GETTING TO KNOW GOD:  KNOWING THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE GOD

Text:  "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?"

- Romans 11:33-34

In 2013, our church's theme was:  "Knowing God and Making Him Known."  In hindsight, I see that this should be the life-theme of every Christian.  We need to know God and introduce Him to others.  When we get saved, we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus.  We begin to know Him, but our desire to know Him better grows deeper day by day.

But can we really know God?  The real paradox of the Christian life is found in knowing God and yet realizing that we can never fully understand Him (in this life). 

Many unbelievers struggle with the concept of God.  They want God to be a person they can fully understand.  God Himself said, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 55:8).  God is not a "regular guy," He is God.  Humans always underestimate God. 

There's much about God that we can learn.  The Bible reveals its Author to us.  When we read the Bible, we learn about the Lord.  Often, the circumstances of life are used by the Lord to teach us about Himself.   God can be known.  In this life, we can never exhaust the vast information God has provided about Himself.

Yet God cannot be fully understood.  When a woman is married to a man long enough, she may feel that she can "read him like a book."  No one can say that about the Lord. 

Why is God incomprehensible?  The answer is simple:  He is God.  God is infinite.  It is impossible for finite men to fully understand the infinite God.  In a sermon, I once compared our understanding of God to be like taking a picture.  If you wanted to take a photo of a forest, you would be limited.  Perhaps from a distance you could take a photo of a forest, but you wouldn't capture many specific things in the picture, would you?  If you took a closer photo, you may get more specific imagery, but the camera would only be able to focus on a smaller area.  When we learn about God, we tend to focus on some specific things and yet there are some aspects of His existence that we can't see at the moment.

A second reason that God is incomprehensible to us is because we have limited mental faculties.  We can only grasp a certain amount of information.  Additionally, there are some things that are beyond the scope of our knowledge.  A scientist may specifically expound on a formula but that wouldn't help me very much since I am not a scientist.  In a similar fashion, my mind can only understand certain things.  God has graciously permitted me to understand many things about Him.  Many more aspects of His being may be known as I walk with Him and read His Word.

Am I bothered because I don't understand everything about God?  No.  In fact, if I could understand everything about God, I would be divine myself (and I'm not).  I'm glad I serve a God who is so great that mere mortal minds cannot begin to fully grasp the entirety of His divine perfection.

When I get to heaven, I'll certainly know more than I do now.  In the mean time, I'll continue to learn what I can about God, continue to trust Him and maintain my walk with Him. 

Although He's incomprehensible, there are some things we can know and need to know about Him.  He is worth knowing.  He is worth knowing better. 

Do you seek to know Him better yourself?