Daily Word of Grace # 250 (May 27, 2021)
One of the greatest science fiction novels of all time is Frank Herbert’s 1965 masterpiece Dune—a story not only replete with action but also philosophical, psychological, political, and theological insights, including this one: “Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic” (604). This brilliant insight is certainly biblical. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah put it this way: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). When it comes to salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul takes this idea even further: “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart’…God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Corinthians 1:18-19, 25). This brings reassurance to our “pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense” because like “the real universe” the thoughts, ways, and wisdom of God are always at least “one step beyond logic.”
Love and Prayers,
Dave