This saying has been repeated so many times that to Westerners it almost seems like a joke. The traditional Eastern use of this type of saying is to stop hyperactive calculative thought dead in its tracks so that intuitive wisdom, which tends to be like 'fuzzy' logic, can have a chance. Have you heard people compare the brain to a muscle, saying that you have to exercise it? Well what about muscle spasms like hiccups? To stop the hyperactivity you must hold the muscle still for a period of time. When it seems like the mental wheels are just spinning and not getting any traction, not getting anywhere, perhaps the thinking needs to be held still!
But it occurs to me that there is another valuable use for this line, one that does have meaning. It is this-- One hand needs the other in order to clap. Obvious, eh?
Trying to envision one hand clapping without the other might be like trying to envision children without parents. A child NEEDS a parent! And the parent, in order to BE a parent, needs a child. If God has birthed us to be his divine children, if we are indeed to be divine spiritual offspring of the one and only God, then we need our spiritual father!
While a painting is being painted, doesn't it need the artist, until it is finished?
Look at the complimentary nature of, well, nature! From very young we are taught about the 'circle of life'. This interdependency means that none of us is an island. None of us is completely self-sufficient. We need each other just as surely as predators need prey, as surely as fresh water requires weather changes.
None of us can adequately describe God. God is ineffable, indescribable. (*See my note below.) But I think it is a useful exercise to think of God as a 'God-of-the-gaps'. We don't know how anything will turn out, how we will be able to handle whatever situation in front of us. But amazingly we seem to muddle through. It turns out that we had the courage to endure, that we discovered how we could make it through whatever hardship. And somehow we made it to what seems to be a little oasis of peace. I think that God made up that gap between what we can normally accomplish and what we find, by surprise, that we can accomplish!
*NOTES:
When I used the phrase 'God-of-the-gaps' above I was not talking about ID (Intelligent Design), nor was I trying to prove the existence of God. It is not a scientific proof of anything. But as an analogy I feel it can be used to poetically describe a facet of our existence.
We can only talk about WHO God is by examples of what he has done, and similarly we can only describe God in terms of attributes like love, grace, power, patience, etc. The view that I present above is really not a look at God directly (because that is impossible for us) but a look at his grace. God's grace fills our 'gaps'-- it is sufficient.
2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV - And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
A criticism that some sling at people of faith is that their faith is a 'crutch' just to help them get by in life. OK, what if I don't dispute that? Is there any shame in a child needing his parent?
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