I've long had a very expansive view of God. He is huge in all possible ways. I'm not really talking about physical size, understand. His knowledge is unlimited, His capabilities are immeasurable. But, over the last few years, He has been nudging me with a new sense of His size, and this is about the best way I know to describe it.
He's telling me that His knowledge is vastly beyond "unlimited", His capabilities are immeasurably beyond "immeasurable". His fresh-to-me revelation also goes in the other direction: His awareness is down to a level of detail and "smallness" far beyond my ability to comprehend or even guess at.
I don't really know what all of that means, I just know that He keeps speaking that to me and my heart tells me it's true. No matter how big or powerful or unlimited or all-knowing I think He is, He is way beyond that. He is so far beyond what I can imagine that I can't imagine how far beyond that He really is.
For instance, He created time. He knows time as we experience it; He also experiences time in ways far beyond our capability to understand. And with all of that, He also lives completely outside of time. Did you know that there was a time BEFORE time? In 2 Timothy 1:9, NKJV, the Bible says that He saved us and called us with a holy calling...in Christ Jesus before time began. That's a wild thought.
But there's so much more. He is omnipresent, everywhere at once. He is omniscient, knowing everything at once. He is omnipotent, always being all powerful. Anything less than all of that and He wouldn't be God.
For instance, He created time. He knows time as we experience it; He also experiences time in ways far beyond our capability to understand. And with all of that, He also lives completely outside of time. Did you know that there was a time BEFORE time? In 2 Timothy 1:9, NKJV, the Bible says that He saved us and called us with a holy calling...in Christ Jesus before time began. That's a wild thought.
But there's so much more. He is omnipresent, everywhere at once. He is omniscient, knowing everything at once. He is omnipotent, always being all powerful. Anything less than all of that and He wouldn't be God.
He alone has Life in Himself. He alone can say "I AM" is His name. Whatever else "I AM" signifies, it tells us that He is fully self-contained and self-sufficient. No one else and nothing else is.
He alone is capable of making something out of nothing. He alone can breathe life into something He made. No other being is the source of life. None. That includes every being you can think of, from angels to fallen-angels to the devil himself, to scientists with test-tubes and philosophers with theories.
What does all of this mean? Really, I can only speculate. Sometimes I feel like the woman who reached out and touched the hem of Jesus' garment, being healed in the process, though she got no closer than the edge of His clothing. What I'm grabbing onto with my limited understanding is like that hem. It's only a small part of Who and What He is.
As He tells me that there is much more to Him than I can hope to imagine, He also tells me that He is much smaller than I've ever really considered. Let me try to explain that.
If He is omnipresent and omniscient, there isn't a single atom or part of an atom anywhere that He doesn't fully know inside and out. There is no empty spot or void in space that He doesn't fully know inside and out. There is nothing visible or invisible and nothing in any dimension that He doesn't fully know inside and out.
Scientists now tell us that the universe is not only a mix of matter and vast emptiness, but also of dark matter and dark energy. What does all that have to do with God? He created it all; He created everything. To put it in my human words, His awareness looks at and out from every molecule and every bit of emptiness everywhere, seeing everything, fully knowing everything, even so-called dark matter and dark energy.
What does all of this mean? Really, I can only speculate. Sometimes I feel like the woman who reached out and touched the hem of Jesus' garment, being healed in the process, though she got no closer than the edge of His clothing. What I'm grabbing onto with my limited understanding is like that hem. It's only a small part of Who and What He is.
As He tells me that there is much more to Him than I can hope to imagine, He also tells me that He is much smaller than I've ever really considered. Let me try to explain that.
If He is omnipresent and omniscient, there isn't a single atom or part of an atom anywhere that He doesn't fully know inside and out. There is no empty spot or void in space that He doesn't fully know inside and out. There is nothing visible or invisible and nothing in any dimension that He doesn't fully know inside and out.
Scientists now tell us that the universe is not only a mix of matter and vast emptiness, but also of dark matter and dark energy. What does all that have to do with God? He created it all; He created everything. To put it in my human words, His awareness looks at and out from every molecule and every bit of emptiness everywhere, seeing everything, fully knowing everything, even so-called dark matter and dark energy.
It means that He knows what it's like to see through our eyes. He also fully sees us with His own unique awareness. Where does that leave our souls? And what about the things we'd sometime rather God not see? He sees me, warts and all, no matter how I may fool myself. Since there's no hiding anything from Him, I must count on His mercy and grace.
I can't make myself pure; I've tried and failed. So, there's only one option that makes sense. I surrender to Jesus and trust Him. I trust His heart of love, His good plans, and His work on the Cross. I have faith that He will keep working to bring me into full compatibility with Himself. I'm already fully purchased and cleansed by His blood. My born-again spirit was born pure, but the transformation of my mind, will, and emotions is still ongoing. Romans 12:1.
In spite of my frailties and oh-so-weak at times commitment to walk fully upright in His eyes, I must trust Him to complete the good work He has begun. He has promised to reconcile the essence of who and what I am to Himself. Philippians 1:6. I have faith that He will do what I can't do for myself.
The more I understand about faith, the more it takes on the characteristics of trust. The more I trust His heart, His knowledge and His plans, the easier life is. I am reminded of something that A.W. Tozer wrote: He is closer to me than I am to myself.
Wow.
The more I understand about faith, the more it takes on the characteristics of trust. The more I trust His heart, His knowledge and His plans, the easier life is. I am reminded of something that A.W. Tozer wrote: He is closer to me than I am to myself.
Wow.
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