I play God whenever I impact some one or some thing that they don’t understand.

Like the spider and her nest in the woodpile that I move. Or the critters in my barn when I turn on and off the lights. Or the bugs in my yard when I mow the lawn. Or the bacteria in my armpit when I spray deodorant. Or the birds at my bird feeder who watch me fill it whenever I like, or not.

In this way, all things in the universe play God with each other.

When something happens to me that I don’t understand I bring myself peace by calling it “an act of God.” Things un-understandable are acts of God but not necessarily a single, separate God.

Someone might think, “It’s so frustrating; I don’t understand God.” This typically implies that there is a God, a single thing over there, that actually can be understood.

I would say it differently, “It’s so wonderful, God is that which cannot be understood.” Perhaps “unable to understand” is the very thing that defines God. God is what is left in stark relief to what I know.

God is not a single thing, over there, understandable. Rather God is all things. God is us, interacting with each other. In this way all things are connected. God is nature.

Nature is not the single hand of God pulling levers and turning switches. Nature is the zillions hands of all of us (animals, plants, bacteria, fungi, chemicals, rocks) going about our business and impacting each other. I am part of nature. I play God too. A very small part. Usually unknowingly.

That God cannot be understood is not a reason to give up on God, not believe in God, or not worship God. Quite the contrary. That God cannot be understood is in fact the very reason to worship and honor God.

We humans have come to worship what we know, and presume to know, way too much. We would do well to worship that which we do not know. We would do well to not be so arrogant about what we think we know and be much more humble and respectful of that which we do not know, or understand.