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God of the Gaps

For my degree I have been studying a module on Faith and Science, one of the things I came across was the idea of the God of the gaps - that there are the things we know and things that we don't and God fills the gaps, where we don't understand something, God, must be the answer. As scientific discovery went on and explained more of the world that we live in, people began to believe that there was no need for the God of the gaps, we will begin to know and discover everything for ourselves.

I have been wrestling with a few things of late. There is suffering in our world, and I know in my head and my heart the Christian response to such pain; that God meets us in our suffering, as shown by Jesus on the cross, that God has a desire for the world to be as it should rather than how it is. But this still leaves a gap, a gap between what is and what should be. What fills the gap? This has been my question to God of late.

Is it our faith? We suffer and struggle, people die or are childless, or have cancer. And we know this is not how the world should be, so we say 'ok God, I will trust you in the in between.' Or is it love? Love has the power to transform and to comfort. Or is it hope? Not a blind hope like a wish you make when you blow a candle, but real hope that the future will be different.

In my wrestling, I think it is all of these things, but all of this things encapsulated and embodied by a person - Jesus. This world is complex and dangerous, but it is also beautiful and astonishing. Jesus meets us in this confusing mess and not only promises to be with us, but to comfort and to give us hope for a better future, a better reality for what life can be.

Recently I was listening to a worship song and a spontaneous bit was sung that said 'he will never fall off the throne', referring to Jesus kingship over the heavens and the earth. One description of Jesus in the Old Testament is that he will be an 'everlasting Father'. This can be a confusing idea if we see Jesus as the 'Son of God' (which he is). But this description of Jesus as Father refers to the father of a nation, a kingdom. Kings back then were seen as fathers of the nation, because they would protect and provide for his subjects. Jesus is the King of the kingdom of God, and he is our protector and provider.

Without failure Jesus has provided for my every need. Sometimes later than I asked, or in a different form, but he has the whole kingdom to consider, I'm just worried for my small plot in the midst of it.

I still don't 'understand' pain and suffering in the sense that I understand the 'why?', the why me?, why now?, why not?, and that is hard as someone whose job includes meeting with people in difficult situations. But suffering isn't something to be understood it is something we feel. If I understood it and explained it what comfort would that bring to the mourning? But what I can do is what Jesus did for me, and that is stand in the gap. Stand with those who are hurting, cry with them, hurt with them and let them know that Jesus does have better, he will provide, he will protect, and he will do it forever. I love a quote from Bonhoeffer that says 'we are to find God in what we know and not in what we don't know'. So we shouldn't worry so much about the gaps in our knowledge, but instead to look for God in our present understanding or indeed lack of. Don't look for God in the gaps, look for him where you stand, and maybe like Jacob you'll find that God was there the whole time you just never realised it.

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