Day 76 – God Incomprehensible
Brother Lawrence told us how to know God who is incomprehensible: “We must admit that God is incomprehensible, and that to be united with him we must deprive the will of all sorts of spiritual and physical satisfactions so that, being thereby set free, it can love God above all things. If the will can in some respect comprehend God, it can do so only by love.”
To say God is incomprehensible is to say God is beyond us. No one can have a complete or exhaustive knowledge of God.
As finite persons, we can grasp the infinite God. But as finite persons, we can never fully hold the infinite God within our grasp.
We cannot contain the infinite God just like an infinite object cannot be squeezed into a finite space. We cannot grasp the totality of God just like we cannot contain the entire oceans in our mouth. More of God can always be apprehended.
While serving on our district licensing and ordaining committee, and asking pastoral candidates a multitude of biblical and theological questions, often someone on the committee will remind a candidate of Deuteronomy 29:29. “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”
The good news is that God has chosen to reveal himself to us through creation and especially and specifically through Christ and his Word, which are made alive to us by his Spirit.
The knowledge God gives us of himself through his special revelation is both real and transformative. If God had not showed and explained himself to us, we would have no way of finding him or knowing him.
Yet we can know God to the degree that he has chosen to reveal himself – which is immense – and to the degree we seek after him – which is what Brother Lawrence invites us to experience.
Wonder of wonders, God has revealed himself to us! He has spoken to us in his Word and in Christ. God makes himself known to us! He shows us what he is like! He is the one who initiates relationships with the people he created.
Plus, we know God not just through information in our heads, but through love in our hearts.
Honestly, we often seek to satisfy our desires with many lesser attractions. Yet God himself is the greatest love and to that end we must set our affections and will. This God incomprehensible – he can and wants to be known and loved!
Action Step: Take a few moments to worship our God incomprehensible who can be known and loved.
This is God’s Word for you today,
Pastor Dave
