“Up from the grave He arose!!!” Oh, to have been one of the eye witnesses on THAT DAY and the days to follow. We started one glorious Easter morning at a sunrise service completely in Spanish in Barranquilla, Colombia, SOUTH AMERICA with two of our kids, Sally and Carlos. Try to imagine singing, “To Him Who Sits on the Throne” in Spanish!!! Happily for those around me, I just sang very, very quietly in English…
On occasion I have had the privilege of being in the presence of believers of other cultures and languages, worshiping with them in their church services or praying with them alone, completely unable to speak in their tongue. Each time I have been overwhelmed and touched deeply. Interestingly I’m not overwhelmed with my inabilities to understand them, though I’m sure I should be. Actually I’m completely and totally overwhelmed instead by the fact that HE understands everyone around me in those settings perfectly. HE does not translate their prayers and praises into English. (I truly love America, but hallelujah, God is NOT American!:-)) HE is soooooo big! So incomprehensible! And…I am so small.
Charles Spurgeon helps me with this statement, “Scripture teaches the absolute incomprehensibility of God (Job 38-41 ). It also presents a doctrine of God that fully maintains His knowability…Our great God can be known, but He cannot be fully comprehended.”
But how can we connect the dots, bridging the great gap, going from HIS BIGNESS to knowing HIM?
I like to think of two separate times in the past few years when I have found myself in large, busy, crowded foreign cities overwhelmed again. But those times I’m weighed heavy with their darkness, the seeming lack of His presence. After all I live in American’s Bible belt surrounded by churches on every corner and “Honk if you love Jesus” bumper stickers. So I simply told Him how I was feeling and whispered, “Could you show me that YOU are here and that all are not lost?”
In one case, within a few minutes on a crowded subway where I’d seen many ONLY reading newspapers and random books on their daily journey to and from work, for the very first time, I saw a woman reading an open Bible on her lap.
The other time His answer was to lovingly lead me as I “randomly” selected a church in the yellow pages that looked “normal!” Little did I know that when my cab driver dropped me off that I would be blown away by the Life and Light in that church in the middle of an obviously dark city! And “randomly” the regional BSF teacher approached me to say hello as I stood to be greeted as a stranger! I was overwhelmed! God was KNOWABLE as HE REVEALED Himself to me!
The Bible shows us over and over again a God that IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE, but at the same time He is the GOD who chooses to make Himself knowable by revealing Himself just as He did for me in my two big city experiences.
Today I walked for an hour up and down a dusty, rocky country road. There was not a soul in sight, but I did see 20 different kinds of wild flowers in a variety of colors. I picked a few blackberries and popped them into my mouth. It causes me to now sing, “This is my Father’s world and to my listening ear, all nature sings and ‘round me rings the music of the sphere!”
Are my eyes really open? Are yours? Am I really watching with expectation? Are you?
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EVERYWHERE, EVERY MOMENT GOD IS KNOWABLE, REVEALING HIMSELF TO US IN MANY WAYS!
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THE SYNONYM FINDER by J.I. Rodale
KNOWABLE (just a sampling found there…) – comprehensible, cognizable, conceivable, realizable, intelligible, understandable, fathomable, penetrable, discoverable, acquirable, learnable, memorizable, discernible, perceptible, legible, decipherable; recognizable, observable, seeable, visible, material, apparent, distinct, explicit, defined, clear, unclouded, undisguised, unscreened, transparent, obvious, undraped, uncovered, revealed…
CHAMBER’S SHORTER ENGLISH DICTIONARY
KNOW- noun – to be informed of; to be assured of; to have personal experience of; to be acquainted with; to recognize; to be versed in; to approve; to have sexual intercourse with (knowable – the adjective of this base word)
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The Bible says that God reveals Himself in these ways so that He may be known:
1. He reveals Himself through creation.
Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Read Job 38-42 again!
2. He revealed Himself to those He chose for unique encounters in Old Testament days.
Some examples: Noah getting directions for building a boat, Abraham caused to slumber as God “cut” a covenant through the carcass, the widow’s continually full jars of oil, Moses hearing his voice at the burning bush, younger Samuel hearing his voice in the night, Samson’s long God-empowered strength-giving hair
3. He revealed Himself through the Law and the Prophets in Old Testament days.
Hebrews 1:1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various way.
In Experiencing God Henry Blackaby gives this list of the “various ways:” angels (Gen. 16), visions (Gen. 15) , dreams (Gen. 28) , urim/thummin (Ex. 28) , symbolic actions (Jer. 18) , a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19) , a miraculous sign (Ex. 8)
Throughout the Old Testament men and women learned of God through the guidelines and laws set in place. These rules not only demonstrated God’s order and life-giving tenets, but put in place the sacrificial system which prepared the way for THE Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
On the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:27) we find Jesus talking boldly with two mystified followers. “And beginning with Moses (the Law) and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”
4. God revealed Himself through the Savior.
Hebrews 1:2,3 But in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (In other words, THE revelation of God came and walked around us. JESUS was God with skin on!!!! Why? So we could KNOW HIM PERSONALLY!!!)
5. God continues to reveal Himself TODAY through the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and continuing unique encounters.
At Pentecost God was revealed by the powerful coming of the Holy Spirit, with visible and audible signs. As followers of the Savior, we become temples, the carriers of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Ephesians 2:20-21).
His most common weapon within us for revealing His power in our world is the SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, which is the Word of God. (Galatians 6:17)
God’s demonstration does not stop there. He revealed Himself to me with the open Bible and the life-filled church in those teeming cities, didn’t He? He revealed Himself to my dear friend, Imelda, in a dream with a picture of a crying Jesus, caring about her struggles.
Many of you continue to hear as I do of His use of dreams and miracles all around the world to get the attention of those longing to KNOW HIM. As we test these stories against the truths of the Bible we KNOW that HE IS ALIVE AND WELLTODAY! HE PURSUES US IN LOVE!
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Wise Words:Paul Little – Christianity is what God has done for human beings in seeking them and reaching down to help them. Other religions are a matter of human beings seeking and struggling toward God.
Charles Darwin (In a chapter titled “Difficulties with the Theory” in Origin of the Species) – To suppose that the eye, with so many parts all working together…could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I confess, absurd in the highest degree.
Richard Lewontin (a Harvard evolutionist) - “states that organisms ‘appear to have been carefully and artfully designed’ and calls the perfection of organisms ‘the chief evidence of a Supreme Designer.’”
Henry Blackaby – God’s revelations are designed to bring you into a love relationship with Him…God reveals Himself to increase your faith...God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.
A.W. Tozer – An attribute of God is whatever God has in anyway revealed as being true of Himself.
R.C. Sproul - The incomprehensibility of God does not mean that we know nothing about God. Rather, it means that our knowledge is partial and limited, falling short of total or comprehensive knowledge. The knowledge that God gives of Himself through revelation is both real and useful. We can know God to the degree that He chooses to reveal Himself. The finite can "grasp" the infinite, but the finite can never hold the infinite within its grasp. There is always more of God than we apprehend.
AND….SOME WISE WORDS FROM OTHER GOD-SEEKERS:
- My child is doing better… It's still SO difficult. But God is so faithful to reveal Himself to me about the time I'm going through… I am so overwhelmed at what God is doing in my life. He IS incomprehensible............but I'm glad I don't have to comprehend Him to know Him and know He loves me...................I LOVE HIM!!!
- God continues to use Eliot's life to reveal so many amazing things about Himself to us. (MANY OF YOU REMEMBER ELIOT MOONEY WHO LIVED FOR A GLORIOUS 99 DAYS, LEAVING GOD’S HEART TATOO ON US ALL! THIS AMAZING STATEMENT IS FROM HIS PARENTS WHO EVEN AFTER 5 YEARS MISS HIM INTENSELY.. Check out his story at www.99Balloons.org )
- I have to admit my brain freezes when I try to comprehend all that HE IS. And, actually, to me it’s incomprehensible that I can even know HIM who is incomprehensible!!! And, I am so very thankful for any bit of understanding HE will give me.
- One word from a very humble and constantly searching follower of our incomprehensible God...The only way I can even relate to Him, is through HIM! Jesus is the only explanation.
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Both our incredible son-in-laws have invited us into worlds we did not previously know. Our first son-in-law, Brax, enthusiastically initiated us into the world of the wonderful Deep South – “Roll Tide” Red, sweet tea, and mornings with Rick and Bubba! Carlos, number two, patiently introduced us to his even warmer world of Barranquilla, Colombia – the lovely language (somehow my Sesame Street Spanish training was inadequate), fascinating customs (eating about the time I normally go to bed), and tantalizing food (fried plantain was my favorite). Through their personally guided tours, regular patient explanations, answers to many silly questions, and repeated tales from their past we are truly getting to KNOW them! I imagine you can see where I’m going with that illustration. That is an everyday picture of what our INCOMPREHENSIBLE GOD is doing with us. He’s invited us each on a personally guided tour. (No charge! HE PAID IT ALL!) He’s happy to give us regular explanations, even answering silly questions. He’s adamant about repeating stories of what He’s done in the past. PLAIN AND SIMPLE - HE INVITES US TO KNOW HIM AS HE REVEALS HIMSELF TO US!
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PONDERINGS ALONE OR WITH OTHERS:
- Is your personal challenge believing God is too big to know or too small to be really visable?
- What is the biggest reason your eyes and ears and all senses are unaware of the what and the where of God?
- When are you most personally aware of God’s revealing Himself?
- Which quote most matches your heart?
- What is the value of embracing God’s being both incomprehensible but also deliberately revealed?
Oh, God,
I want to KNOW you much more than I do…
I am so small.
YOU are so big.
YET you care enough about ME to reveal yourself to me.
You even initiate relationship with me. You created my eyes.
Help me keep watching for YOU. You created my ears.
Help me keep listening to YOU. You created my mind.
Help me keep it open to YOU!
I don’t want to miss a thing because YOU are TOO WONDERFUL.
In your amazing name I pray, Amen.
Sue
P.S. My initial resource list:
The Knowledge of the Holy A.W. Tozer
Systematic Theology Wayne Grudem
Knowing God J.I. Packer
God-Discovering His Character Bill Bright
Experiencing God Henry Blackaby and Claude King
Moms in Touch Prayer Pages
http://www.preceptaustin.org/
Prayer Richard Foster
Know Why You Believe Paul Little
Essential Truths of the Christian Faith R.C. Sproul
Love to you, dear Sue!
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