GOD?

Some believe that in the darkness before the first man, before the first leaves were stirred to life by an early breeze or the oldest star lit the endless black; there existed only a point of pure energy and matter. In this tale, everything that has happened since was a play carried out by a cast sprung randomly from this point of energy. Every satisfaction or heartbreak in life to date has been a logical fulfilment of events that started back at this point – energy and matter directed by physical forces so complex that every new insight only makes us more confused. Self-organised criticality in it’s purest form so that every experience is nothing more than emergent behaviour arising from pure chaos.

 

In contrast to the impersonality of this view, an elderly Hebrew man named Moses wrote in the years following 1440 BC that, dwelling in the stillness before all else was a being of not energy and matter but something theologians call “wholly other”. The name given has been partially lost, as the Hebrews were afraid that its pronunciation by unworthy lips could only result in death; but from the consonants that have been saved linguists have pieced together an approximation. The preserved four letters YHWH when supplemented with the suspected vowels form the name Yahweh, meaning the self existent or “I Am that I Am”. This is as absolute a statement as you could find - not “this is who or what I am”, as if He could be measured by some pre-existing law or characteristic; “I Am” is a simple statement of fact. Time is irrelevant, He is not ‘still the same’ after all these years, He simply is. The reason for this is not due to some understanding of time that we have not yet reached, “I Am that I Am” states that He is this way due only to Himself. He is the centre, the source, the yardstick by which all else is measured. To even try to describe Him by science or philosophy would be like a boy setting out to measure the universe with his new school ruler. As a deity, the Bible describes Him in a way that does not mesh at all well with the deities of other religions, even those such as Islam that have sprung from Biblical roots. He is illogical, unpredictable, often unrecognised even by His own followers. Although most people generally call him God, He is far removed from our concept of what a god is. He is beyond the gods and goddesses, He simply is.

Perhaps it is all part of an archaic myth, an early attempt to make sense of the universe. An interesting story, not necessarily true but containing pearls of wisdom for an inquiring mind. Someone that thinks this way feels free to apply their cultural understanding in such a way that they can sculpt a religion or worldview to their own liking. To take this view however immediately discounts the possibility that it is actually true. Is it enough to say that because the existence and nature of the I Am cannot be either proven or disproved, that we should begin by assuming He does not exist? To my mind this leaves far too great a ‘what if?’ unchallenged. Another approach accepts the existence of a god, but describes the god by what that person thinks he/she must be like. Classical artworks picture God as an old, European man, and most people see Him as having a view of fairness and justice that agrees with their own – good, but not too carried away. To me, that’s a bit like saying “the queen of England likes bushwalking, writing poetry and cooks a mean curry”. I’ve never met her and I wouldn’t know. If God exists, heis someone; we can all think what we like about him but in the end, we’re either right or wrong. 

If indeed the God of the Bible exists beyond our own ability to measure, perhaps the most credible response to the Bible is to first examine the story it gives us, to uncover what the Bible explains to be the nature of God, the universe and life. Perhaps we cannot make sense of Him; however if He exists as the reference point, the centre, the heart and breath of everything, then it is entirely possible that nothing actually makes sense without Him.

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The first chapter of the Bible contains a conversation involving Yahweh, carried out before the Bible describes the creation of any people. “Let us create man in our image, in our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26) Far from suggesting the presence of a group of gods or creators, Genesis actually opens with an image that makes no sense whatsoever. After stating that God created “the heavens and the earth” (ch1:1), the writer states that “darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (vs2). The word ruwach used for Spirit by the Hebrews literally means wind, breath – a strong at times even violent exhalation; most significantly however, a sentient being. The Spirit of God is, according to this glimpse, both a separate being from Yahweh, yet at the same time His own spirit, His own self - as much a part of God as breathing is to you or I.

Elsewhere in the Bible, we are given a fuller picture of the Spirit. John 14:26 refers to him as “the Counsellor” or “the Comforter”, the one who comes alongside to give advice, comfort and courage. A consistent theme throughout the Bible is the intensity of emotion experienced by the Spirit, He is not simply the ‘breath’ of God, He is a violent, vigorous and unpredictable wind. “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. ” I stood in the heat yesterday and felt a strong gust of wind on what had been a still day come roaring from behind me, at the same time watching clouds of dust rushing directly toward me across the neighbour’s yard. As the two great winds met they spiralled into a tall slender Willy Willy, rocketing dust and boxes from the plumber’s yard hundreds of metres into the air in a matter of seconds. Within a minute it had passed with little to show except the falling debris. This is the description scripture gives us of God’s Spirit – the forces had gathered without my knowing until I saw the final outcome. I don’t understand the purpose of that particular Willy Willy other than the fact that it gave Zac (my son) and myself a lot of excitement, however I know that it performed a vital and inescapable role in the workings of the atmosphere. In the same way, the Spirit may go about the purpose of the I Am as inconspicuously as the high Cirrus clouds that march ahead of a stormy cold front. Inconspicuous to our senses perhaps, but then we are usually just as unaware of those high winds that blow the ice clouds into delicate artworks as we are of the Spirit crying with an agony “too deep for words to express ”. If our first encounter of God is as the I Am, the centre, the first and the last; we are introduced to His Spirit as the restless unfettered wind by which we gain understanding, the Weeper by whom we are comforted.

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The Apostle John tells us a vital piece of information about the creation of the earth. In his account of his life as a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth he begins not with the birth of Jesus, the familiar Christmas story, but with the words:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:1-3)

The title “Word” is borrowed from Greek philosophy, where the word, or logos was a concept that effectively meant the great purpose behind everything, the reason. The Greeks hoped that with enough contemplation and intellectual power they might discover the meaning of life. With a similar approach the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reported that the meaning of life was in fact 42. The apostle John tells us that the meaning of life is actually a poor, country-born Jewish carpenter. Where one looks for purpose in concepts and ideas, the other tells us that purpose is actually completely contained in the life and actions, in fact in the very being of a particular person. “In him was life, and that life was the light of men ”. Jesus Himself states this when he reprimands the Biblical scholars of His time:

“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40)

Jesus can only quote this claim about the testimony of the Scriptures if in fact he is the Messiah famously prophesied by Isaiah some 700 years earlier:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

Notice how He fits the titles of both the Spirit (Counsellor) and the first encounter of Yahweh (Mighty God, Everlasting Father). This is not coincidental; to the horror of the Jewish scholars Jesus actually uses the unspoken name of God for Himself in its most pure and literal form:

“‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I Am.’” (John 8:58)

There was no confusion about His meaning amongst the teachers on this matter; their immediate response was to attempt to stone Him for claiming to actually be Yahweh Himself. Is that not however what the Logos must be? What could possibly qualify as the meaning and purpose of the earth and time, that was not in fact the foundation and centre of all? What other meaning could there possibly be? The Bible here presents us with the incredible concept that 2 millennia ago there walked the streets of today’s Palestine a common man who was in himself the purpose of time. The prophesy of Isaiah reveals that the Word was also the I Am, existing on the streets of Jerusalem as the same being who existed before time and will be the same when all the worlds have ended. Not only so, but He is one with the Ruwach - the wisdom, the wildness and the tears of God.

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:2)

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With a better knowledge of who it was assembled there, let us return to the sixth day in the calendar of the universe where these three – the Centre, the Purpose and the Passion confer together with the words “let us make man in our own image”. One question amongst the many stands out here. Why does God wish to make another being like Himself, in fact why does He want to make anything at all? Consider the all-sufficient one; one the Hebrews would learn to call Shaddai – the Almighty, the immovable mountain. What need could He possibly have?

In asking my question I am given the answer I wasn’t looking for. He is the I Am and I am the schoolboy with the ruler attempting to make sense of Him. There are many answers that raise more questions, but here we have stumbled upon an answer that is a final truth in itself. God wanted to create because He wants to create; it’s not a response to a need, its the nature of God. The real question is this – what do the things He made tell us about His nature?

The Irish Australian folk singer Eric Bogle once sang a ballad about a man clearing away his father’s things after he had died. As he sorted through the bits and pieces he discovered little scraps of paper with poems written on them, and as he read the poems he was struck with an understanding of this man he had known so poorly during his life. In his words, “he could have been a good friend of mine.” If God is the Creator of everything, then everything around us is one of His poems – a scrap of paper easily missed on the shelf, but one that would give us great insights into His heart were we to give it more attention.

One particular poem unread for many years was the Dusky Rat Kangaroo. Only found in small areas of Queensland rainforest, this rabbit sized marsupial was caught accidentally on video, carrying on its secret work. Although a popular target for tourists exploring the forest, when no one is watching the little kangaroo takes fallen fruits and seeds and buries them at odd spots to dig up later or leave to grow. They’re not the only gardeners that tend our forests behind our backs; all sorts of small marsupials carry out a slightly different but perhaps even more vital role throughout Australia.

Australian plants only thrive in our dry, nutrient-poor soils because millions of different fungi attach themselves to the roots to feed them and protect them from disease. Although some of them are pretty tough, others are easily wiped out from certain areas by fire, and the only way they can repopulate and look after the plants is due to the work of various Bettongs, Potoroos and Bandicoots. Just by digging up and eating the truffles (like a sort of underground mushroom) from the right fungi, all these little animals distribute the spores back through the forests from those protected gullies and areas the fire has missed.

What the bush might look like without the army of gardeners and friendly fungi, its difficult to say. Quite a few years ago, a small army of Bandicoots roamed the gigantic Jarrah forests of Western Australia, tending the fungi to feed and protect the enormous trees. As people in the area introduced their cats and foxes, the Bandicoots were eaten out over a couple of decades. It may have been coincidence, but almost as soon as the Bandicoots disappeared, the ancient forest fell sick with a terrible disease called Phytophthora.  Since that time, the story of the battle to save the Jarrah forests has been legendary, as has been the amount of money spent to preserve Western Australia’s greatest timber resource.

What sort of a Creator, we might ask, chooses such small, easily ignored, missed or mistreated creatures to tend the most magnificent forests? Does this sound like Shaddai, the immovable mountain? The apostle Paul tells us: “but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong .” Perhaps this is the nature of the I Am; perhaps by reading these particular pages of the heart of God we discover that the Almighty establishes what endures the longest through the work of those things that are most small and humble. Does it go too far to say that he loves the way those little fellas work away, perhaps in the same way as a little girl (or myself for that matter) would love to watch a Musky Rat Kangaroo busily digging away on the forest floor? What sort of feelings does God experience?

On that thought, does he smile when my Kelpie dog (Kane) sits up so straight and obediently if I offer him an egg for a treat? What was he thinking when He gave dogs the ability to grin the way they do?

I once climbed a remote rocky peak in the Snowy Mountains, and as I came over a saddle, twelve Wedge-Tailed Eagles rose gracefully into the sky on the wind that ripped up the cliffs, soaring and plummeting without flapping a wing once. Would the Creator stand beside me, eyes bright with the wildness of it? I remember another high ridge I’d climbed in early winter, where the terrific gusts of a cold front roared up the mountainside through the Ash forests. On the first icy blast of wind came the stinging snowflakes, and with them the great Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos sweeping through the thunderous air with their weird cries. Did the Creator teach them the enjoyment of playing with storms?

Does God enjoy thunderstorms, or the smell of big fat rain drops at the end of a forty-degree day? Does the silence that comes when the snow starts falling after dark give him the same thrill I get? What does he feel when a dry south wind moans through the screen door, when it gets the trees talking to each other and the windows rattling during the night? Does he hear the mournful note when Plovers call to each other through misty rain over the plains, does he feel that everything is alright when magpies warble gently to each other in the dusk, and does he get a spring in His step when he smells the leaves of the tall Ash forests on a hot day?

Notice that all of our most powerful symbols for gentleness, strength, care, wildness and freedom are the things made by God. Some would say that the Creator might have something in common with us, but I wonder if its truer to say that when we enjoy what he made we are in fact starting to relate just a little to his heart.

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It’s quite possible that you feel your life is running the way you want it to; whether that is the case or not, let me invite you to upset things a bit. Consider that the beauty, the thrill, the sorrow, the peace, the humour and the wildness you have touched in creation, the places, smells or sights you have secretly loved and held in your own private world are actually just minute glimpses into the heart of someone who is so passionate, free, sorrowful, joyful and wild that he eclipses our imagination. Consider that while we busy ourselves with jobs, ambitions and dramas, behind it all he moves to his great purpose. When the twin towers fell in New York you may not have noticed, but the magpies outside your window still sang the same, your dog was still happy to see you and somewhere there was snow falling in perfect silence. El Shaddai, the Mountain, remains as he always has been and always will be; but he is not some distant power. His feet got cut and dirty when he walked the earth and demonstrated that he was the Word, the purpose for everything. Consider perhaps that he has a purpose for you.