Our amazing ability to Underestimate God!

3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.  psalm 145: 3    

So how, exactly, do we manage to withhold proper praise for a God who spoke everything
into existence? I am going to suggest that there are a myriad of reasons why we probably
all come up short of glorifying and even understanding the amazing-ness of our Almighty
Father in Heaven.

I'm not sure, first of all, if we are even capable of fathoming such an incredible being. He
is holy different from us. That difference cannot be quantified or even categorized so we
often times just refuse to ponder God.

He is apart from us in the sense that we, luckily, cannot see Him. Due to our human nature,
which tends to allow is to wrap ourselves in our own existence and lives, we therefore
tend to go for stretches of time with God on the back burner, as it were. He may not
even be a conscious part of our day if things are busy.

A lot of this is also wrapped up in our tendency to be prideful; even to believe that we
do not need God unless things go wrong, problems crop up that we cannot solve or
needs become apparent that cause us to 'remember' God due to our sudden need for
Him.

God seeks our dependence and our understanding that He is in charge and most
capable of caring for us and our lives completely. It is surely the case that His grace
is extended to us in so many ways and at so many times when we aren't even aware
of it. It would be so very easy for God to become angry and to abandon His loving care
were He not such a gracious God. Since we are His creation, He, more than anyone,
is aware of His created.

I think, in some way, underestimating God may help us to be suddenly aware of Him
and in awe of Him, as we should always be. The cure is to set up patterns that
cause us to be reminded of Him: prayer, reading His word, fellowship with other
believers, doing and saying things that duly bring glory to Him.

He is magnificent, supreme, beyond our ability to clearly comprehend Him and
His love for us. Praise God!

Secrets we do NOT need to know!

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." Deuteronomy 29: 29


It seems that the more we learn and know about God and His miraculous nature and
creation, the more we long to know even more. Maybe it's a human nature thing; we are
inquisitive and seek to broaden our knowledge. Yet, it seems to me that many of God's
secrets ought to remain His, alone. It is possible that we aren't capable or able
to comprehend a lot of those things we seek answers to. Somewhere along the way we
need to accept the fact that all questions will be or may not need to be answered when
we fall asleep and our souls are in Heaven.

So, what are some of the unanswered questions that you would like to know when you
arrive? I have some.....

How come God chose folks that weren't exactly perfect to be major players in His plan?
You know, King David, Moses, Abraham...  Well, that answer is almost self-evident. No one,
not even these great Biblical characters is/was perfect, except, of course, the Son of God.

What about election and predestination? Why are some chosen and others apparently not?
Since God alone can bring salvation, how did He make these decisions?

What about time, as it applies to God? is time just a human dimension? If God can see
all of time laid out before Him, can he go back and make changes?

Could Jesus have sinned? We knew that he was tempted in the same way humans are
tempted and we know that He lived a perfect, Holy life, but could He have?

Why did God give humans the possibility of redemption and not the angels? 

What will the new earth and the new heaven be like? What about those new, perfect
resurrected bodies? 

Will we see loved ones in Heaven? Will we recognize them and have similar relationships
with them?

Well, I could certainly go on. While it is fun to ponder some of these issues, there is
plenty that has been revealed to us in God's word and creation. Obviously, we haven't
been given all the details... maybe they are to come and maybe we just won't
really care.

I am looking forward to the future. Come, Jesus! We are certainly ready to take
to our knees and exalt You!!

Limitless

All space and time unfolds before the face of God.

We all, I believe, try to increase our understanding of who God is and what He is like.
It's a part of our respect, admiration and love for the blessings He has graciously given
to us, His children. 

He certainly does not hide His identity! His word, the Holy Bible, reflects His being
as does His creation. The sheer awesomeness of God keeps us grasping for the best
understanding we can possibly have, given the fact that we are people and He is
God. 

The one word that might sum up our Heavenly father is the word...limitless!
We live a life full of limitations. Physical laws such as gravity limit our ability to
move about, physical limitations on our senses limit our ability to see, hear... etc.
We have as limited ability to think and understand. We are limited by life span;
we are born and at a time known only by God and will pass on from this earthly existence.
Even our imaginations, our dreams and our expectations have limits.

But not God! He is eternal. He is omniscient. He is omnipresent. He is Holy. He
is truth. He is love. He is the alpha and the omega, He is sovereign. He is faultless.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, but the point is clear and important. He is without
limitation. This, thankfully, on a practical level, means that He is very much capable
of constantly being aware of each of us...each hair on our head.. each tear that falls.
He knows what we need even before we ask Him. He has reached out to us,
through His loving-kindness and offered His son as propitiation for our sinfulness.

How amazing is our God! How blessed are we to be His adopted children!