The Irrationality of God | WR

This article is based on episode 118 of my podcast, you can listen here.

As I journey through Isaiah in my Bible reading, I'm struck by the profound contrast between our rational world and God's seemingly irrational ways. It's so easy to get caught up in logical reasoning and allow that to lead our lives.

While I love reason and logic—something I've worked hard to develop—I've come to realize that following God can often appear irrational and illogical on the surface.

Look at the world around us—the order, mathematics, science, the building blocks of nature. When you explore quantum physics and see atoms and the structured beauty of creation, it's clear that logic, reason, science, and mathematics have an incredible place in our reality. They shape our experience, and from my perspective, God designed the world with this brilliant order.

Yet God often calls us to do things that seem out of sorts or don't make immediate sense.

The Irrational Call of Obedience

Think about the stories throughout Scripture:

Noah building an ark for years while people thought he was insane—until the flood came.

Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son—a request that defies all human understanding.

During Exodus, the Israelites marking their doors with blood—an act with no logical defense, yet it saved their children.

I'm starting to realize that much of this centers around God testing our obedience and our trust in Him. Just as parents teach their children to trust them because they possess knowledge the children don't yet have, our Heavenly Father asks us to lean into and trust Him, even when it goes against our reasoning mind.

When we aren't obedient and trusting, we risk sabotaging God's wisdom and direction. This happens because God has a view of life that we simply cannot fathom.

It's difficult to rationalize because our world teaches us to be driven by logic and reason.

But what matters most is obedience to God.

The Culture of Self vs. The Heart of Surrender

We struggle with obedience because we're sold a different story—one of freedom, individuality, and self-determination. These were things I once idolized, and American culture heavily worships self-reliance, independence, and personal freedom.

At its core, freedom can be good. America was founded partly on religious freedom—to live and worship how we want. Moses helped free his people from Egyptian rule. Freedom is woven throughout Scripture.

But obedience stands above all.

What God asked Moses to do seemed irrational and impossible. He gives His prophets messages that don't make immediate sense. We naturally doubt, fear, and question God's direction.

The thing I'm working hardest on as I dedicate my life to God is being obedient, surrendering control, trusting, and letting go of my need to rationalize everything.

God works on our hearts. He leads us from our hearts. The heart is the center. When I look at Jesus and the life He lived, His heart stands above all—so full of love and compassion.

His love for God, for humanity, and His obedience to allow God to lead His life shaped everything He did.

Jesus was incredibly obedient. Imagine all the things God asked Him to do. If He knew He would be crucified, where's the rationale in that? But that's just it—many things God calls us to do aren't rational on the surface."

The crucifixion, as brutal and horrifying as it was, became the opportunity for our salvation when Jesus rose three days later. That's what makes Easter so special.

God may ask us to do things in our lives that don't make sense, but our role is to be obedient, to let our hearts lead, and to trust that He's guiding us.

Heart Over Mind

True service and love come from our hearts, which God has placed within us. Yes, He has given us rational minds, but I've come to realize the mind is meant to be a tool that supports the heart.

God communes with us through our hearts, and when we allow Him to lead, we become more heart-centered in our service and giving.

As I go deeper in the Bible, as I pray and ask for guidance, I yearn to be of service to Him and to do His will. I want to be an instrument for His purpose because our world is so broken and backward.

I often think back to Eden, the way God created Earth at first. We were in harmony with life, walking with God in the garden, surrounded by incredible beauty and abundance. But like Adam and Eve, we take steps of rebellion, thinking we can do better on our own.

We're deceived by seeming logic and reason, just as the serpent reasoned with Eve. His words chipped away at their trust and obedience, and we're still falling into that same trap today.

The Counterintuitive Path to Freedom

Surrendering and being obedient are critical, but they're incredibly challenging in a world that tells us the opposite. The world says: Trust yourself. Follow your passion. Make money. Be successful. Be famous. Have all the things. Enjoy all the pleasures.

You don't need anyone—not family, not marriage, not God.

These messages echo around us constantly. So it's quite irrational to follow God in a world of this nature. It seems illogical to trust our Creator when so much of the world thinks that's foolish, that God is just some made-up old man in the clouds.

Reading and studying the Bible has shown me that many people don't truly understand Christianity. Those who argue against faith often haven't actually read Scripture—they're basing their opinions on what others have told them.

They're way off base when it comes to understanding the living relationship we have with our Creator.

Isaiah powerfully highlights the parallels between ancient times and today. We still haven't learned these lessons. What's fascinating in Isaiah is that God speaks through him about His displeasure with mere routines—the fake worship, the sacrifices, the festivals, checking boxes while hearts remain distant.

God knows our hearts. That's what stands out most in Scripture—He knows what lives within us, and that's where His judgment rests. Not on what we're doing externally or showing others, but where we are in our hearts.

The True Path to Fulfillment

This is truly a personal dynamic.

God influences us from within and then moves us to act in the world based on what He's prompting in our hearts. That's where the opportunity to serve, to make a difference, to be impactful comes together. It's the joy and service given to us by God when we follow Him, when we're obedient, when we allow our hearts to open and let Him lead.

He will ask us to do things that don't make sense by worldly standards. That's why obedience is so crucial.

I think we struggle with obedience because we view it almost as slavery. But I promise you what I've found: obedience to God is true freedom. It's true empowerment. What God envisions for our lives and the work He desires us to do is incredible.

There's nothing we could ever conceive on our own that would compare to the vision and power God holds.

Following Him and allowing Him to lead is the ultimate path on Earth. Jesus is the way—the pinnacle of that expression. Throughout the Bible, we see individuals who understand that following God doesn't mean losing our lives—we gain a life this world could never give us.

All this world offers is materialism, short-lived experiences, and chasing highs. I've always felt somewhat disconnected from the world's obsession with material things and money.

When I was heavily consumed by worldly pursuits, I was miserable and empty.

Now I know I was always looking for God, and He was always in my life, even when I didn't realize it. We have to open ourselves to His presence, which is subtle and often not rational.

Obedience to God is where we find our lives. It's where we find purpose, meaning, and ultimately, fulfillment—even in suffering. The Bible teaches us that following God and picking up the cross can bring suffering. It's not necessarily a path of worldly pleasures. There will be fulfillment, but it will be of the heart and spirit.

Balancing Reason and Heart

Following God challenges everything we are and everything we know—especially the rational, reasoning mind we've been taught to rely on. Many of us operate primarily through reason and logic, which have their place.

I'm not suggesting we become irrational, emotional, or unstable. But we take reasoning too far, often overruling matters of the heart and what God may be prompting us to do.

My wife is reading a book by Joyce Meyer called "Battlefield of the Mind," which talks about how we reason our way out of doing good things, of following God and being of service.

For example, if I feel prompted to give my leftovers to a homeless person, I might immediately think: "They won't want this," or "It's just leftovers," or "Maybe I'll want this later," or "They'll think it's gross."

These twenty thoughts that instantly pop up give us reasons not to act. Instead of being service-oriented and giving to that person as we felt prompted to do, we reason our way out and miss that opportunity for service.

These are moments of obedience—opportunities to serve from the heart that God is prompting us toward. They're subtle, and we can easily override them with reason and logic.

That's why it's so important that we start to recognize these patterns.

We should use reason and logic in their proper place, but God will call us to do things that aren't rational or reasonable in the moment because He sees things we don't. He desires to use us as instruments of service in the world so we can be His hands and feet.

We are the body of Christ, and God uses us.

That's the incredible opportunity we have—to be of service by following Him and surrendering our reason and logic to allow Him to lead our hearts.

Some people, especially those scientifically oriented, might dismiss these ideas and call me a kook. Frankly, I don't care anymore because I've found that God is the most fulfilling presence we can have in our lives.

He's wonderful and brings such joy. The pleasure we experience from God is incredible—the beauty, the poetry, the love is everywhere.

God is abundant in His glory, His giving, and His wonder.

He surrounds us.

We just need to open our hearts to Him and allow Him to lead us, even when His call seems irrational.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, guide our lives that we may be instruments of Your will. Help us trust You with our whole hearts and allow reason and logic to sit in their proper place while You lead our lives.

Help us be of service, knowing when to take action, when to help, and when to simply trust and follow the prompts You give us.

We pray for obedience to You and Your will. May we trust and follow You, becoming loving instruments of Your will on this earth, continuing to fulfill what Christ has done for us as the body of Christ.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Thank you for reading.

If you found this post helpful, please consider sharing it with a friend or family member.