Episode #202 Why God’s Vastness Is Exactly What You Need – Knowing God

Hey friends, it's Jen and welcome to another episode of Good God Talks. We are starting a new series talking about knowing God. And the idea behind this series came from a tool that I recently developed for you guys called, Did God really say? looking at how we can weigh what we're hearing by holding the word up to the light of the Bible—God's written word—to see if it lines up with scripture and if it lines up with God's character and nature as outlined in scripture.

But that requires that we know what God's character and nature is like.

And as humans, we're multifaceted. There are so many different aspects to who we are and what we're like. And God is more faceted than humans even are. So I wanted to take this series to talk with God through some of the key aspects of who he is and what he's like.

And it feels important to me that we start with this first core understanding about God, that God is beyond understanding.

And I know that that can feel frustrating as we're wanting to get to know him, as we're wanting to understand. But I come with hope and encouragement.

God is beyond understanding. That is true.

We're going to look at several passages of scripture that can provoke wonder and worship and awe in us as we consider how far he is from our own intellect and understanding. How much greater his ways are and how different he is from us.

And also at the same time, it is true that God comes near to us.

He invites us to know him more, to abide in him. to trust him beyond our own understanding. He says he and the father will come and make their home with us, but that doesn't make God less than who he is. It doesn't make him figureoutable. And that's a good thing.

And so I'm going to start by reading verses one and two of Isaiah 55, because at the onset, these verses don't make sense. It says,

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.” (Isaiah 55:1-2)

And I wanted to start here because those verses sound contradictory to each other. How are we to come and buy if we have no money? How are we to come and be delighted in what is good if we don't have our own resources to provide for what we need?

But let's continue on into verse seven and we see another juxtaposition. It says,

“Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7)

So again, someone who is unrighteous, who does not have the ability to have right standing, who is not warranted a pardon. If they turn to the Lord, he will have mercy on them. He will not give them the bad that they deserve, and he will freely pardon them.

And then in verses eight and nine of that same chapter, it tells us one of the reasons why these verses can be true.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

God is not limited like we are limited. God does not think or act like we think or act. His ways are higher and greater than ours.

In Psalm 145 verses two through three, and then verse five, it says,

“Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable…On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.” (Psalm 145:2-3,5)

See, his works are worth meditating on. They're worth dwelling in, but his greatness is still unsearchable.

And then Ecclesiastes 11:5.

As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. (Ecclesiastes 11:5)

And then Job 26:7-14.

“God stretches the northern sky over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing. He wraps the rain in his thick clouds, and the clouds don’t burst with the weight. He covers the face of the moon, shrouding it with his clouds. He created the horizon when he separated the waters; he set the boundary between day and night. The foundations of heaven tremble; they shudder at his rebuke. By his power the sea grew calm. By his skill he crushed the great sea monster. His Spirit made the heavens beautiful, and his power pierced the gliding serpent. These are just the beginning of all that he does, merely a whisper of his power. Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of his power?” (Job 26:7-14)

Our God is beyond understanding. I hope these verses prompted awe for you, even as we read Psalm 145, and the Psalmist said, “every day I will praise you.” Meditating on God's unknowableness, his unfigureoutable nature can lead us to draw near to him and can foster our relationship with him.

And here's our question:

God, what's an aspect of your unknowable nature that you want to captivate me with today?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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