It Is Dangerous To Go To Church (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2)

"It is dangerous to go to church. Be on your guard when you get near a church, for there are some terrible things that can happen to you there."[1]

"Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few." - Ecclesiastes 5:1-2

There is a terrible danger of presumption in any conversation with God. We don't have a lot of experience dealing with infinite, almighty deity and so we assume that we should treat God like some other relationship that we have. Even our vocabulary is limited to words such as lord and king and master and patron that we would apply to powerful people in society because there just isn't a category in which to place God. Or, in a more democratic vein, we borrow from the language of family and relationship, father and brother and friend.  These are all good, but they mask the fact that our relationship with God is unlike any other: "God is in heaven and you are on earth."

So these titles, rather than being avenues of understanding into the character and nature of God actually mask his face, hidden behind the platitudes and wisdom and cultural baggage that is also attached to those names. We feel that we know him. We think have a handle on what he wants. Knowing that, we avoid his displeasure and try (covertly, so as to never reveal even to ourselves what we are doing) to gain our desired outcome. The face of God has come to look, surprisingly, a lot like our own.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:9

One might understand the basics of God's character, but it is a great presumption to know how that character works itself out in divine action because we cannot follow the calculus of his mind, the dept of his compassion or the resources at his disposal. Trying to memorize the facts about God is a dangerous business, because, though his character may be unchanging, his actions are ever his own; dynamic, varied, surprising and vast. He acts at his own discretion and does not need to explain himself to you or me.

We only know that God is good, he is powerful and that he cares deeply for us. The rest is really up to Him.

[1] Peterson, Eugene H.. Every Step an Arrival (p. 153). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.