The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"How Well?"
If asked, "How well do you know God and understand His truth?", we could not properly answer the question, primarily based on His infinite glory and being.
"Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen" (I Timothy 1:17).
If we could voyage to the edge of the vast but not infinite universe, we would never actually gauge our progress because we could not know how far we had to travel to reach the end of our journey. God, however, is infinite, and thus no believer in the Lord Jesus Christ can claim to realize how well we know Him or comprehend the truth He has revealed. The best we can affirm involves the acknowledgement offered by the Apostle Paul of all, "Nothing yet as he ought to know" (I Corinthians 8:2).
This includes every character trait of our Lord, every inclination of His heart, every brilliance of His mind, every way of His hand, every revelation of His Word, and everything He has done, is doing, and promises to do forevermore. "His greatness is unsearchable… God doeth great things and unsearchable; marvelous things without number" (Psalm 145:3; Job 5:9). Regardless of how far we have ventured, infinity and eternity beckons... "Come further, dive deeper, ascend further, fly higher." Indeed, both now and forever, the Apostle Peter's command applies, regardless of how much we have known and embraced, "But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18).
The truth - the vast, wondrous, and glorious truth - humbles us. We all should know our Lord and His truth much better than we do. Human experience involves much opportunity to drink deeply of the Water of life, but we all too often inexcusably neglect or avoid the wellspring that ever lies before us. No less than Paul included himself in the indictment of "nothing yet as he ought to know." Thus, we all do well to frequently acknowledge with much repentance that we could have journeyed so much further into God and His "wonders without number" (Job 9:10).
At the same time, no more thrilling thought can grace our hearts and minds than the prospect that our journey into a limitless God has always in a very real sense just begun. As believers in the Lord Jesus, we know Him to some degree, based on our response to the ongoing grace and truth that lies before and within us. Find the most ardent and devoted believer, however, and he does not know how far he has journeyed into God because he cannot measure eternity and infinity. If asked the simple question, for example, "How good have you found the Lord to be?", our devoted believer shakes his head in wonder. "Wondrously, gloriously good!" he responds. "But honestly," he continues, "attempting to answer the question actually stills my mind because the truth of the matter is that I know so very little of what can be known. The Psalmist was right. His greatness is unsearchable!"
The God eternally beyond complete knowledge offers us in this day more of Himself and His truth than we have yet discovered. Let us not miss this opportunity of a lifetime, and of forever. Our Lord can be known, by His Spirit, His Word, His people, His world, and His personal and providential working in our hearts and lives. We were made and redeemed for the journey, and wherever we are in our progress…
There is no end to the quest we know,
forever beckons on.
Our spirits soar in skies so blue,
above all clouds of storm.
Yes, we fly into the heart of God
as in His Son we trust.
And earth will soon be nothing more
than long forgotten dust.
So spread your wings and catch the wind,
o journeyman of hope,
and race toward horizons blessed
with those who also know
that the quest of hearts is Jesus,
He is our shining sun.
It matters not how far we've come,
the journey's just begun.
"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!"
(Romans 11:33)
Weekly Memory Verse
We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
(II Corinthians 4:18)
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