KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY

Time with Jesus - Thursday, 23 February 2012

Hi all,

None of us can say we know God. Those who think they do are mistaken. God is unknowable because He is infinite. Everything He is, He is infinitely. He doesn't have these “things”; He is these “things”. God does not have love. He is love. God doesn't have mercy, He is mercy. He is justice, He is omniscient, He is omnipotent, He is Omnipresent. Frankly, I don’t understand any of these “attributes”. I use the word “attributes” advisedly because I have no idea how to describe the indescribable. It’s a bit like defining colour to a man born blind! But even if we are able to define colour to a man born blind, we are only beginning to touch on the mystery of God.

God is unknowable. But here’s the paradox. He want’s us to know Him! How does that work? What illustration can we use to describe Someone Who is unknowable, Who wants us to know Him? The closest I can think of is a kitten and a University Professor. The kitten will never know the Professor. The Professor knows that; but because He loves the kitten, he want’s it to know him. The shortcoming with this description is that this is a creature dealing with another creature. Yes indeed, there is a huge gap between them. But the gap between the Creator and the Creature is infinite. It cannot be described.

We live in a “Christian Society” which, by and large, has no fear of God. David Pawson states that we have been taught to believe in the Father All-matey rather than the Father Almighty. Few of us have ever “trembled before the Lord”. He has become our “chum”. He has forgiven our sins so we can now do anything we like. God has been taught as a benign myopic old man who wants us to come back to him no matter what we have done or are still doing. Grace has been so exaggerated that there is no longer any penalty for sin in the lives of believers. The expression, “He knows what I’m like and He understands” seems to be a universal panacea for the wicked things we do. But it’s a delusion. He is just as angry about sin in a believer as He is in an unbeliever. In fact, He is angrier with a believer, because we are supposed to know better. In Proverbs we find: ¹⁰ "If you really want to become wise, you must begin by having respect for the LORD. To know the Holy One is to gain understanding. Pro 9:10 NIrV

Today, there is a desperate need among Christians to get to know the Father, albeit based on the very limited knowledge He has given us about Himself. We will never be able to communicate with God and each other until we have a basic idea of Who He is, what He allows, as well as what He will and will not tolerate.

One of the very best books I’ve read about knowing God is entitled, “The Knowledge of the Holy” Written in the late 1950’s by Dr A W Tozer. ISBN 1-85078-621-6. Our copy was printed and published by Authentic Media, 9 Holdsom Avenue, Bletchley, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK1 1QR, UK. Phyllida and I state unequivocally that this book has helped us acquire what little knowledge of God we have. We think it is among the greatest pieces of English literature on this topic. Do yourself a favour. Get a copy and become entranced with the wonderful God we love.

Today’s meditation is about the Knowledge of our Holy God.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Knowledge of the Holy

We’d think that understanding God would be a piece of cake. We think we have Him figured out and so we seldom take, A look at the reality; that He is so much more, Than even in our wildest dreams we thought we could explore. The King of all Creation! We’ll never comprehend, A God Who loved us sinners, enough for Him to send, His only Son to come to earth and die “upon the tree” This sort of pure extravagance make’s little sense to me. The truth is, we dwell in Him. This universe of ours; The realm of Stars and Planets, of Suns, of Rain and Showers, Is somewhere deep within Him. Space isn’t infinite. He has control of all of it and all is in His sight. It seems a contradiction, that anyone so vast, Has time to even think of us. We’d surely be the last, That He would ever bother with. In fact we are so small, We’re not even a micro-dot, on some gigantic wall!. Of course, that is the problem. We think of time and space; And consequently, we dismiss all of the human race. We think we’re insignificant. So small we do not count. How can God ever find us? We’re sure that we amount, To something like a needle in a haystack universe; Who sinned and for that reason, the lot of us are cursed. So when we’re told of Jesus, we say, “Pull the other leg, We’ve fastened bells upon it, now we can go and beg. Who knows the One who made us? He’s left us all to rot, Upon this little planet that even He forgot.” Then, when we think of Jesus, we find reality. We know we have a Holy God who cares for you and me! A God who loves each one of us, more than we’ll ever know, Who knows all of the details, of how we come and go. A God who solved our problems, when we had no idea, We even had a problem! Our lot was far from clear. For size is unimportant. He sees a galaxy, Just as well as He can look at folk like you and me. In fact He sees us better, than all the stars that shine. A star can never love Him with a love like yours and mine And that is what He’s looking for; a loving, caring folk, Who always want to be with Him; and wear His pleasant yoke. Jim Strickland Written Thursday, 23 February 2012