Once upon a time, Laura swore she would never get a tattoo…
Fast forward twenty years and 1.5 tattoos later, I can’t help but wonder how many things I’ve missed in life because of what I threw myself into (or pitted myself against) as a child/youth/young adult/even now as a 32-year-old!
I think that somewhere along the way, because I grew up learning that God does not change and that he never changes his mind, I began to believe that I should do the same and never change my mind either!
Remembering that God is, I don’t know, God Almighty, Creator of the Heavens and Earth, Father of All and Saviour of the UNIVERSE… and I am not… seemed to get lost in the shuffle.
Turns out it’s a bit of a game changer, haha.
There are literally countless things about God that we will never, ever understand. And in our search for security and certainty, the fact we’ll never fully know all the things can feel like failure. Unfortunately, we lose sight of so much with this way of thinking as well!
Walking with the Lord has never been about having all the answers. This is why faith matters! This is why the peace of God is truly beyond comprehension… because as we embrace the Lord in all of the mysterious glory that belongs to God alone, we find that we are held.
Seeking the face of God and searching our own hearts with the Spirit begin to bubble up to the surface when we set aside our idols of security and certainty.
Not only was Jesus super cryptic at times – speaking in riddles and teaching in parables – even the way that God spoke to Moses at the burning bush (bajillions of years earlier) reflected that mystery “I Am that I Am”.
As we choose to press into this, often unidentifiable, realm of yearning to know God more, my prayer is that we will be wonder-struck and undone by the beauty of the unknowns.
I’m not sure anybody could’ve been more surprised than I was myself when I began to sense the Lord encouraging and enhancing my tattoo ideas. The most recent one says, “how much more” and was originally based on Luke 12:22-34. Jesus was teaching the disciples not to be worried or anxious… because if their Father in Heaven cares for the ravens of the air and clothes the lilies of the field, how much more would he care for and love his own children?
Apparently this little, three-word phrase is littered all throughout Scripture! Even in today’s BibleGateway verse of the day it appeared: “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:10)
In a way that only the Lord could weave together, this phrase tattooed on my arm, forever and ever… reminds me daily of the vastness and mystery of God.
Instead of making promises to do or refrain from certain things, I’m finding myself asking more questions and echoing this question Jesus asked; this phrase that rings throughout scripture, “How much more?”
The exchange between God and Job that happens in Job 38-42 is a powerful example of this. The book of Job ends with God questioning Job. Asking him if he was there when the earth was formed or if he was the one teaching the hawks and eagles how to fly.
If you are in need of a refresher on who God is, I highly recommend checking out this part of the Bible… However, the piece I’d like to leave with you is this.
Right after you’ve completed the book of Job, right after you’ve read about how he embraces the fact that God is God and he most certainly is not… right after you’ve read about his repentance and humility, and the ways the Lord restored his fortunes to him “blessing the latter part of his life more than the former part” (Job 42:12) you begin the book of Psalms.
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
May we be question askers and truth seekers!
May we be brave in the midst of unknowns and faithful in times of uncertainty!
May we be more desperate to know God than we are to know the answer…
May we be held in our times of doubts and disorientation and may we be eternally surprised by the Lord’s responses to our question, “How much more?”