May 14, 2003
Reading: Job 36:26-33

 

“Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him” (26)

 

What is God like? Throughout the millennia, man has tried to answer this question in debate, writings and various forms of art. The truth is – no one knows. We do know what He is not like – He is not like anything or anybody. All things with which we are familiar are created, and if we were created exactly as how God is, He would no longer be God. To know God as He is, is like trying to understand eternity. We are surrounded by and controlled by time – God is not. Can the knowledge of man embrace the concept of “no beginning and no end?” Can we, with full understanding, comprehend immortality? Can we conceive of seeing that which is invisible? How then can we know God? “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” 1 Tim 1:17. These three attributes of God are outside of the realm of our experience.

When the words of scripture tell us we are made in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27), it does not mean we are made with every attribute and characteristic of the Divine Being. The question necessitates an answer: Can we know God?

To “know Him” was the burning desire of Paul’s heart (Phil 3:10). Was this but the fantasy of a zealot? Jesus addressed this question when He said, “You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me" John 7:28-29. The truth of the matter is, God is knowable only within the limits to which He reveals Himself, and to the extent the Holy Spirit enlightens our understanding.

There is a knowledge of God available to all men, “From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God” Rom 1:20 (New Living Translation). There is, however, a knowledge of God reserved only for those who have been made one with Him in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true” 1 John 5:20. The Bible is God’s revelation to us. In it He reveals Himself, yet, even so, the words are mere words unless the spirit has been made alive by the Spirit of God. Blind eyes and deaf ears cannot comprehend the things of God as revealed in His Word. But, praise His Name, by salvation our eyes are opened and our ears unstopped so we can understand the things of God and know Him to the extent to which He wishes to reveal Himself. It is the Holy Spirit Who teaches us concerning God, and it is He Who leads us into the knowledge of Him Who is unknowable.

“Can you solve the mysteries of God? Can you discover everything there is to know about the Almighty? Such knowledge is higher than the heavens--but who are you? It is deeper than the underworld--what can you know in comparison to him? It is broader than the earth and wider than the sea” Job 11:7-9 (New Living Translation).

“I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me” Isa 45:5. May God grant to each of us the desire to know Him and the joy that ensues as He reveals His glorious Person to us.