Mysterious Ways – Black and White Terms – Cultural Current – Godly Pleasure – Middle of it all

For whatever the path, Mysterious Ways made me think of the INXS song Mystify Me. I like INXS and sometimes parts of songs gets stuck in my head. The genesis of this phrase (Mysterious Ways) for me was always “God works in mysterious ways.” I assume the goal was to reassure people that even though something did not make sense, it still was something that God could make happen, because He is God. If you think God cannot do something, it is either a limit of your understanding or simply something inconsistent with His nature. How to define everything inconsistent with His nature would require fully understanding His nature, so the logic loop begins.

Black and White Terms probably now has a negative political tone, but the intent was that the terms were spelled out on paper and can be reviewed by anyone. A handshake agreement might be “valid”, but if the parties remember it differently, or the parties testify so, then it was not a very solid agreement. The underlying sentiment here is that the Bible spells it out for anyone to study.

In the “Middle of it All” is the understanding that the Bible is God’s Word. If you believe that, then you rest on what the Bible says. There are of course ways to obtain salvation having never read the Bible nor any book at all. That is through the work of the Holy Spirit that can be through hearing the gospel from others, maybe the “word” of the Holy Spirit. In the middle of any good work has to be the Love of God.

Godly Pleasure. In theory, this could refer to the pleasure that God experiences or that we experience based on the gifts of God. The goal of our lives can be to experience the pleasures of this world, the pleasures of our serving others, or to give God pleasure by our actions. The pleasures of the world are fleeting, but the pull of the flesh is significant. The pleasure that can come from serving others is not bad, but if we are only doing it for ourselves, it misses the mark. Living to please God carries not only everlasting treasures, it is the one thing we can do here among sin that can help bring pleasure to ourselves and others outside a zero sum game.

Cultural Current. One of the odd things to look back on from a historical perspective is that everyone thinks the world is going downhill no matter what improvements may have been made. We have computers, but life is busier. We have televisions, but we know less of what is going on. We have food, but not everyone gets enough. The world is being led by Satan into a pool of worthlessness, and the more we learn, the more we see man without God is wretched. Following the culture leads to hell. It is a swift current carrying all those who do not resist.

God has the mysterious power to, He has spelled it out how in black and white, it is based on His love, it is to bring Himself pleasure, and He will save us from the currents around us. So stand firm on the Word of God and the power of love that supports it.