Week Five - Day Four: Self Revealing

The British theologian J. I. Packer has some interesting observations related to God revealing Himself to us.

“It is clear to start with, that knowing God is of necessity a more complex business than knowing a fellow-man, just as knowing my neighbor is a more complex business than knowing a house, or a book, or a language. The more complex the object, the more complex is the knowing of it.”¹

It is impossible to imagine anything more complex than God, isn’t it? So we can cut ourselves some slack. It’s hard to know God – but it’s worth the effort! As C. H. Spurgeon said, “Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, and continued, investigation of the great subject of the Deity.”²

We Really Can't Avoid Thinking About God

I think we can go further. We can remind ourselves that we really can’t avoid thinking about God even if we want to. We will do theology, despite our best efforts not to. A late night look at the stars, the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, persistent bad health, amazing blessings, the birth of a child, the advances of age … all of these circumstances and many, many more inexorably press us to think about God. We simply cannot choose to ignore Him. All we can do is to think correctly or incorrectly about Him.

Our Knowing God is Dependent on God Allowing Us To Know Him

But I digress. Let’s get back to Dr. Packer because he has a very interesting point to make ...

“In the case of human beings, the position (of knowing them) is further complicated by the fact that … people cover up, and do not show everybody all that is in their hearts … Thus, the quality and extent of our knowledge of them depends more and more on them than on us. Our knowing them is more directly the result of their allowing us to know them.”

In other words, human beings are not only incredibly more complicated than a house or a book, but they also have the capacity to cover up and hide. This means that knowledge is only possible to the degree that it is revealed. Other human beings have to let us know them if we would know them at all. Packer adds that when we feel inferior to someone for any of a variety of reasons, this is even more the case.

Can you see the application to our efforts to acquaint ourselves with God? In this case, we have a subject of infinite complexity, from whom we feel inferior to the greatest possible degree – and justifiably so.

Thanks be to God that He does show Himself to us! He shows Himself first of all in all that He has made; He shows Himself in creation. Look again at Psalm 19:1-6.

(1) The heavens declare the glory of God;
      the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

(2) Day after day they pour forth speech;
      night after night they display knowledge.

(3) There is no speech or language
      where their voice is not heard.

(4) Their voice goes out into all the earth,
      their words to the ends of the world.
      In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,

(5) which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,
      like a champion rejoicing to run his course.

(6) It rises at one end of the heavens
      and makes its circuit to the other;
      nothing is hidden from its heat.

This is an awesome truth and we would do well to constantly remember it.

But we want to start our day today with an even more awesome truth. Today, we are reminded of the greatest truth of all. Today, we peer into the heart of why we are able to be connected to God. At this point I’m just trying to pile sentences on top of one another to build a little drama. Today, we get to be reminded why we are Christ-followers. Okay, enough already. Here’s the dramatic truth that can launch us effectively, not only into today, but into everyday: God has shown Himself in creation and we are grateful for it. But He has shown Himself preeminently in Christ!

In Jesus, God squeezed Himself into human skin! Look at this amazing exchange between Jesus and one of his first followers recorded in John 14.

John 14:6-10

(6) Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (7) If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

(8) Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

(9)Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? (10) Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

Before You Start Your Day

1. To reinforce this great truth, let’s look at Hebrews 1:1-3.

   (1) In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, (2)but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. (3) The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (Hebrews 1:1-3)

2. What phrase from this passage strikes you this morning? Turn it over in your mind for a minute.
3. Now let’s spend some time again with the opening stanza of Psalm 19. Review what you memorized yesterday and try to add to it.