"Well, I can't figure out God"
About this Quote
A simple confession of mystery sits at the center of faith: God cannot be reduced to a system, a formula, or a set of predictions. Coming from Oral Roberts, a pioneering televangelist known for healing revivals, visions, and the language of seed-faith, the admission has a special charge. His ministry often spoke with bold certainty about divine action in the present, promising breakthroughs and miracles. Yet this frank line steps back to acknowledge the stubborn otherness of God, the way intention and outcome do not always line up, even in a life spent in prayer and proclamation.
Such candor stands within a deep biblical current. Job confronts questions that logic cannot resolve; the prophets insist that Gods thoughts are not our thoughts; Paul concedes that we see only in part. Roberts echoes that tradition, reminding hearers that faith lives amid partial knowledge. On one level it works as pastoral honesty: setbacks, unanswered prayers, and the unpredictable arc of events are real, and sanctified people still meet silence. On another, it pushes against a mechanistic spirituality. If seed-faith ever risked sounding transactional, this line denies that God is a vending machine. Desire, discipline, and giving matter, but they do not decode the mind of God.
The phrasing matters too. The colloquial Well suggests a man answering hard questions after much wrestling. Supporters may hear humility seasoned by decades of ministry; critics may hear evasion after spectacular claims or fraught fundraising. Both dynamics shadow Roberts legacy, and both fit the tension baked into public charismatic faith: the call to expect miracles and the obligation to admit mystery.
Taken seriously, the admission is not a retreat from belief but a way of purifying it. If God cannot be figured out, then faith becomes less about solving a problem and more about surrendering to a relationship that surpasses control, calculation, and certainty.
Such candor stands within a deep biblical current. Job confronts questions that logic cannot resolve; the prophets insist that Gods thoughts are not our thoughts; Paul concedes that we see only in part. Roberts echoes that tradition, reminding hearers that faith lives amid partial knowledge. On one level it works as pastoral honesty: setbacks, unanswered prayers, and the unpredictable arc of events are real, and sanctified people still meet silence. On another, it pushes against a mechanistic spirituality. If seed-faith ever risked sounding transactional, this line denies that God is a vending machine. Desire, discipline, and giving matter, but they do not decode the mind of God.
The phrasing matters too. The colloquial Well suggests a man answering hard questions after much wrestling. Supporters may hear humility seasoned by decades of ministry; critics may hear evasion after spectacular claims or fraught fundraising. Both dynamics shadow Roberts legacy, and both fit the tension baked into public charismatic faith: the call to expect miracles and the obligation to admit mystery.
Taken seriously, the admission is not a retreat from belief but a way of purifying it. If God cannot be figured out, then faith becomes less about solving a problem and more about surrendering to a relationship that surpasses control, calculation, and certainty.
Quote Details
| Topic | God |
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