Unfathomable

How incredible it will be when we meet God face to face and understand who He is! In the meantime, to a large degree, it is a mystery. He has revealed enough of His nature to man, to know that we will never understand all of Him. The more a believer learns about Him, the more he realizes how little he knows. God has been personally active in the world since its creation and yet He is also set apart from it, superior in nature. Thus, we have the mystery of God’s immanence and transcendence.

Being transcendent, God is both the unknown and unknowable, yet God continually seeks to reveal Himself to His creation, i.e., the unknown seeks to be known. Here is a paradox. Being transcendent, God is the incomprehensible Creator existing outside of space and time and thus is unknowable and unsearchable. By an act of our will nor by our own reasoning can we possibly come to understand God or experience Him personally. God wants us to seek to know Him, yet how can the finite possibly know and understand the infinite when our minds and thoughts are so far beneath His.

“Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It is way over our heads. We will never figure it out. Is there anyone around who can explain God? Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do? Anyone who has done him such a huge favour that God has to ask his advice?”

Because God is not limited by space, He can be everywhere at the same time to minister to the needs of all people. We can be confident that He is able to protect, help and respond to us at any given moment. If the Lord were not omnipresent, He would not be capable of coming to our aid when we are in need.

We serve a God who is present everywhere, knows everything, and has the power to do all things. As we considers these truths, let us ask the Lord to reveal His awesome nature to us. "I am a God who is everywhere and not in one place only. No one can hide where I cannot see him or her. Do you not know that I am everywhere in heaven and on earth?”

God’s transcendent nature strives to keep Him distant and remote from His creation both in space and time, yet on the other hand, His immanent nature works to draw Him near to His creation and to sustain the universe. God’s love for His creation is so great that we see His immanence overshadowing His transcendence. This becomes clear in His incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, as He breaks through the barrier of sin and separation to draw all humankind back into a close, personal relationship. We see God not only choosing to draw near to His creation but to come personally into the hearts and minds of His people through the indwelling power of His Holy Spirit. This is the miracle of God’s transcendence.

GOD, investigate my life… You know when I leave and when I get back; I am never out of your sight. You know everything I am going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you are there, then up ahead and you are there, too-- your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful-- I cannot take it all in! Is there any place I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you are there! If I go underground, you are there! If I flew on morning's wings to the far western horizon, you would find me in a minute-- you are already there waiting! Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I'm immersed in the light!" It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you.