The Balcony and the Road

In this essay, I implored you to not make the mistake of thinking you can reason your way to God. I needed to say so because, as humans, we are easily discouraged when we are not able to advance our understanding of a thing by reasoning through it.

When thinking about God, it can often feel like the mind is stuck in a sort of traffic with no hope of movement. If this feels familiar to you, you are in the right place.

Recently, I had the good fortune of obtaining a vintage copy of John Mackay’s A Preface to Christian Theology. In this magnificent book, Mackay illustrates two types of people who are interested in knowing God. He uses symbols to characterize, specifically, the state of mind at work in these two people.

One is called the Balcony, and the other is the Road.

Before we explore the meaning of these symbols, let us begin with some basics.

God is inscrutable.

Our problem with knowing God begins with our failure to comprehend this fact. God, unlike every perceptible thing in the universe, is beyond the reach of our capacity to interrogate objects and ideas with our minds.

We are able to study the universe, conduct experiments on it, and reach conclusions based on the findings of those tests. But with God, we can not hope to achieve any robust understanding by such reasoning or experimentation. In the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, God makes it clear:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts…”

— Isaiah 55:8 [NIV]

When it comes to knowing God, many people complain about failing to grasp anything substantial. You might be one of them. You might have even accused God of being non-existent or guilty of the crime of “divine hiddenness.” If this is you, it might be more fruitful for you to examine the condition of your heart in your attempt to know God.

The condition of the heart is paramount in knowing God. Mackay describes this well. To me, it is the best description of one’s attitude to God that I have ever come across. Let me try to illustrate in my own words:

Imagine an urban Spanish house with a high front balcony overlooking the road. You see a person on the balcony observing the road. You see another person on the road walking, stopping, and maybe asking strangers for directions. Let us call the person on the balcony the ‘Balcony guy’ and the one on the road the ‘Road man.’

The Balcony guy talks with others on the balcony about various elements of the road. He studies it and comments on the state, history, diverging paths, and other things that can be observed about the road. Generally, his interest in the road is limited to his fascination with it. His aim is to reason and explain what he can see.

In all his efforts, the Balcony guy does not seek to be on the road himself. He is either hesitant or unwilling to engage with the realities of the journey. He may have a knack for intellectual discussion, but after all is said and done, he is just a spectator. He has no skin in the game. He deals in ideas and theories about the road, but his life is divorced from the practicalities of being on it.

This type of person will never know God.

Hard as he may try, he is hopeless from the start. As Mackay puts it:

“If the seeker is moved primarily by curiosity; if he believes that truth about God and man and life can be obtained by his regarding these realities as so many objects of study; if he strives throughout his quest to maintain a severely detached attitude, never allowing himself to make an irretrievable commitment in favor of anything that shall appear to him to be true, the resultant viewpoint will be spiritually blurred.”¹

You will fail to understand anything about God if you start with the wrong bearings.

If you are motivated by your self-interest, if you think you should be able to know, or that you deserve to know, simply because you are asking the question, your search for God will be futile.

Even if your interest in God extends beyond mere curiosity; for instance, if you find yourself in dire straits, hoping for the intervention of a supernatural power, and you are motivated only by a desire for God to reveal Himself as a solution to your problem, you will not know much either.

It is possible, though, to know a thing or two about God by reading your Bible or experiencing a miracle. But as a human being, even you would agree there is a big difference between someone who knows a thing or two about you versus someone who knows you.

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” — Matthew. 5:8 [KJV]

Your heart is where the issue is, because that is where your motives lie. It is not about what you say or do; it is about why.

Let us turn our attention to the Road man. This is a man who starts his journey not because he is curious, but because he is concerned.

You might ask: “What is he concerned about?” This is it:

He is concerned about being right with God.

This is a man who is pure in heart. He does not seek God because he is inquisitive or desperate. Instead, he is driven by a need to set himself right with God. He wants to live his life according to God’s will. He wants to know God’s true purpose and calling upon his life.

To this end, he makes a decision. He decides that he will search for God — the only one who can show him the way. His concern for righteousness forces a commitment, and it is his commitment that sets him on the Road.

He lives his life on the Road, where he runs into real problems. Unlike the Balcony guy, his problems are not theoretical. On the Road, he needs to decide which way to go. He has no use for fruitless debate. He is a man of action. His journey brings him face-to-face with practical questions, and sometimes, those questions are too difficult to answer.

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” — Psalm 32:8 [ESV]

God sees him on the Road and meets him there. At different stops, he discovers the answer to a difficult problem, a new route, or a fresh insight, and he begins to understand God. Over time, his knowledge of God reaches depths that would never have been possible if he had only sought intellectual stimulation or waited for a supernatural encounter.

For this man, his experience of God will be hard to put into words, but he will know, within himself, that he has tasted God.

Many of us, Christians or not, live on the Balcony. We theorize and proselytize about God, but we have not made a decision. We are not on the Road.

You do not need to guess where you are; you only need to look into your heart.

The Road requires what Mackay describes as an “irretrievable commitment.” A will to know, and be known by God. It is not easy and it is not meant to be. But if you choose the Road, you will find something reassuring. That is:

Knowing God is not reserved for a special kind of person. It is a gift that is available to you if you would only seek Him with the right intention.

1. John A. Mackay, A Preface to Christian Theology (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941) 28.