Woven together in Love
The Gift of Languages
Deuteronomy 4:32-40 The Message
32-33 Ask questions. Find out what has been going on all these years before you were born. From the day God created man and woman on this Earth, and from the horizon in the east to the horizon in the west—as far back as you can imagine and as far away as you can imagine—has as great a thing as this ever happened? Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? Has a people ever heard, as you did, a god speaking out of the middle of the fire and lived to tell the story?34 Or has a god ever tried to select for himself a nation from within a nation using trials, miracles, and war, putting his strong hand in, reaching his long arm out, a spectacle awesome and staggering, the way God, your God, did it for you in Egypt while you stood right there and watched?
35-38 You were shown all this so that you would know that God is, well, God. He’s the only God there is. He’s it. He made it possible for you to hear his voice out of Heaven to discipline you. Down on Earth, he showed you the big fire and again you heard his words, this time out of the fire. He loved your ancestors and chose to work with their children. He personally and powerfully brought you out of Egypt in order to displace bigger and stronger and older nations with you, bringing you out and turning their land over to you as an inheritance. And now it’s happening. This very day.
39-40 Know this well, then. Take it to heart right now: God is in Heaven above; God is on Earth below. He’s the only God there is. Obediently live by his rules and commands which I’m giving you today so that you’ll live well and your children after you—oh, you’ll live a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving you.
For Reflection
Perhaps
one of the oldest and toughest philosophical questions is "Who are we
and why are we here?" Monotheism is a human explanation of this
question. There is one God and this God created the universe and all
that lies within, including human kind. We, God's children, are intended
to be stewards of this universe.
However, God is a mystery. God is a mystery that we seek to unravel and discover that with every thread removed we find greater mystery. God is a mystery we can scarcely understand, but in order to live a righteous life, must accept. The idea that God exists and that we are part of God's creation is the basis for a powerfully potent life. It is a life of love and justice in a chaotic world.
God's gift of language both extends our ability to know God and limits our knowledge. There are no words to express God so we are bound up by our humanity, limited to human ways of knowing. Therefore, our knowledge of God is temporal and imprecise. This means we must view our definitions of God as provisional, subject to change as we mature in God's care.
God exists far beyond our perception. God does not exist because we perceive it so. We perceive God because God exists.
Pray
However, God is a mystery. God is a mystery that we seek to unravel and discover that with every thread removed we find greater mystery. God is a mystery we can scarcely understand, but in order to live a righteous life, must accept. The idea that God exists and that we are part of God's creation is the basis for a powerfully potent life. It is a life of love and justice in a chaotic world.
God's gift of language both extends our ability to know God and limits our knowledge. There are no words to express God so we are bound up by our humanity, limited to human ways of knowing. Therefore, our knowledge of God is temporal and imprecise. This means we must view our definitions of God as provisional, subject to change as we mature in God's care.
God exists far beyond our perception. God does not exist because we perceive it so. We perceive God because God exists.
Pray
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