God who are you? I want to know you!
When we restrict our inquiry into the nature of God to the Bible, we are likely to find just the kind of God that we want to find. If we want a God of peace, he’s there. If we want a God of war, he’s there. If we want a compassionate God, he’s there. If we want a vindictive God, he’s there. If we want an egalitarian God, he’s there. If we want an ethnocentric God, he’s there. If we want a God demanding blood sacrifice, he’s there. If we want a God abolishing blood sacrifice, he’s there. Sometimes the Bible is like a Rorschach test— it reveals more about the reader than the eternal I AM.
The Bible is the inspired witness to the true Word of God who is Jesus. What the Bible does infallibly is take us on a journey that culminates with Christ— but it is Christ who fully reveals God. Or we can say it this way: The Scriptures ultimately bear witness to Christ, and Christ perfectly bears witness to God. While we are searching the Bible to find out what God is like, the Bible is all the while resolutely pointing us to Jesus. The revelation of God could not be contained in a book, but it could be contained in a human life— the life of Jesus Christ.
Anything we claim about God already belies our hidden desire to stand over, box in and control him. Language, words, doctrine, theology—aren’t these less than God? And yet don’t they frequently function to shrink the Creator of all into a manageable doctrinal specimen we can pin down and dissect? Isn’t it more convenient to cage him within our tiny, overconfident minds, where he must parrot our own lofty thoughts? The stubborn fact is that whatever we say about God or for God with great certitude is sifted through the thick veils of our religious traditions, cultural assumptions and personal interpretations.
Save me from every shadowy conception of God that I’ve created and worshiped, deceiving myself into believing it is the one true God! So I say no—if there is a God, I don’t just get to fashion him from the clay of my own image. I need him to reveal himself in a way that can be known.
God, who are you? I want to know you but my vision is so distorted, my mind is so small, my heart is so constricted. How could you live in such tiny boxes? Ah, but you don’t! I do! Rescue me from the prison of my puny understanding! Turn on the lights so I can catch a glimpse of the same Eternal Love that Jesus revealed. Give me the gift of Christlike vision that burns through the fog that blinds me to pure Goodness. Lord, let it be!
