Nobody Puts God In A Corner

In a world where we often seek to classify and categorize everything around us, it’s easy to project our limited understanding onto the concept of God. 

We craft belief systems, establish doctrines, and erect metaphorical temples to contain the divine essence. Yet, as we do this, we risk reducing something infinite into something finite, confining God within the walls of our imagination.

C.S. Lewis, renowned author and theologian, captures this sentiment beautifully when he writes about God being an iconoclast, “the one who tears down the temples we have built.” 

An iconoclast typically breaks away from tradition, particularly in artistic or religious contexts; they challenge conventional wisdom and destroy established beliefs.

Like the iconoclast, God does not conform to the structures we erect around God. Instead, God challenges and dismantles them, ultimately revealing the far greater reality of His nature beyond our limited frameworks.

Imagine a child trying to describe the ocean's vastness with a cup of water. The child's perception is genuine, yet it fails to capture the grandeur and depth of the sea. Similarly, our attempts to define God often boil down to mere cups of water attempting to hold the ocean’s fullness. 

We may envision God as a wise old man in the sky or a strict judge weighing our every mistake. While these depictions may be grounded in some aspects of our traditions, ultimately, they fall short of encapsulating the immensity of who God truly is.

In his thought-provoking book, How Not to Speak of God, Peter Rollins explores how even our language about God often serves to limit God. 

Rollins challenges us by stating, 

“To speak of God is to make a claim that cannot be fully realized; the paradox arises in attempting to signify that which is beyond all signification.” 

Rollins invites us to recognize that our words can only hint at the Divine and never fully represent it. Every description, metaphor, and doctrinal statement we create is stained with our human experience and perception and thus never captures the entirety of God.

This idea opens up a fascinating question: Could God prefer our attempts at understanding—even flawed ones—over the boxes we attempt to place God in? 

Perhaps God finds joy in our efforts to reach for God, even if those efforts ultimately fall short.

Indeed, the infinite nature of God means that every attempt to define God is like grasping at shadows. God is not confined to our eloquent explanations, best theological constructs, or tightly held interpretations. 

God invites us into an unfolding relationship like a dynamic lover rather than a static, boxed-in understanding. 

Additionally, when we restrict our vision to the confines of our minds, we fail to notice the Divine fingerprints on the larger canvas of existence. 

Nature, art, music, love, and genuine connecting moments with others all point to an expansive reality that cannot be contained. The stars in the night sky remind us that God’s creative force is beyond our imagination, and every beauty experience can serve as a pathway to the Divine. 

As we strive to understand God, we must grapple with the ever-present tension between our perceptions and reality. Faith is not merely about finding the correct answers; it is about embracing the mystery, the ambiguity, and the vast unknown. 

This is precisely why faith becomes a journey, an exploration rather than a destination. It invites us to tread lightly with our doctrines and beliefs and keep the spirit of inquiry alive, recognizing that our questions often lead us to a deeper understanding of God’s nature.

There can be moments of darkness in our spiritual journeys—times when God feels far away or when tragedy strikes. These experiences can challenge our established notions of who God is and how God interacts with the world. 

In these messy, untamed spaces, God often reveals Godself most profoundly. It’s not about fitting God into our boxes of understanding but allowing God to break free and redefine our perceptions.

The great challenge lies in letting go of our tightly held preconceptions and allowing space for a bigger, more inclusive view of God to fill our hearts and minds. It requires a radical mindset shift—moving from a God locked in our doctrines to one who transcends all of them. 

The awe-inspiring beauty of this journey is that the deeper we dive into the great mystery of God, the more our souls expand. 

Thinking more broadly about God invites us to appreciate the richness and complexity of faith itself. It inspires us to embrace diversity in other belief systems and recognize the goodness in the myriad ways people express their spirituality. 

This is not a call to relativism but an invitation to deepen our understanding and foster humility as we engage with others who may view God through a different lens.

So, what can we take away from this exploration? Let us carry a sense of wonder along our paths—an awareness that our understanding, while valuable, will always be limited. And let us embrace the reality that God is too big to fit into our boxes of imagination. 

May it be so, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us now and always. Amen.