The Unknowable Made Known

There is a truth in Christianity, that has existed since before the Old Testament was ever written. It's called the "Doctrine of Incomprehensibility". Professor Allen Hood succinctly described it this way:

God is unable to be completely known in any of His attributes.

God is beyond man. His glory is beyond comprehension. One glance at His face in all of its glory, and we die. He is too much for these earthen vessels. God is incomprehensible. God is unable to be completely known in any one of His attributes.

The God we serve is so much beyond all that we know, and I personally sensed that for so long whenever I worshiped Him. I believed He was real. I wanted to serve Him. I was intrigued with Him, and I was thirsty to know more. I prayed to Him. I read about Him. I thought I was on the right track, but I felt like I was missing something so deep within my spiritual life. As it turns out, I was.

Two weeks ago this Tuesday, I jumped in my Camry at 7:05am, and started the 45-minute drive to the International House of Prayer University (IHOPU). In spite of the arguments in my mind as to whether or not spending four hours of my day for a theology class was a practical idea, I was excited to go. As I drove, I asked God to send me an awakening, and show me Himself that day. Looking back, I'm amazed at how little I expected from that prayer, in comparison to how abundantly He answered it.

I met three of my friends at the front door, and we headed to our class. That first day, our professor shared his personal testimony and, while it was inspiring, only one statement stuck with me from that first class, and looking back, only one needed to:

"He's not a concept; He's a person."

My mind was shattered. Implicitly, I had always known this was true. But mental assent doesn't mean it's spiritually registered within you. I couldn't get over that idea.... God is unknowable, untouchable, unreachable, and yet He became a person. He's not just a distant idea. He's not just the most beautiful philosophy to ever cross the human mind. He's not just the highest concept of the universe. Jesus Christ was a man. He walked with us.

I left class that day, with one thought: It's real. This is not just a mental quest. This is not just a spiritual awakening or a feeling. This is a reality that transcends any human thought, emotion, or touch. And yet it has been made known to us through a man. A person, who wants us, who cherishes us, who pursues us, and hears us.

He understands every struggle. He took on your humanity, to bring you back to His heart. The life of Jesus made the incomprehensible God known. God cannot be known fully in any one of His attributes, but He can be known truly. Through Him, we do have access to the Father.

This C.S. Lewis quote struck me deeply when I first read it:

"Our model is the Jesus, not only of Calvary, but of the workshop, the roads, the crowds, the clamorous demands and surly oppositions, the lack of all peace and privacy, the interruptions. For this, so strangely unlike anything we can attribute to the Divine life in itself, is apparently not only like, but is, the Divine life operating under human conditions."

-C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Jesus has experienced even the little things that frustrate us. He has walked the path of humanity. He is the Divine life operating under human conditions. And that's not just a philosophical manifestation. He was a man. He is a real, knowable person, with personality, and life, and love. I had always tried to "love God", but never know how exactly that was meant to translate spiritually. I had been awe-struck and fascinated by Him, and dependent on Him. But it wasn't the same love I felt for people I cared about. I knew something was missing. After that first day of class, I began to fall in love with this man. I still have a long way to go. But He is beginning to teach me how to love and seek Him more fully.

Think about every spiritual quality you have ever admired in a guy, or any spiritual traits you could possibly want in your future husband. I would encourage you to take a minute sometime this week, and write every single one down. Then look at that list, and see if there is even one that Jesus Christ does not measure up to. If you find one, tell me, because I have yet to do so. He fulfills every longing.

It's hard to love someone you've never seen. But He doesn't leave you to fight on your own. A few weeks ago, after our theology class, we were talking about charismatic theology and the idea of speaking in tongues. I was expecting it to be an academic, informative conversation. But it went much deeper than that. One part of the conversation was specifically impactful: "I would encourage you to just open your heart up to God. He said that anyone who asks receives, and anyone who seeks will find. Even if it has nothing to do with tongues, He wants to make Himself known."

God does not play games with us; if you want Him with all your heart, He is ready to be found. He longs to show Himself to those who seek His face.

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Worship Song: 

"King Of All the Earth", 
by  Brian and Katie Torwalt

(upbeat, uplifting worship)