Godisareality.com
Understanding God
Who has a full understanding of God? Can anyone tell us exactly what His plan is for any individual? There are countless Evangelists, preachers, Theologians that try to give answers to these questions. Ever since biblical times, people have tried to accomplish this impossible task. God's own words tell us we can't fully understand Him.
In the book of Job, in chapters 38 through 41, the scriptures show where God challenged Job and his two companions when they thought they had answers to Jobs problems by telling Job what God was probably thinking and why these terrible things were happening to him. God responded with verses such as:
-Who is this who darkens council by words without knowledge?
-Were you there when I laid out the foundations of the earth?
-Can you determine its measurements?
-To what were its foundations fastened?
-Have you commanded the morning since your days began?
-By what way is light diffused?
These wonderful verses reveal the Omnipotence of God and the limitations of man's understanding. As hard as we try, we cannot perfectly define He that is infinite, He that always was, simply because we as limited finite creatures can not understand a unlimited infinite creator. All we can do is know what His word tells us about Himself;
"My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, So that you incline your ear to
wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice
for understanding, If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will
understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God." Prov. 2:1-5
There is one aspect of God which we can understand, and that is He is of love, compassion and understanding. One example of this is in the
book of John. The people brought to Jesus a woman who was caught in adultery. Now an act of this as told in the Old testament was one of the
sins deserving of death. People were stoned for that act. It is one of the commandments that God gave to us in the ten commandments, that it is
something we should never do. Yet when the people brought this woman before Jesus, His response to them was a rebuke of their attempt to 'test'
Him and then forgiveness of the very sin. Jesus responded;
"He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. And again He stooped down and wrote
on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning
with the oldest even to the last." John 8: 7-9
After this Jesus, showed His Love, compassion and understanding and forgave her;
"Has no one condemned you? She said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, Neither do I condemn you;
go and sin no more." John 8: 10,11
So many times we get caught up in doctrine. What this interpretation means, what that interpretation means etc. We try
and to justify why God does the things He does and what His purpose is. There are those that 'think' they know scripture better
than others, therefore they 'think' know God better than others. They miss the simple point in their own attempts to understand, that there is a part of
God's plan and relationship with us that is not that complicated. That He is about love. As Jesus stressed in His ministry to 'Love one another'
and by doing that we can come to worship God and glorify His name. To believe in Jesus means to believe in God. Jesus, our Lord
God and savior.
Who has a full understanding of God? Can anyone tell us exactly what His plan is for any individual? There are countless Evangelists, preachers, Theologians that try to give answers to these questions. Ever since biblical times, people have tried to accomplish this impossible task. God's own words tell us we can't fully understand Him.
In the book of Job, in chapters 38 through 41, the scriptures show where God challenged Job and his two companions when they thought they had answers to Jobs problems by telling Job what God was probably thinking and why these terrible things were happening to him. God responded with verses such as:
-Who is this who darkens council by words without knowledge?
-Were you there when I laid out the foundations of the earth?
-Can you determine its measurements?
-To what were its foundations fastened?
-Have you commanded the morning since your days began?
-By what way is light diffused?
These wonderful verses reveal the Omnipotence of God and the limitations of man's understanding. As hard as we try, we cannot perfectly define He that is infinite, He that always was, simply because we as limited finite creatures can not understand a unlimited infinite creator. All we can do is know what His word tells us about Himself;
"My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, So that you incline your ear to
wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice
for understanding, If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will
understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God." Prov. 2:1-5
There is one aspect of God which we can understand, and that is He is of love, compassion and understanding. One example of this is in the
book of John. The people brought to Jesus a woman who was caught in adultery. Now an act of this as told in the Old testament was one of the
sins deserving of death. People were stoned for that act. It is one of the commandments that God gave to us in the ten commandments, that it is
something we should never do. Yet when the people brought this woman before Jesus, His response to them was a rebuke of their attempt to 'test'
Him and then forgiveness of the very sin. Jesus responded;
"He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. And again He stooped down and wrote
on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning
with the oldest even to the last." John 8: 7-9
After this Jesus, showed His Love, compassion and understanding and forgave her;
"Has no one condemned you? She said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, Neither do I condemn you;
go and sin no more." John 8: 10,11
So many times we get caught up in doctrine. What this interpretation means, what that interpretation means etc. We try
and to justify why God does the things He does and what His purpose is. There are those that 'think' they know scripture better
than others, therefore they 'think' know God better than others. They miss the simple point in their own attempts to understand, that there is a part of
God's plan and relationship with us that is not that complicated. That He is about love. As Jesus stressed in His ministry to 'Love one another'
and by doing that we can come to worship God and glorify His name. To believe in Jesus means to believe in God. Jesus, our Lord
God and savior.