Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again.
2 Corinthians 1:9-10
October 2023
“Immortal, invisible, God only wise/ In light inaccessible, hid from our eyes.” So begins the great hymn by Walter Chalmers Smith. If you are like me, I can easily sing through well-known lines of hymns without ever considering what they say. But, stop and look at these words.
Immortal. Invisible. God only wise. In light inaccessible. Hid from our eyes. What is the point? The point is that God is totally different from us. We are mortal. We can often be foolish. God is beyond anything and everything we can imagine.
If you search for a list of the characteristics of God you’ll often get a list of lots of big words - omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (everywhere, not bound by space), omnipotent (all powerful), immutable (God doesn’t change), etc.
You might also get a list of abstract nouns - God is love, gracious, holy, glorious, sovereign, and faithful. All of these things are true and thanks be to God for them. Most of them, however, are churchy words that we don’t use in everyday conversation. Taken in a list, it becomes overwhelming to even try and think about. What does all this have to do with my life now, here, in this particular place and time?
The Bible teaches about all of these characteristics and even uses some of these words. But, most of the time the Biblical authors bring things down to earth. They use concrete language about earthy things - sheep and donkeys, couples struggling with infertility, mustard seeds and the birds of the air, rich soil and thorns and thistles. When Jesus taught about God, he didn’t teach everything about God all at once.
In Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth he mentions that he and some of his friends had been sentenced to death (2 Corinthians 1:9-10 above). We aren’t told why. Probably because they were teaching about Jesus. But, at that moment they needed something to comfort them. If you are facing death, what is the most important thing about God you need to know? That he is omniscient or immortal or invisible or merciful? All those things are true. But, in the moment you need to know that God raises the dead. When you are facing death you need to know that God is the God of resurrection.
In the same way, when you feel alone you need to know that God is so very near to you by his Spirit. Or when you are suffering it is often comforting to know that Jesus has experienced the same types of suffering that we experienced. When you are overwhelmed by the brokenness of the world that you see in the news you need to know that one day the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of God - goodness and justice will ultimately overcome.
If we set out each day to try and comprehend the vastness of all that the living God of the universe encompasses we will quickly get overwhelmed. God is too much. We need all of God but not all at once. Sometimes we need to remember that God hates sin and sometimes we need to remember that God forgives sin over and over again. Sometimes we need to know that Jesus can command even the wind and the waves at a word and sometimes we need to know that Jesus wept.
Part of being a community of people learning to follow Jesus together is learning how to remind one another of who God is in the specific details of everyday life. May his Spirit keep teaching us together.
* the idea for this article came from David Powlison's chapter "Truth unbalanced and rebalanced" in his book How Does Sanctification Work