Our understanding of God can be compared to the tale of the three blind men and the elephant.
In this well-known story, three blind men each touch a different part of an elephant and draw their conclusions about what the elephant is like. One touches the trunk and thinks it’s a snake, another touches the leg and believes it’s a tree trunk, and the third touches the side and imagines it’s a wall. Each is convinced they know the truth, yet they each grasp only a small part of the whole.
This story beautifully illustrates our attempts to understand God. God’s power and nature are vast and beyond our full comprehension. We each perceive aspects of God through our experiences and beliefs, but our human limitations mean we can only grasp a tiny part of His infinite reality.
One person might experience God through the beauty of creation, feeling His presence in every sunrise and blooming flower. Another might find God in acts of love and kindness, seeing His hand in every gesture of compassion. Yet another might encounter God in moments of profound silence and peace. Each perspective is valid, yet each is just a glimpse of God’s boundless essence.
“For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” Romans 1:19-20
Our inability to fully comprehend God doesn’t diminish His power or presence; it simply reminds us of our place in the grand tapestry of existence and the need to approach our faith with humility, always ready to learn and grow.
We need to open up beyond our limiting belief systems, our traditional views, and our experiences and not let them predetermine what we can expect from God. We will never fully understand Him because His works are beyond our understanding. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
But what has been revealed about God is enough for our walk in this world. “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29
Jesus also said to those who are His disciples, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand”. Luke 8:10
God is mysterious but is loving and faithful, and we can pray and trust in Him.
“God is God. Because he is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.” – Elisabeth Elliot
