O God! I can’t even trust my own mind! Help me to know the difference between imagination and reality. Help me to know what is false and what is true. Help me to truly know You!
“You shall not make for yourself an idol.” (Exo. 20:4)
Throughout history people have carved images out of wood and stone. Many have called their graven images “God” and have worshipped them. In many parts of the Eastern world and Africa this is still a common practice today. Of course this seems ridiculous to us in our culture, however, I would argue that many people are actually doing the exact same thing without ever picking up a chiseling tool. Who is God? That is the most important question you will ever be faced with. How you describe Him says more about you than any other defining characteristic. Truth be told, most people don’t really care who God actually is. They prefer to imagine a God that fits how they would like Him to be. “The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” (2Tim. 4:3-4)
The problem is that, left to our own devices we will only produce a caricature of God and most likely a pretty poor one. Any description or caricature that falls short of who God actually is amounts to the greatest tragedy of mankind. This is the root of every false religion and every misdeed throughout history. A.W. Tozer once declared, “For myself, I refuse to worship anything of my own making. I don’t want to “make up” or “guess at” who God is – I want to know for sure. People have so many opinions on the matter, I don’t care about those either. The only source we can trust about God, is God Himself.” Thankfully, God desires to make Himself known to us. “I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD.” (Ezek. 38:23)
We were created in the likeness of God and He gifted us with the wonderful faculties of reason and communication. With these two capacities we can converse and even understand each other. By communicating with one another we get to know each other. It is the very same way with God. He made Himself known by communicating to us. He did this in three main ways. First He spoke through Godly men whom He inspired to write the sacred scriptures (our Bible): “No prophecy [of scripture] was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2Pet. 1:21) Second, He spoke to us through His Son Jesus Christ: “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father [Jesus], He has explained Him.” (John 1:18) Lastly, God still teaches believers about Himself through His Holy Spirit: “We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.” (1Cor. 2:10-12)
We need to keep in mind that ideas of God that are not rooted in the revealed truth of God’s word are mere speculation at best and outright idolatry at worst! Since that is true, let us commit to a diligent and continual search of the scriptures for a real understanding of His nature. Only in this way, can we be sure that we are actually worshipping the one true God and not some figment of our imagination.
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