Teaching Bible to eighth grade students in a Christian school academic environment is both invigorating and humbling. One year, in particular, I called on God to give me wisdom for a specific purpose. My students had been bombarding me with many questions about God that cannot be answered or fully understood from a limited, human standpoint. I wanted to know how to explain to those precious teens that the questions are great, but the fact we cannot fully know the answers is okay. In fact, the mysteries of God only point to his infinitude, omniscience, and holiness. (Infinitude – the quality of being without boundaries; omniscience – having all knowledge; holiness – perfection, morally and otherwise.)
God delivered to me a unique illustration perfect for an eighth grade audience; as it turns out, however, the illustration is appropriate for all ages. This analogy is affectionately known as “the Pea-Watermelon Concept.”
Picture, if you will, the hugest, greenest watermelon you have ever seen resting on a table. Then imagine a tiny green pea resting right beside the watermelon – so closely that the little pea is touching the bottom of the gargantuan fruit. Now if that little pea had eyes and could see, how much of the huge watermelon would he be able to see? Just a few square inches. He would certainly never hope to be able to see the sides, or back, or top of that large fruit. However, if the watermelon had eyes and could see, how much of the tiny pea could he view? Well, he would be able to look down and see the top of the pea, the sides, the bottom, the back – everything! The watermelon is so large he is not limited in his ability to grasp a clear view of that tiny pea.
When it comes to life, we are the litte pea resting beside the massive watermelon; we are finite. How much of God can we see and know? Just a few square inches – about the size of a Bible. That is all God has chosen to reveal to the human race, flawed and limited as we are. Contained in His written revelation to us is all we need to know and is, in fact, all we can handle in our limited, sinful condition.
God is represented by the huge watermelon; he is infinite and omniscient. How much of us can he see and know? Everything – from start to finish! He sees our life now, he knew us before we came into physical existence, and He knows how all will turn out. God is not bound by time; He is timeless. “In the beginning God created the heavens and earth” (Genesis 1:1). This “beginning” was the beginning of time. God created time, and He certainly sees all for all time. He is working out purposes that we cannot even grasp because of our limitations. We can, therefore, trust that God is working on our behalf when we trust in Him. He is, in fact, working on behalf of the entire universe even though most do not trust in Him. Our inability to answer the “tough” questions points to the fact that we are limited and God is not.
I have often said to inquisitive people, “I would not want a God for whom I could dictate all the answers for the questions surrounding Him; if I could do that, God would be so small that my mind could wrap itself around His.” No, I would rather trust and serve a God so much bigger than me that I am proud to say, “He knows what I cannot. I will rest in His greatness. I will be thankful for His infinitude and omniscience.”
When questions come and life gets tough, remember the Pea-Watermelon Concept. Pray and seek the face and the Word of the One who is infinitely bigger than us!