Thinking on the Unthinkable

I think the reason for much of our lack of faith comes from 2 things:

   1.  We do not think often on the greatness and infiniteness of God.  No attribute that He possesses has limitation.  All created things flow from and exist in Him.  He is called the Great I Am, and everything else is within Him.  He is boundless, limitless, and infinite. 

Paul speaks of God in this way:  God..."who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see..." (1 Timothy 6:16).  The book of Job tells of our absolute dependency on this infinite God:  "If He should set His heart to it and gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust."  (Job 34:14-15)

There are countless other Scriptures and examples of the infiniteness of God our Father and our utter dependence on Him.  The point is, we need to think on the infiniteness of Him and our complete dependence on Him.  If we were only to know the truth of the above verse in Job, that your being is wrapped up in His life-giving breath, perhaps we would not worry as much about our own lives.  He holds us.  And in this infinite Being of God is His love for us.

  2.  When we think about the Father, we often deceive ourselves by thinking that we can understand Him.  My first point, thinking on the infiniteness of God, is not so that we may grasp it, but so that we may understand more and more that the mind cannot grasp it.  And as we realize this, coupled with the the revelation of His infinite love for His children, we may be able to strengthen our faith in Him. 

Novatian wrote, "...all mental effort is feeble.  For God is greater than the mind... He is greater than all language, and no statement can express Him."  We cannot comprehend Him.  A created thing cannot overtake its Creator in any way.  So why think on it?  To learn our complete desperation and reliance on our great Heavenly Father.  When we fill our minds with the infiniteness of God, we may have faith when He says, "My ways are not your ways."   Then we may respond, "Yes, Lord, I will fix my trust in You, the great Unthinkable God." 

The Word

I looked up all the Greek translations of the main words in John 1:1-5 and expanded it a little, using the definitions.  I like the last verse the best.  Here is what it looks like: 

  At the beginning of all things was the Word uttered by a living Voice.  And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 
  He was present with God at the origin of all created things.
  Every thing received being through the Word of God, and apart from Him no thing that existed came into existence.
  In Him was life, and this life manifested itself in men through light. 
  And this light is made evident to the darkness by men, and the darkness did not take it by force, nor understand it, nor extinguish it. 

A Stilled Soul

"But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me."  Psalm 131:2

A strange way to describe yourself, eh?  I couldn't help but think about this verse for a while, wondering what it really meant.  The definition for weaned is:  Accustom (someone) to managing without something on which they have become dependent or of which they have become excessively fond.  At this point in a child's life, a child no longer needs his mothers milk and is usually able to simply say, "I'm hungry," rather than cryin' and fussin' until his momma feeds him.  A weaned child is no longer concerned or worried that he will be fed - he knows and trusts his mother to give him food - but he is satisfied by being with her.

I think the point that David is making here is that he no longer troubles himself with the elemental needs of life, such as food, but his soul is free from worry because of the trust he has that His God will provide.  He has been weaned off of the cryin' and fussin' for milk.  His soul is still and is able to find the true joy that comes from the Presence of the Lord.  

I'm one of many Christians who has had trouble moving from the infant stage of Christian life mentioned in Hebrews 5:12.  But I've had glimpses of how wonderful it can be once we move past that to fully know and trust our Lord for our needs, and be stilled and satisfied by the joy of His Presence.  He is Emmanuel - God with us.