The tension, as Søren Kierkegaard wrote, is that “life can only be understood backward; but it must be lived forward.” The under- standing that we gain by looking back on life is invaluable (which we will explore later on in this book), but it will not answer all our questions regarding our intended future.
It is my intent to lessen the burden and pressure we place on ourselves for understanding or clarity. Mystery is something to be embraced, journeyed through, and enjoyed. It’s not that mystery can never be explained but rather that mystery unfolds—not all at once, but a little at a time.
“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?’” (Rom. 11:33–34). God is not a little confused or in the dark. He knows what is going on, who you are, and why you are here at this time in His story. We must believe that God knows what He is after with us.
In the midst of mystery it is helpful to remember that “the best is perhaps what we understand least.”3 There is more to you than you know. What is most glorious about you is yet to be fully revealed. Your life has a depth and purpose that cannot be revealed in a moment in time; it must be journeyed into with one discovery leading into the next.
The English writer Jonathan Swift said, “It is, in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not of.” Though mystery shrouds the glory of our lives, it is there. Mystery must be mined, one shovelful at a time, and with careful inspection of each collection. It is easy to overlook gold when your eye is not trained for the unpolished mineral.
