A guy walking the beach in California sees something sticking out of the sand. He pulls it out to discover a lamp. As he’s wiping off the sand, a genie pops out: “For freeing me, I’ll grant you any one wish.”
Still astonished, the man looks out across the Pacific Ocean and says, “you know, I was just thinking that I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii, but I’m afraid to fly. Can you build me a bridge from here to Hawaii?”
The genie says to him, “you want me to build a bridge thousands of miles across the deepest part of the ocean - do you know what that would take? Is there anything else you might possibly wish for?”
So the man thinks a minute and says, “well, OK. Even though I’m not young any more, and I’ve been for married many years, I still don’t understand women. Can you help me understand women?”
The genie replies, “so, about that bridge, do you want two lanes or four?...”
So much of life is a mystery to us. But we don’t have to wonder about some things.
The Bible says,
“He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. Eph 1:7-9 NLT
God in His kindness gives all kinds of wisdom and understanding, and in abundance, as in overflowing. "God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries"(Dan 2:47 NAS).
You want to know the real mystery in this life?
God knows everything you’ve ever done wrong, every thought, every careless word, every unkind act – and He loves you so much, that He sent His Son to die for you and for me, so that we could be part of His family.
Being sinful and separated from Him, deserving nothing but eternal condemnation, we might be chosen by Him, forgiven and set free by Him, that we might be remade in His image – and instead of being ridiculed and rejected, we would demonstrate to a willfully disbelieving world the praise of His glory who would do such a thing - even for ones like us.
Many things in this life will remain a mystery. Jesus need not be one of them.