Day 19 ~ Our Limitless God!

by | Jan 19, 2015

melting gold“The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains” – Isaiah 40:19

Yesterday I left you with the question, “What is the problem with an incorrect view of God?” Immediately you might have thought.

 

  • It causes us to become prideful
  • It leads us to make foolish decisions
  • It lowers our trust in God and causes us to depend on our own understanding
  • We start “preparing a highway for ourselves”

These are all true……but why?

The root problem with an incorrect view of God is that it is idolatry!

“Wait a second! It’s WHAT! How so?”

“Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilized people are therefore free from it. The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.”

– A.W. Tozer

If my view of God is incorrect, I have a “false image” of God. Therefore, the god in my heart and mind is a false god because it isn’t the same as the real God.

“The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is…and surprised girlsubstitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness”– A.W. Tozer

……you should probably blink or breathe or do something! Don’t just keep staring with your mouth hanging open like that. I know it’s a shocking statement but completely true if we are honest about it.

So what do we do? How do we make sure our view of God is %100 accurate?

Think about this first. How would you describe God to an uninformed inquisitor? Would you explain what He looks like and what kind of personality He has? Would you speak in detail of all that He has done or explain His character and attributes? Would you speak from gathered information and personal experience of knowing Him?

Let’s say you spend hours, even days pouring out anything and everything you can think of in an attempt to describe God to our little friend who knows absolutely nothing about God. When you are finished, to what extent do you think our friend would comprehend God? Maybe 20%??? How about 50% or 85%?? To this, your answer would probably be, “I’m not sure we can really measure our understanding of God.” And I would agree, but this begs the question, “Why not?”

canyonTo measure our understanding of God, would suggest that there is a point where there is a total understanding of God – 100%. But God is not comprehensible. Have you ever tried to imagine the concept of eternity? Can’t do it, can you? It doesn’t matter how much you study eternity your mind simply cannot comprehend it. You see, to measure something is to put a limit to it. God has measured the universe (see verse 12) therefore it has a limit. But God has no limit and therefore cannot be measured.

Now imagine trying to explain to someone what it’s like to eat an apple pie. Except this person only has the sense of hearing. They can’t see, smell, taste, or feel…only hear. What would you do to explain this to them? Would you give them a bite? They can’t taste! Would you have them smell it? They can’t smell! You could try to describe it to them because at least they can hear. But what would you say? Would you tell them what it looks like? The color, the flavor, the texture, etc. They’ve never seen color!  They can’t see and therefore have nothing to compare it to! Kind of tricky right? Why? Because their level of understanding is so limited.

It’s the same with us. We are so limited in our understanding. There is so much about God that even if He were to clearly explain it to us, we simply could not comprehend it. We are like the poor guy with only one of the five senses. We are limited by time and dimensions. We can only be one place at a time, see through one pair of eyes, think one thought at a time, and know only what has been taught us. None of this is true about God and if He were to explain what it’s like to be omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, etc. it simply would not compute in our pea-sized little brains!

Still wondering how to get a correct view of God? Find out what God does tell us about Himself and choose to believe it.

night sky

When God says that His name is “I AM” don’t try to make sense of it, just believe it and worship Him.

When God says He caused the shadow to turn back ten steps and the sun to stand still for a day, don’t try to understand it; just believe it and Worship Him.

When God says “My thoughts are not your thoughts and My ways are not your ways” don’t try to guess His thoughts or His ways, just believe it and worship Him.

When He says He calls the stars by name, don’t wonder what He named them all, just believe it and worship Him.

When Jesus says “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” just believe it and worship Him!

When God is so huge in your mind that you can’t even think straight, just stop and worship Him!!

When our lives are marked by a continual worship of the majesty and grandeur and holiness of our God, then we will have a correct view of our Mighty King and idolatry will not be present within us!

– Kevin Boyes

P.S. Those A.W. Tozer quotes come from His book Knowledge of the Holy. If you want to be blown away with a bigger perspective of God, I challenge you to read it!

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