Living with Tozer's God

Blogpost #20

Chapter 8: The Infinitude of God ... 
'More than Unlimited...Immeasurable'

Do you ever just have those moments where you wonder, "Is it all true?" Does God really exist? For thousands of years, a lot of really bright philosophers and theologians have struggled to prove the existence of God...but, they just can't do it. Of course, the reason they can't do it is that they set the "rules of proof" so that they exclude any revelation God might have given us. This would be a pretty good example of what Paul wrote in Romans 1, "thinking they were wise they became fools."

Others may argue, "Well, the evidence is there if you want to believe it." But, this is exactly my point. When you try to stretch your mind to grasp the being of God, you realize you just can't do it. It's too much! To use the modern vernacular, it just won't compute. You have to exercise faith!

There are times when you might (as a hymn writer wrote) be "lost in wonder, love and praise." But, other times you might just be lost! You might just find yourself wondering if it's all true or you're just deceiving yourself. Then you begin to ask the question, "Is it all worth the effort?" Short answer: Yes.

It's All About Faith

This is why we study the attributes of God. We need to know in what we are trusting. When a wave of doubt like this threatens to overwhelm us (and for every diligent seeker after God the doubts will come), it's good to remember the apostle Paul's admonition, "we walk by faith, not by sight." It's the things we see with our eyes that have the most potential to deceive us and terrify us. These scary situations and obstacles look like they're going to be permanent, but the Bible says they're temporary. It's the things that we see in the realm of faith which are permanent, eternal. But, they require faith to hang on to when the waves roll over us.

If you think about it for a moment, it has to be this way. To walk by sight would mean we would never have to look beyond what we could touch and feel. By default, it would confine us to the limits of this world. Anyone who seeks to know God this way can never find Him. He can only be known in the realm of faith...and the realm of faith has no limits. The Lord Jesus tried to teach this when He told us, "All things are possible with God." This is why it's important to understand the infinitude of God.

Eternal vs. Infinite

Eternity is not time without limits, infinite time. It's really time with no beginning and no end. It's existence without any time factor at all. Some have described it as the "eternal now." How can we comprehend such a concept? We can't. We can't even come up with a visual concept to help us.

That's why we tend to default back to the idea of "endless time"...we can at least visualize that, it's more comfortable. But, though we don't intend it, what's really happening is that we're beginning to "humanize" God, limiting Him so we can feel like we're getting a better grasp of Him. But by bringing God down to our level, we're really missing some of the majesty He could reveal to us. But, a little bit of Holy Spirit-aided mental effort can reap rich dividends.

After all, which is better, to be given a life which goes on forever ('everlasting life') or, to be joined in spirit into a union with One whose life is the source of all life and which has no beginning and no end. Ultimately, we do not want our lives to last forever; we want to share God's eternal life...there's a big difference!

The difference is in the quality of this "eternal" life. It's life in all the essential perfection in which God alone lives. The marvel of it all is that God the Father and God the Son have joined in a covenant which allows us to be brought into the experience of all that perfection and glory...forever with them!

We need to see God's infinitude in a similar way. When we say that God is infinite, we mean that His attributes are infinite, without limit. The concept of infinity is really of no value unless it is applied to something. That's the problem. It's applied to some thing. Is this the best way to think about God? It's not that it's wrong, it just falls short...and God has given us so much more.

Infinite and Eternal

Whenever we think about God's attributes, we need to always think of them in terms of being both infinite (without limits) and eternal (that is, they have always existed in all their fulness in God). That concept at least begins to put God into the exalted, separated position He deserves. The truth is, it's just a challenge to rightly think about the character and attributes of God.

Sadly, too often we make a feeble effort to try to understand God, then approximate the rest. That's why so many really don't know Him and tend to collapse when those difficult times in life come along. Is it really worth it? Will it make a real difference in our lives? Consider this...

Let's take God's power. One of God's fundamental attributes is His Omnipotence. Do we mean that He has unlimited power? Infinite power? Yes, but it's more than that. The word itself means "all-power." The Scripture is even clearer. In Romans 1:20, His power is described as "eternal power." In other words, God not only has all power, but there is no beginning and no end to His power. He is the source of all power. As amazing as this is, I'm sure experiencing the reality of it in person will be beyond words.

The point is, this is true of all His attributes. His grace is unlimited, His patience is unlimited, His love is unlimited...all of His attributes are infinite...and we need to commit ourselves to this truth if we're going to stand in the "evil day". Please don't misunderstand me here. God is pleased with every true effort we make to know Him better. If we need to use some mental "props" to help us, so be it. At the same time, when we face the limits of human understanding in trying to comprehend "God", we need to avoid settling for a concept of God just because it's easier to grasp...it may not be God at all!

Above all, we need to make sure that we don't lose the wonder and majesty of God! We need a big God, an infinite, eternal God to have strong faith. If we bring Him down to our level, where we can understand Him easier, we run the risk of having a God who is really not big enough to handle all our problems. It's a whole lot easier to forget about ourselves and circumstances when we're "lost in wonder, love and praise" of the One who is infinite, eternal and holy. 

How big is your God? It's best to find out now. Sadly, too many find out it's too late when the waves of doubt begin to roll over them in the crisis. Isaiah's word is timely... "Seek the LORD while He may be found ; Call upon Him while He is near." Is. 55:6 NASU