G_d works in mysterious ways – my thoughts

G_d works in mysterious ways. While, by definition, there’s no sure way to know what G_d does because it’s shrouded in secrecy beyond our understanding, we can theorize. To some, such theorizing is an example of a glaring hutzpah. Still, G_d has given us sentience to ask questions and be curious. In principle, we could say G_d works in mysterious ways by working through people and situations to achieve a desired sequence of events. What we call working in mysterious ways is a self-aware infinity seeing the whole picture of life and moving the chess pieces on the great board of life to achieve a desired configuration.

Does it mean we’re all pawns on G_d’s grand chessboard? I’d say yes and no. I also don’t believe we can fully grasp that contradiction.

Even writing G_d is interesting to me. Tradition? Fear of offending the Lord for using His name in vain? The question of using the Lord’s name in vain is a tricky one. For example, is using G_d’s name in this blog post using His name in vain? Gets complex or maybe needlessly so. Does G_d really get offended by spelling out every letter of His name (of which there are many, as we know)?

(Psalm 83:1) asks the Lord to humiliate and embarrass Israel’s enemies (Psalm 83:4–8), in hopes they will turn to God. To me, that’s another example of G_d working in mysterious ways. And who better to do such thought reform of the enemy than the Lord? Why? Here’s my reasoning.

To me, G_d is the only being capable of seeing two perspectives completely impartially. Just as with observers influencing experiments, we all have biases. So, when you judge someone, watch someone, you put that person through your prism. Your experiences. There’s no way around it because we wouldn’t be conscious otherwise. You can’t be conscious of your existence and be without bias. That’s why even seasoned observers of other cultures who know how to blend in really well acknowledge they’re always going to have their own biases, conscious or not. We can never truly grasp how another person sees the world because of our own bias. We can come close, sure, but never be truly there in another’s shoes.

Except for G_d who can remove Himself from the bias equation completely and see people exactly as they are and why they are the way they are. By that logic, G_d is, indeed, the perfect judge because there’s no place for bias, certainly not in out limited understanding. G_d is also the perfect punisher and, by extension, the perfect reformer of the enemy, the wicked, and so on. No expert interrogator comes close. To me, the Lord works between the lines, in silence, in ways we can’t see. We only see the results of the divine intervention.

One could argue the Chinese psychic who felt offended by my alleged rudeness some years ago (calling the psychic fake) and ingratitude and who foretold my alleged punitive reincarnation with my memories intact – but in a dramatically different cultural context as a Jewish girl on some other, yet similar, Earth – that the psychic was being used as an instrument by G_d to relay the message. I guess I’ll find out, eventually. The psychic sure had a sense of humor when talking about having the ”womanly virtues” forcefully drilled into someone.

Religious texts show us that G_d has many faces, so to speak. Cruelty, compassion, capriciousness, mercy, malevolence, ad infinitum, as a matter of fact. So, why is there evil in the world? Well, why wouldn’t there be? Evil, as well as all the other names we use to interpret our inner and outer world, exists because G_d is infinite. By denying the existence of evil, or our understanding of evil, G_d would no longer be infinite. As such, the Creator would lose His omnipotent status, thereby denying divinity. ”Why does evil exist?” I’m sorry, but such questions are asinine in that context. Do we have free will, then? Well, let’s see.

Jesus knew He was about to be crucified, correct? He had orchestrated it, in fact. The ones involved in the drama, one could argue, were used by Jesus as pawns, yet they thought that they had free will and acted on their own. To me, that’s an example of G_d working in mysterious ways: we’re given free will, yet, ultimately, we end up where the Lord wants us to, no matter which of endless paths we take.  How did Jesus know all the puzzle pieces? That only shows yet another example of G_d working in mysterious ways.