the many details IF we begin by trusting Him!
