"To whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." (Ephesians 1:11)
Almighty God, just because He is almighty, needs no support. The picture of a nervous, ingratiating God fawning over men to win their favor is not a pleasant one; yet if we look at the popular conception of God that is precisely what we see. Twentieth-century Christianity has put God on charity.
Probably the hardest thought of all for our natural egotism to entertain is that God does not need our help. We commonly represent Him as a busy, eager, somewhat frustrated Father hurrying about seeking help to carry out His benevolent plans to bring peace and salvation to the world.
Too many missionary appeals are based upon this fancied frustration of Almighty God. An effective speaker can easily excite pity in her hearers, not only for the heathen but for God who has tried so hard and so long to save them and has failed for want of support. I fear that thousands of younger persons enter Christian service from no higher motive than to help deliver God from the embarrassing situation His love has gotten Him into and His limited abilities seem unable to get Him out of.
Lord, may I always remember it is a privilege to be a servant of the Most High God in accomplishing Your divine purposes, for You don't need me to accomplish Your will. You are Almighty God. Amen
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Divine Transcendence
"Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine, thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all." (1 Chronicles 29:11)
The term divine transcendence may sound like something that takes a lot of learning or at least a lot of profound thinking to understand, but it doesn't. Transcend simply means to go above, to rise above, to be above. Of course, it's very difficult to think of God as transcendent and also as immanent or omnipresent at the same time. It is difficult to understand how He can be here with us, in us, pervading all things, but at the same time transcending all things. It looks like a contradiction, but as with many other apparent contradictions, it is not at all contradictory; the two thoughts are entirely in accord with each other.
God is always nearer than you may imagine Him to be. God is so near that your thoughts are not as near as God; your breath is not as near as God; your very soul is not as near to you as God is. And yet, because He is God, His uncreated Being is so far above us that no thought can conceive it nor words express it.
There is a vast gulf between the great I AM and all created things. God's uncreated quality of life causes Him to be transcendent, to rise high above all creatures.
Lord, how awesome that You can be above all and yet so close. I am Your humble servant; may I act according to Your will today. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
God is so hard up for help, too, that it is our responsibility to help Him out, and we need to be "held accountable" to that "call" or else!
ReplyDeleteThe "everything starts with us" kind of faith will get us nowhere! And if we think that faith begins with us, we are so DEAD wrong! Thanks Joe!
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