We can know God, but only in the way and to the extent He wants to be known. The truth is we do not know God at the end of our human speculation or philosophical reasoning, but rather as the result of God revealing Himself. Knowing God is dependent on His self-revelation.
Last week we noted that our thoughts about God are challenged by the truth that He is Spirit. The challenge this week is to think about the eternal God of the universe as personal.
To be sure, human vocabulary is inadequate to capture fully the nature or essence of God. Finite minds do not have the capability to wrap themselves fully around an infinite God. However, as believers we do confess that God has revealed much about Himself that we can understand. An important part of this understanding is that God wants people to know Him as personal. Our thoughts about God are challenged when He presents Himself in Scripture as personal. All the persons we know or know about have bodies. God, however, is Spirit and personal.
Missing dimension
Quite often people who have tried to think deeply about God’s existence have described God in impersonal terms. Through the centuries inquiring minds have sought to reason their way to God. Such philosophical efforts have spawned a number of descriptive names for God, such as “the Absolute,” “the Unmoved Mover,” “the Wholly Other,” “the Ground of all Being,” “the Prime Mover,” “the Cosmic Principle,” etc. To say the least, such terms are rather sterile, austere and distant.
Thinking about God in this way is never adequate or satisfying for people of faith. The missing dimension in all such efforts is the conclusion that God is personal. He is powerful, but is more than a mighty force. God wants us to know Him as He has chosen to make Himself known. He has introduced Himself to humankind as personal.
Being personal, God can be known by persons like you and me.
Jesus spoke of God in a personal way, referring to Him as “Father,” a very personal term. For example when Jesus prayed He spoke to God as “Father.” Two of His notable prayers from the cross were brief and to the point. In one prayer Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). A short time later Jesus again prayed, “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit” (Luke 23:46). We might say immediately that this was fine for Jesus to do, since He was God’s Son. Then we remember that Jesus said that when His followers pray, we should say, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Matt. 6:9).
Two-way personal relationship
Taking our cue from Jesus’ words we can say with confidence that God wants to be known as personal and addressed in a personal way. Friendship with God is a two-way personal relationship. He wants us to become His friends and He wants to be our Friend.
God’s nature as personal informs and inspires our praying. A high tribute is paid Moses in Exodus 33:11: “The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” Prayer at its best might be envisioned as friends communing with one another. Such friendly interchanges require both listening and speaking. Someone observed rather whimsically that God must want us to do more listening than speaking because He designed us with two ears but only one mouth.
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