Coffee Stains: Laws From Two Different Worlds

Today I’m going to tell you about something that I know practically nothing about, which probably isn’t so unusual as all that.

Mister Einstein made his name synonymous with smart people by thinking up the theory of relativity. This explained the large world famously. Apply this theory to planetary movements, space, and basically anything you can see with your eyes and it provides a logical way to understand and order things. Only problem is that it doesn’t explain the world of very, very, very small things, atoms, molecules, particles and such like (how about it. Am I impressing you yet?) You needed two sets of laws to explain the reality that we know. So somebody smart thought up quantum theory. We needed it.

You see, Einstein’s theory of relativity proposed that nothing could outrace the speed of light (they didn’t have Star Trek in his days). Bill Bryson notes in his book, A Short History of Nearly Everything, ‘As physicists delved deeper, they realized they had found a world where not only could electrons jump from one orbit to another without traveling across any intervening space, but matter could pop into existence from nothing at all- ”˜provided,’ in the words of Alan Lightman of MIT, ”˜it disappears again with sufficient haste.’” Quantum theory really bothered Einstein. I doubt that’s why his hair was so frizzy but he spent a good part of his life trying to find a theory that would work for the two worlds, alas without success.

We see these enigmas in God’s creation. We don’t understand it all but that’s the way it is whether we understand it or not. Quantum physics promises some of the most exciting breakthroughs in the near future, even though we don’t always understand why these little guys behave the way they do. We just accept it even if we don’t understand it. Peanut Brain So then, why do we get all bent out of shape by the mysteries we see in God’s Word concerning God himself? For example: ‘I don’t understand the Trinity, how God can be One but three? I just can’t accept that.’ Excuse me, but do you understand all the mysteries of electricity, or how the internet works, or a jillion other things of modern life? That doesn’t keep you from flipping on the light switch to see where you’re going? You don’t have to read and understand an electricity manual before you enjoy light. You just do it. I think it’s like that with God. A God that I could fully understand with this little peanut-sized brain is way too small. I know Him personally and I’m growing in my knowledge of Him by His Word, His Spirit and the word applied to my experiences. I don’t always understand Him but I trust Him because of this knowledge.

I need a God bigger than I am and during my walk here on earth I’ll probably not completely understand a Being Who is so incredibly great, complex, intelligent, powerful, good, and on and on. It’s like women. I could write a LARGE book entitled, What I Know About Women. But if I were to write a companion volume called, What I Understand About Women, this second volume would be exceedingly small. Still, after 38 years of marriage I know when to hide. I still don’t know why, but knowing when is very useful. Does not completely understanding women keep me from appreciating my wife? Not, at all! I know what joy and fulfillment she’s added to my life.

So, these people who say because they don’t understand God they can’t accept him, in my opinion, are just blowing smoke. They don’t want to trust their lives to Him and they want to live the way they want to live without being responsible to the One who created them. God’s spiritual universe operates by different laws, it’s true. But since He made all this, I think I’ll just trust Him, obey Him and get on with it, even when I don’t understand it all.

Hmmm …

“When the wind blows it’s time to hoist the sails.” Douglas Scott