Quotes to Chew On: Prayer and Finitude

“We pray as we live: in a sea of ambiguity. This is not because we are fallen but because we are finite. And we are inclined to forget we are finite. We ignore the ambiguity that accompanies our finitude, and thus we claim to know what we can’t know. We reduce the unfathomable complexity of the cosmos to the capacity of our finite minds. When we do this, we invariably end up blaming God or indicting victims. We align ourselves with Job’s ignorant and arrogant friends, with whom God was very angry (Job 42:7).”

“We pray best, live best and counsel best when we keep our eyes fixed on the God we know in Jesus Christ, remembering the sea of ambiguity that surrounds every square inch of this precious knowledge.”

Boyd, Gregory A., Is God to Blame? Beyond Pat Answers to the Problem of Suffering, IVP, 2003, pp. 150-151.