Steam

As I left the house this morning, I saw a strange thing.  I saw steam rising up from the roof of two houses across the street from me.  Nowhere else.  Now, I remember enough about high school chemistry to know steam is water in gaseous form; it is normal on hot afternoons after a rain for steam to come up from the asphalt as the heat of the surface essentially boils the water that hits it.  But this was morning time — warm, but not unbearably hot.  And it was just the two houses, as far as I could tell.  (I’m virtually certain the houses were not on fire, in case you were wondering.  The thought did cross my mind, though.)

I am confident there is a completely rational explanation.    And sometimes my impulse in such situations is to search high and low to find it.  But sometimes, like this time, I simply smile in wonder at the constant mysteries of life, confident I will never understand them all, content in my ignorance and my faith.

I’m a bit more motivated than that with regard to Bible study.  And rightly so — it is “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16).  But when a moment (or an hour, or a week) of study does not satisfy my mind with regard to a particular section of text, I do not become discouraged.  Quite the opposite.  I become reverent.  I realize my own insignificance and God’s greatness.  Perhaps the truth eludes me because I am not worthy of it.  Or not yet worthy.

While I strive further and dig deeper, I try to remember Job’s words in Job 42:2-4.  “Things too wonderful for me” are just as faith-building as the things I understand.  So I thank God for both.