Living with Tozer's God

BlogPost #4: Living with Tozer's God

"For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he." 

 Prov. 23:7

What's In A Name?

If I said to you, 'That family has a good name', you'd immediately understand what I was saying. It would likely include some element of 'honor' or 'highly respected'. But, what makes a name special? Think about it. Is there anything special about John Smith or Mary Jones? No. Even the name of 'John Doe' is special only because it's become the 'go to' name for the nameless!

On the other hand, when you hear the name 'Michael Jordan' or 'Bill Gates' or 'Warren Buffett' or 'Billy Graham' or 'Mother Teresa'...almost immediately your perception changes. These names are not considered common, they are revered by many. But, why?

Great people are identified by their names. Sometimes, it's a nickname (like 'the Babe' for the great baseball player, or 'Air Jordan' because of the way Michael Jordan seemed to be able to float in the air as he leaped toward the basket to slam home a dunk). We are, of course, excluding what we often call 'celebrities'; famous by no means equals 'greatness'. The infamous are famous, but for the wrong reasons. But, great people are normally deemed 'great' primarily for two reasons. The answer is pretty well summed up in two words: character and accomplishments. 

In this sense, God has chosen to reveal Himself just like other people. He is known and identified by His Names. The Scriptures are literally filled with examples. In fact, this is the primary way He has revealed Himself. Think about it, God has dozens of names, but He has no first name (at least not that we know of, like Tom or Jack). All of His Names either represent some element of His Personal Character or His Accomplishments (i.e. His deeds).

Point to Note: God has clearly gone to great lengths to reveal Himself to mankind. Why would He do this? The answer is simple? He wants to be known! It's why He created us in the first place.

There are two examples of this in Scripture which can be clearly seen. The first is in the first two chapters of Genesis. Chapter 1 begins as we all know, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...". Here 'God' is revealed as the single source of all creation. You may or may not believe that, but it's clearly what the Scriptures declare (and other Scriptures reinforce this declaration).

Now you can get very technical and 'nerdy' about all this and end up, as Tozer might say, missing the sublime point of it all. If the Scriptures are true, then this 'Creator'-person is the unique being of all time. If it's true that He has created this universe with all its majesty and complexity (despite our best efforts to abuse and destroy it), and if it's true that He holds it all together and causes it to maintain its 'operational integrity' (season after season, day after day)...then what must the majesty of the person who did it all actually be like! That's the point we dare not miss. He is an awesome God!

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In this sense, 

God has chosen to reveal Himself just like other people.

 He is known and identified by His Names.

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In the second chapter of Genesis, we see the creation of mankind, Adam and Eve. There is a marked transition in Gen. 2:4 from 'God' to 'LORD God' (which lasts through the rest of the chapter). What is the point of this change?

What happens is that now 'God' reveals that He is personally involved in both the creation of mankind and the oversight and direction of his life. As we learn in Ch. 3, this meant a daily experience where Adam met with the LORD God personally. Again, consider this in the light of who it is that Adam (using our modern vernacular) has 'friended', or more accurately, the LORD God has 'friended' Adam. Here we see a whole new facet of God, not an impersonal 'creator', but a craftsman who can breathe life into His creation. And with this new revelation and new experience comes a new name...the 'LORD God'.

 The 'God of Israel'

Flash forward a couple of thousand years to the time when God decided He was going to fulfill His promise to Abraham to bring His chosen people into the 'Promised Land'. His descendants were enslaved in Egypt and had no hope nor any expectation of being released. It was at this point that God made a visit to Moses in the desert to tell him that He had heard the cry of His chosen people and was going to deliver the Israelites and He was going to use Moses to do it.

The passage below is the encounter between God and Moses when Moses came back to the LORD to complain about the results of his first meeting with Pharaoh. Things definitely did not go as Moses expected! Pharaoh was angry and Israel was worse off than before! Neither Moses nor the children of Israel were happy campers. Yet, God seems to think everything is going as planned. Though confused and disappointed, Moses still did what God told him to do.

What Moses didn't realize was that God was now ready to reveal Himself in a new way, as 'Jehovah'. Pay special attention to v. 2-3.

Ex 6:1-8 NASB

6:1Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land."

2 God spoke further to Moses and said to him, "I am the LORD;

3 and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name , LORD (i.e. Jehovah) I did not make Myself known to them.

4 "I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned.

5 "Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.

6 "Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, "I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

7 "Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

8 "I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the LORD.'" 

Here's the Point: What a promise! Grasp the picture here; Egypt is the most powerful nation on earth. God is going to deliver Israel from Egypt, something which (humanly speaking) is impossible. But, remember, this is God speaking. He has a purpose in this. He has decided to pick out a special 'people' for Himself and He has chosen the Israelites to be that people.  

In a unique and special way, He is going to be their God. The experience of this mighty deliverance is meant to be the indisputable evidence and proof of who He is and His commitment to Israel. This is meant to be a very special relationship, which no one else will have with God! To highlight this, He has chosen to reveal Himself in a new way with a new name, Jehovah. This is the name which only God's 'chosen people' can use to address Him.

It's also important to note that this miraculous deliverance was meant to be sufficient proof for both the generation delivered out of Egypt and all future generations of God's that He can and will bless, protect and prosper them, if they will obey Him. It is the sad testimony of Scripture that this 'chosen people' simply refused to believe in their God.

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To highlight this (new relationship), He has chosen to reveal Himself

in a new way with a new name, Jehovah. This is the name which

only 'God's chosen people' can use to address Him.

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The point, again, is that God did the impossible simply to reveal that He could. I cannot overemphasize how crucial this revelation is! Meditate on this. We are now in the place as God's 'chosen ones', at least until the 'church age' is over. Is your God as big as Israel's? Has He delivered you from your bondage? Do you believe He can? If your God is not awesome, you are in deep spiritual trouble. Why?

You will never trust in a God that you don't truly believe is bigger than you, bigger than all your problems and, most important of all, cares deeply about you and your life. If you don't see that in your God, you won't commit yourself to Him. That's just the way we're wired.

That's enough for now. But, spend this week asking yourself the question, 'How big is my God? Does my life really reflect that I trust Him? Do I follow Him? Do I obey His commands? What evidence do I have in my life that supports my claim of 'believing in God'. Or, in reality, am I more of an agnostic (someone who just doesn't know) 'posing' as a Christian?

Remember, "...As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he". Your life is a living testimony of what you really believe. You know the truth...so does God.

And, yes...we'll get to Knowledge of the Holy soon. The truth is, we've been in the first sentence of page one since we started. To paraphrase Tozer, if you don't think accurately about God, the rest really doesn't matter. Until next time...