"Humans and the understanding of the gods"

There are very few people I know who hasn't at one point or another found Greek mythology fascinating, or at least some of the creatures that have come out of the imagination of old Greek bards. Sometimes I find myself amazed by how much our culture is influenced by ancient cultures that have all but died, but that is trailing from my point.

Tonight I was thinking about how so many stories in Greek mythology that involve interaction between humanity and the gods are totally bizarre. In said stories, the deities crave worship from humans, but ultimately do not understand humans. They toy with them, trick them, fall in love with them, seek to do good for them and screw things up, or just choose to kill them. Whats interesting is that it is the fault of the "gods" that man advanced in knowledge at all. A single deity comes forth and give man the knowledge of fire, and the rest is "history" (lol).

As a Christian, I have a very different perspective on the interaction between God (note singularity) and humanity, or at least...I should.

I think it's fascinating how many times worship leaders take the time to make sure people know that "Jesus understands all of [their] pain. He's been through it all!", and yet it seems like it never really gets through to anyone. There minds and hearts are split saying that God understands, but in practicality living and praying as if He doesn't.

How is it exactly that God understands everything that we are going through? I mean, last time I checked, Jesus wasn't exactly suffering from AIDS and he didn't ever get His arm chopped off; He never had Multiple Personality Disorder. So does that statement that worship leaders make so often really hold water? For most...yes. For the shallow or spiritually immature...yes. For the normal person who grew up in church...yes. For the new believer...yes. For the "christian" that wants God to bless Him/Her and to "bring forth their harvest and just let the river of blessings flow" right into their bank account...absolutely. But for the over analytical and critical Christian like myself...not really.

Many like me would probably think "how could Jesus possibly relate to me...a young adult in the 21 century (that is what century it is right?!?!?!) in America? Well there is a simple answer to that...He's God. Duh right? We have a tendency to forget what that means I think. It means...

1. He's all-knowing
2. He's all-powerful
3. He's all-present
4. He created us.

All these are huge! But lets just focus on a couple. God knows everything, everywhere, at all times....even if it hasn't happened yet. He didn't have to be incarnated now to understand "now", but instead He understood "now" before He ever was incarnated into humanity. Why? He's God. He CREATED us. There is not a single shred of DNA, psychology, or spirituality that He does not understand because He designed it! He knows what pain is because He designed our bodies that way. He know what does what to us and how each thing affects us. He knows what we can handle and what we can't. He created us. God understands...and in His love He able to sympathize with our pain. He is not surprised by it or shocked when we cry out to Him about it, because He is fully present with us in it.

He is a God who sees. He is a God that allows us to experience darkness and pain, knowing that in the end greater things will come about. It's comforting to know that we serve a God that doesn't interact with us or relate to us as those of the Greek thought.