As Plain as the Nose on My Face*

I read today about a God who smells “a sweet aroma” and speaks, “The LORD said…”  This is a wonderful solidarity we share with Him.  His senses are mirrored in us, we share the same traits of smelling, speaking, and hearing. Sharing the same senses offers me a feeling of sameness with Him, a sameness of image and shared ways in which we derive meaning, create relationships, share information, and come to know and be known.  This being known by God is so important to me, and to be known in many of the same ways as I come to know.  It is how we know Him when we smell a newborn baby or a rose and are moved to praise Him.  We are coming to know Him in that He conceives and makes things to have an aroma and us to have a nose to know it (pun not intended).  I apply what I smell to my list of reasons why I should praise Him, acknowledge Him, and delight in Him.  It is this sharing of senses and sense data that we have in common that gives us both ways in which to know and be known by each other.  He is not God somewhere out there but God with me, for me, able to be known and able to know.  Such a wonderful gift, my God can be known by me. He makes a way, which means, above all else, He wants to know me and me to know Him.  It’s as plain as the nose on my face.

*On reading Leviticus 

As plain as three noses on three faces.  On a short hike in the smokies.