Divine Paradox

Mormonism (one might say the spiritual life or life in general) is full of paradoxes, rich dualities of meaning that seem both intuitive and contradictory.  One such paradox relates to our view of God.  We see God as Our Father, a loving parent who knows us perfectly, is of the same genus and species as us, and like whom we can become.  There is a sense in Mormonism of great familiarity with God.  For instance, the insight in Moses 7:28 of God weeping brings tremendous pathos and intimacy with the character and struggles of God, for all of us have wept in our own way over our own struggles or the struggles of others.  A weeping God is one we can relate to.  Similarly, being called and singing about our identity as children of God brings a great familiarity, comfort, and connection to the divine.  The relationship becomes immediately understandable with that perspective.

And yet, throughout scripture, we become confronted with the idea that God is different from us, that His ways and methods and means are removed from ours.  We find this expressed in many ways throughout scripture.  For instance, the closing chapters of Job depict God, out of the whirlwind, posing question after question (presumably rhetorical) to Job, who is clearly unable to answer and likely unable to fully comprehend the import of the questions.  We see this throughout the Bible (both Old and New Testament) as individuals confronted with the divine almost without exception react in fear, sensing something awe-inspiring that invokes trembling.

Isaiah 55:6-9 encapsulates this paradox quite well: "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near."  This seems an expression consistent with the first understanding of God's character, namely, that God is close and familiar, near to us, and one who invites us to call upon Him.

Verses 8-9 of the chapter show the other side of the paradox, as God states, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, said the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

In other words, God thinks differently than we do; He speaks differently than we do.  His ways, methods, patterns, plans, judgments, and perspectives are different from ours.  His ways are higher than ours in a deeply meaningful way.

We see a few feet ahead; God sees all.  We live in the present.  God lives in an eternal now.  We remember limited aspects of our lives, only slivers of experience from one perspective among many.  God sees all aspects of our lives and understands and comprehends all perspectives and approaches perfectly.

And so we appear to see a paradox: how can God be both familiar and foreign?  Knowable and mysterious?  Close and distant?

When confronted with a paradox such as this, many questions may come to the surface, such as: Why would God reveal Himself in a paradox?  If He does not, which part of the paradox is correct?  If He does, how can we harmonize these apparently different understandings of the divine character?

It is OK to understand that while some can view these as differing views, and while many of our Christian brothers and sisters may have differing views on the nature of God, it is OK for the disciple to choose to see great truth in each of these aspects.  We can see God both as one familiar, as one with whom we can be intimate, as well as one who is powerful, great, and mysterious, one who in many ways towers over us, yet at the same time, condescends to us in the incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the revelation of His Gospel both to institutions and to individuals.  We can see a God that comforts and resolves and reassures and instructs and clarifies as well as one that presents us with puzzles, with apparently unanswerable or incomprehensible stretching growth experiences. May we seek and find this God, this divine presence, who is both familiar and foreign, but in whom we find ultimate meaning, purpose, and fulfillment.