God Incomprehensible

The heavens declare Thy glory, Lord,

In every star Thy wisdom shines;

But when our eyes behold Thy Word,

We read Thy name in fairer lines.

                                       Isaac Watts

Recently I began reading a book by A.W. Tozer entitled The Knowledge of the Holy (published by HarperCollins).   Because of the depth of knowledge that Tozer shares, I'm only on page twenty-six.  I guess it's taking time for me to digest what he is saying about our Lord.  

Even though I've been a child of God since I was seven years old, and I honestly have seen His fingerprints all over my life through times of testing and trials, and although I've learned lessons from those circumstances, I've come to realize that I have formed an "idea" of who God is.  However, this very idea or conception of God in my mind is far beneath the Majesty and Authority of the true God.  In essence what I had conceived God to be had become a intellectually-formed idol.  Truly.  I know this is deep.  I hope I've not lost anyone. 

God is indescribable.  Uncontainable.  Unfathomable.  Mysterious.  Holy.  Love.  Glorious.  Unlike any other.  Since He is unlike any other, there is no way I can truly form an idea of Who He is, or "what He is like" without deep study and humble prayer.  He has revealed many attributes of Himself through His Word, and only as His Holy Spirit self-discloses these to me will I ever begin to attain the knowledge of the Holy.

When our idea of God is corrupt, there is absolutely NO WAY we can worship Him in a way that is pleasing unto Him.  Our worship will be stale, stagnant and dead.  It is important to realize, as Tozer said, "left to ourselves, we tend immediately to reduce God to manageable terms.  We want a God we can in some measure control.  We need the feeling of security that comes from knowing what God  is like."    

Begin a journey to knowing more about God.  Study His attributes, as I am.  Ask yourself if you are just worshipping and praying to the image of who you THINK God is.  If you are, pray for Him to purify your ideas of Him...purify your conception of Him.   As I have done this He has shown me I know nothing. 

I will close with a prayer that prefaces Chapter Three in Tozer's book, since it is my heart's prayer.  I hope it shall be yours also:

           "O Majesty unspeakable, my soul desires to behold Thee.  I cry to Thee from the dust.

Yet when I inquire after Thy name it is secret.  Thou art hidden in the light which no man can approach unto.  What Thou art cannot be thought or uttered, for Thy glory is ineffable. 

            Still, prophet and psalmist, apostle and saint have encouraged me to believe that I may in some measure know Thee.  Therefore, I pray, whatever of Thyself Thou has been pleased to disclose, help me to search out as treasure more precious than rubies or the merchandise of fine gold:  for with Thee shall I live when the stars of the twilight are no more and the heavens have vanished away and only Thou remainest.  In Jesus' Name, Amen."