Today’s Daily Bread ~ Triangle Stairs

Psalm 90:2 – Before the mountains were created, before You made the earth and the world, You are God, without beginning or end.

My son has this cute little way of latching onto things and obsessing about them.  For a long time it was toilets.  I know that sounds strange; as part of the potty-training process, we made a very big deal every time he used a “big boy potty.”  As a result, he wanted to check out the toilets everywhere we went.  “Oh mommy, this is a good potty,” he would exclaim.  Or, “I don’t like this potty.  It has blue water in it (he likes his toilets as standard as they come).”

About a month or so ago, the focus shifted from toilets to stairs (a welcome, though unusual change).  Now every time we visit someone, he wants to find (and sample) their staircase. 

Over Christmas, the kids and I took a trip up to Kansas City to visit my sisters.  My middle sister, Liz, has a stairway that curves up at the top, prompting this discovery from Nick:  “Mommy!  Look!  Aunt Liz has triangle stairs (the curvy steps at the top were, indeed, triangular in form)!”  The entire week was spent discussing triangle stairs.  “Mommy, do we have triangle stairs?  Mommy, I like triangle stairs.  Mommy, do you want to come step on the triangle stairs?  Mommy, I like Aunt Liz’s triangle stairs.”

Once we got back to Texas, I noticed something funny.  The only thing my son knows about or associates with Kansas City are those triangle stairs.  If you were to ask my son to list three things about my sisters’ hometown, he would say, “triangle stairs,” and then look at you blankly if you asked for two more.

I lived in the Kansas City area growing up, and again after college.  When someone asks me about it, I can list a dozen things instantly, right off the top of my head.  The city of fountains, the Plaza, the Chiefs, the Royals, Worlds of Fun, great jazz, fun restaurants.  And yes, now, triangle stairs.

As I picture my sweet son in my mind, I smile.  His three year old brain simply can’t comprehend the fullness of Kansas City – he’s not mature enough yet.  Just like that lump of gray matter between our ears can’t comprehend the fullness of God.  We weren’t built to do it, and we get confused and frustrated when we try.

Job’s friend Elihu reminded him of this very thing in Job 36:26 – “Look, God is exalted beyond what we can understand.  His years are without number.”  Every now and then I’ll try to ponder that.  God had no beginning.  He was never born.  There has never been a moment when God didn’t exist.  God will never cease to exist.  He has never once had a moment where He has been uncertain of the future…because He is already there.  He exists outside of time and space.  There is not one micro-millimeter in the universe that He doesn’t occupy right at this very instant.  He never has to go anywhere to get anywhere…because He is there.  David wrote, “I can never escape from Your Spirit!  I can never get away from Your Presence!  If I go up to heaven, You are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, You are there.  If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there Your hand will guide me, and Your strength will support me (Psalm 139:7-10).

We are uncomfortable with what we don’t understand.  We want explanations.  We want to know the risk reward ratio before we take a step.  We want safety nets and harnesses.  We have Plan A, Plan B and Plan C.  We would rather cling to tangible, perishable things than an invisible, eternal God.  In our attempts to define and explain Him, we look like my son, trying to explain Kansas City as simply “triangle stairs.”

I know of someone who recently had a baby.  The baby was born with health problems, and because of this, her faith is fractured.  “Why would a good God let a baby be born with these issues?” she demands.  To tell her that we live in a fallen world seems too trite, so I simply say that I don’t know. 

What I do know is this:  God is good.  He has a plan.  And in order to execute it and draw us back to Himself, He knelt down to our level, just as I do with my son, and put it in terms we could understand.  Though He was God, He did not demand and cling to His rights as God.  He made Himself nothing; He took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form.  And in human form He obediently humbled Himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8).  I don’t know exactly why some things happen.  I do know that we will never know the fullness and vastness of God this side of heaven.  I also know that Jesus went to the most extraordinary, excruciating lengths so that we might believe in Him and call upon Him to save us.  And that is enough for me.

Dear Heavenly Father, I can scarcely imagine what we must look like to You.  Can an ant describe a skyscraper?  Can a single cell comprehend the body to which it belongs?  You are so vast, and yet You look on us with so much love.  Thank You for loving us.  Often in life we’re faced with situations that cause us to question and doubt.  We know that You welcome our questions, God.  Please wrap us in Your Presence through those times, and let us hear the reassuring whispers of the Holy Spirit.  Please comfort us and minister to us.  Please remind us that You alone are able to work everything for the good of those who love You.  Help us to love You more.  Multiply our faith exponentially.  Bless us to be a blessing to others.  When we are asked the tough questions about You, give us the words You want us to speak.  We lay out our lives before You, God.  Everything we have is Yours, and it is in Your Son’s perfect, holy name that we pray.  Amen.