Recently my daughter and I decided we would hike to the brow of a local view point, Shining Tor. It is believed to be the highest point in Cheshire East and stands at 1834ft. Our plan was to sit and watch the sunrise having reached the top in the dark. This meant scrambling out of bed at 04:30 to give us time to get into the area and set off.
Most of the way up we accepted visibility was poor because it was dark. After thirty minutes we were in clouds or rain, call it what you will, it was wet. Finding the trig point we took a couple of blurred pictures and even made a short video with sound effects provided by the wind. A brief coffee from the thermos flask and we set off back down. All that way and the sun did rise but we only knew this because the cloud became lighter. By the time we reached the car we could see Shining Tor, shining in fact from the glint of sunlight now piercing the parting clouds. It was as though whilst up there we sensed the vastness but couldn’t see it yet from a distance we saw more shape but were too distant to make out the detail.
The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth describing our partial knowledge of God. Think about it, we can never totally know another person. We know what we see and hear and we sense a person’s love but much of it is on the surface or obscured by life’s pleasure or pain. Paul the apostle uses the phrase, ‘For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.’
On my walk up and down Shining Tor visibility came and went, one minute I thought I could see it all, the next nothing. I never doubted the hill was there but I had no crystal clear picture. It may be that is how we see God, just as Paul says, ‘…through a glass,darkly….’ In faith we hold on to the promise that one day we will see God face to face. Our partial or fragmented understanding of God will become complete.
It is very much like a jigsaw puzzle, yet this one is so big that it will take a lifetime to put together. For some that may be 100 years for others less but one day no cloud will obscure our vision of God. One day we will know God as God knows us. Until then remember the clouds may obscure but they do not remove what stands behind them!
Rob Wykes 