written by Kenn Francart
What hath God, in His infinite wisdom, written across the pages of time and space within the soul of men? We can only assume that what we read is with out a doubt the direct word of God as He has given it to specific men to place on parchment. So, after diligent, meticulous and scrupulous translation, we can read it and believe His word. Even beyond this concept of read and believe, we find an even more inscrutable truth which is, gaining an insight into the God that cares enough to place Himself into a number of `pigeon holes' just for our benefit.
God is limitless, yet because of our inadequacies, our incapacity, and our finiteness, He has limited Himself insofar as toward our understanding. We cannot conceive even the slightest of absolutes (if there exists a slight absolute), so how could He expect us to come close to Him, when He is the epitome of all the virtues. Our knowledge of Him is mere wisps of haze, which keeps us from approaching Him with any semblance of true comprehension.
Yet, He cares for us, He longs for us, He seeks us to help us find a truth that will lead us to some form of understanding whereby we will derive a yearning to know more. He will then throw open wide many doors into a deeper growth in Him.
Understand this, I have not said that God is limited by His act of limiting Himself for our understanding; what I want to state very clearly is that His limitation is only man directed. He is and will always be, by virtue of His absolute virtue limitless, absolutely. If He were otherwise, He could not be God; as God must always be omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipresent (always present everywhere), not one attribute without the other and no two without the third. In His omnipotence He has absolute power, constrained only by His absolute wisdom, holiness, and perfect nature.
Omnipotence, Omniscience and Omnipresence are attributes which solely belong to God. God must be, to be God, each of these and all of these at the same time. All powerful with all knowledge and everywhere at the same time can only belong to God. Absolute Power is ascribed in Scripture in Genesis 17:1 "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, 'I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect'." Additionally, in Deuteronomy 3:24 Moses prays, "O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might?" Finally, (though not the only references available) the only usage of the word in Scripture is found in Revelation 19:6 "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."
None of the attributes has God taken to Himself, all of His perfection is what God is. If but one attribute were found missing from God, God (as we perceive him to be) would not be. God is the total of perfection. If any part were missing, perfection would be deficient and consequently void. God cannot take to Himself what He already is.
For mere human beings, the comprehension of absolute truth, absolute wisdom, absolute mercy, absolute justice, absolute wrath, absolute love and all other possible virtues, (in their absolute) is not within our grasp. Also to try to coalesce all the absolutes into a modifiable working temperance of any one absolute, so destroys our inward tunneling of thought that it alerts us to the Omniscience of our all-knowing God. Take the concept of absolute truth and absolute mercy and, try as hard as you might, you will never be able to find a way to temper absolute wrath, without reducing either of the absolutes to less than their total sum. Yet, God, as you are fully aware, is more than capable to accomplish our impossibles.
Nowhere is man less understanding when we hear "Omnipresent" We are, at best, a three dimensional being. With limited understanding of any other kind of dimension. To man time must exist, or the very framework of our existence would be in jeopardy. Of course, time is only for the convenience of man and therefore a gift from God. Genesis 1:14 "And God said, `Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days,and years'." Time has no consequence to God. Consider 2 Peter 3:8 "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Time is nonexistent to God. The facet of Omnipresence, though incomprehensible to man, is not even considered by our Lord.
All that has been stated about the Omnipotence, Omniscience and Omnipresence of our Lord God is to show the wonder of, the love of, and the mercy of a God so powerful, so wise, and ever present. We think ourselves wise and capable of great things until we see Him, and then bow in humble adoration of One that could love and care for mere us. May we never lose sight of our Heavenly Father; the Father that wants us to be so close to Him, He will always be Abba (Papa) Father.
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