![]() There will always be more of His wisdom to understand, more of His power, more of His holiness, more of His love. Indeed, through His own gracious revelation of Himself, we can understand God in part, but we can never fully comprehend Him, or even a single one of His qualities. In The Heavens: Intimate Moments with Your Majestic God, Kevin Hartnett grapples with what understanding beyond measure looks like: “Beyond measure” is a tough concept to grasp. He never discovers anything, he is never surprised, never amazed.” Tozer says, “Because God knows all things perfectly, he knows no thing better than any other thing, but all things equally well. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power his understanding is beyond measure. Read chapter 38 to see God’s powerful response to Job. Elsewhere, God speaks in a whisper (1 Kings 19:11–13).” This description again anticipates God’s response in chapter 38, where God speaks from a whirlwind. The FSB also comments on the phrase, “how small a whisper,” stating, “The mighty thunder and wind is only a whisper to God. Here, Job’s description of God’s majestic power anticipates God’s speech in chapter 38.” In the first layer of the FSB we read, “These mighty acts of God give only a glimpse of His power. ![]() Job 26:14īehold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand? ( see whole passage). We don’t know what God is thinking, so how can we say that he’s not thinking about us? 3. Since God’s ways are unknowable, how can they make such a claim?” It states, “The focus on God as Creator and totally ‘other’ than His creation answers the statements of v. The FSB says that the phrase “creator of the ends of the earth” points back to Isaiah 40:27. He does not faint or grow weary his understanding is unsearchable. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. But we can ask him questions and pray that he points us to something we can understand. We can’t possibly hope to understand what God’s thinking, because his thoughts transcend our own. ( click to tweet).Ī pastor recently shared with me, “When things don’t go our way, we ask ‘Why, God, why?’ What we should be asking is ‘What, God, what?’ What is he trying to show us?” We serve a God that thinks about our lives, our world, and his creation on a completely different level than even the smartest human has the capacity to think. We don’t have all the answers and we don’t know the plan. Sometimes it’s discouraging to recognize that we don’t know what God’s thinking. His nature as uncreated and separate from His creation is a fundamental concept distinguishing a biblical understanding of God from other philosophical or religious theories, such as pantheism or monism. God’s transcendence places Him beyond the limits of time and space. The immanent nature is intimately present with people and among people. The transcendent nature is not like people and infinitely above people. The biblical portrait of God develops both transcendent and immanent aspects of His nature. We can dig into the second layer of notes to read: With three layers of study notes, the FSB lets us take an even closer look at this passage. Because God is holy (Leviticus 19:2), we are to strive to reach the higher and nobler ideals of his thoughts and ways, as expressed by the command to ‘be holy.'” God is infinitely different from us in His thoughts and ways. His nature and plan are infinitely beyond human understanding. ![]() The Faithlife Study Bible (available free) says verse eight is “a direct statement about God’s transcendence. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8–9įor my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. Here are some of the ways the Bible helps us understand our awe-some God: 1. When Scripture tells us about the power, wisdom, and eternal nature of God, how else could we describe him? These words express the upper limit of our ability to understand power, wisdom, and time. If a word means “all encompassing,” it’s probably been used to talk about God. He is all-powerful, all-present, and all-knowing. We use a lot of big words when we talk about God. ![]() Facebook Twitter Reddit Pinterest Email LinkedIn
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |