Beyond Understanding

A father was trying to explain to his 5-year-old daughter how she could see and speak with her mother using a smartphone. He tried his best to explain how technology had put her mother inside the phone but to no avail. Sensing his exasperation, the daughter said, “Daddy, I don’t need to know how the phone works as long as I can talk with Mommy!”

David knew that there were many things in his life that he simply could not and would not understand (v.1). There is much about God and His ways that far exceeds our human ability and capacity (Job 42:3; Ecclesiastes 11:5; Isaiah 55:8-9; Romans 11:33-34). So David humbly accepted the impossibility of trying to figure God out: “I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp” (v.1).

David was not the first to admit that he couldn’t fully know God. Three millennia earlier, Job, a godly man (Job 1:1), stated this challenge: “Can you solve the mysteries of God? Can you discover everything about the Almighty?” (Job 11:7).

God wants us to know Him (Jeremiah 24:7, 31:33- 34). He’s revealed Himself to us through His Word (Amos 3:7; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Hebrews 1:1) and through His Son (Matthew 11:27; John 8:19, 14:7; Hebrews 1:2). He’s given us the Holy Spirit to teach us (John 16:13; 1 Corinthians 2:10-12). Those who have eternal life can now know God (John 17:3).

David chose not to be troubled by the matters that properly belonged to God (Psalm 131:1; Deuteronomy 29:29). Instead, like a weaned child enjoying the protection, provision, and presence of a mother (v.2), David calmly trusted God with a childlike faith (v.2). A faith characterized by humble dependency (v.1), calm contentment, confident trust (v.2), and unfailing hope (v.3).

—K.T. Sim

Taken from “Our Daily Journey”