Mystery and the Panic Button

Yesterday it worked as it was suppose to. This morning...push the trunk release button and nothing. Had to actually get out of the car and use the key to open the hatch! I can hear it trying to open. I push the button more...push harder...push the release inside the car...still nothing opens. No access.Why? I don't like the mystery. I don't like it at all. The red button is a panic button. I am tempted to push it. It won't open the trunk, but maybe it will make me feel a little better. Maybe.

In my world, maybe yours too, there is little room left for mystery...for the "why" of situations that don't work the way they seemed to in the previous moment. It is frustrating. "We use to talk," "Where did all the money go?" "What is wrong with our kids?" "Why are the schools so messed up?" "Why is my church so frustrating?" "Why can't we get along?" "Why won't God answer the way He use to?" "I'm talking God, are you listening?" "I'm singing God, are you hearing?" "I'm trying to be faithful, can't you fix this?" Then we (or just me) starts doing all these things at a frantic pace, pushing all the buttons as fast as I can...nothing. Then the panic button seems to be the only option.

God seldom seems to work the same way twice. That doesn't make Him unreliable. I think it just means He is not trainable. There is more to what he is trying to accomplish than just "open" some new access point for me. God was shrouded in mystery in the Bible. "In the cloud" "Behind the curtain." "On the mountain." Few people saw clear pictures. Most just saw glimpses. His back. And that was almost too much.

Jesus cleared a little of the mystery and showed us God in the best way we might understand. Father. Abba. His peers didn't like that much. They didn't get it either. And Jesus loved to spend time with the Father.  Each moment was fresh, alive, new, or perhaps for Him, old and new. Out of His everyday life He could say, "I've shown you the Father." and those moments with the Father allowed Him to state boldly, "One of you will betray Me." "All of you will deny Me," "Feed My sheep," "Not My will, but Yours." Oh, and He never panicked.

Jesus believed that the Father was doing something big, and He lived each moment in faith. Even on the cross, "why have you forsaken me?" was a cry wrapped in pain. But Jesus remained on the cross to lay his life down. No one could take it from Him. He trusted in God's plan. Talk about a mystery!

When nothing seems open. My trunk, the heavens, even at times the Father, I will trust that He is listening and has some greater purpose that I can't see. Some great mystery that will work out for the good, because I love Him. I may not "like" the mystery...not at all...but I love my Father.

And may I always remember that God is not trainable. Don't hit the panic button. Get out, try the key.