Have you seen the juggler? We’re talking here about a serious juggler. Did you ever wonder how she or he could keep so many balls in the air all at once? Amazing, isn’t it? Kudos to them. If you are one, kudos to you. “How’d they do that,” is the question. Sometimes, that’s the question we have for God: How’d God do that? How does God manage all the bits and pieces of this world? How does God manage to keep track of all the prayers that we all offer?
There’s a question that underlies this: Who is God?
If someone were to ask you who a juggler is and how they’re able to do what they do, you would probably say through practice. You might talk about eye-hand coordination, precision, natural aptitude, etc. There are several factors you could raise up to explain the feat of juggling. However, when it comes to the question, “How’d God do that?” it’s not so easy. Or, is it?
How’d God Do That?
The difference between understanding the juggler’s action and God’s is one of external and intrinsic factors. The juggler may have some internal aptitude (intrinsic factor) but would need lots of practice to perfect their art (external factor). On the other hand, God just is . . . God.
How’d God do that, attend to such a vast universe? How does God know and care about the 7, 317, 435 and growing population? When you consider that a considerable fraction of this population is offering prayers to God continually, how does God listen to each one and sort them out one from another? What about yours? Is yours reaching God through the noise of billions?
God is . . . God
If God practiced for a long time (external factor), there is no evidence of it. Indeed, God just is God and all that goes with being God (internal factor):
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:28–31).
God is from before time to beyond time. God made everything including all of us. Power and so much more belong to God. Thus, if God is God, God can “juggle” all those prayers at the same time for if God is God, God has infinite resources and capabilities. If this were not so, God would not be God.
Is this a cop out? No. It’s a recognition that the only way God could be God is to be way more than we are and could imagine. Otherwise, God would be us and that would be a problem.
Thus, the God of the universe is able to listen to all prayers and sort them all through. However, we’ll never be able to wrap our minds around it for our capacity to sort through millions and trillions is just, limited, shall we say?
Perhaps, there’s another question related to how God sorts out the different prayers of so many people and be able to hear and respond. Is God really responding when my prayers don’t seem to get anywhere? But, we’ll leave that for the next time.
In the meantime,
Get closer to God and gain a deeper understanding of who God is.
Photo credit: moise_theodor /of Pixabay.com
