“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9
Turn on the news these days, or read social media, and accusations are flying. People are positive that someone did something with the worst of motives. They are positive that this person or that person is lying. They did it. They meant to do it. And we know why they did it.
However, that verse in Jeremiah tells us that we can’t even know our own hearts, let alone someone else’s heart. In her book None Like Him, Jen Wilkins reminds us that God is incomprehensible. Only He fully knows Himself. And unlike Him, we cannot fully know ourselves.
One of my favorite verses of Scripture talks about our incomprehensible God. The Infinite who cannot be fully known by the finite. Romans 11:33 states, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”
“And no, I am not an expert on God. Only God is. Such knowledge should cause me to worship. The depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God should bring me to my knees. His unsearchable judgments and inscrutable ways should inspire right reverence. And the glorious fact that he makes himself known in ways my finite understanding can grasp should cause me to celebrate, to devote my life to the joyful duty of discovering what he has made known of himself.”
None Like Him, p. 39
We finite human beings, created by the uncreated God, have it all wrong. We think we know everything. Or at least, everything about something. But we do not. We can know God by what He has revealed to us in His Word and in His creation. But it seems we forget who He is and think we are much greater than we are. Ah, pride. It so easily besets us. It comes so easy. When I should be on my knees, I’m judging my sister’s motives. When I should be worshiping my Creator, I’m criticizing my friends. When I should be honoring Almighty God, I’m hurting His church.
That’s the trouble with learning about God. When I meditate on His Holiness, Immutability, Self-Existence, Omniscience, or any of His attributes, I realize just how small I am. His love for me reminds me I am valuable. His Being reminds me I am His, for He is my Creator. Understanding this, I need to change my actions and my thoughts and bring them in line with the Truth.
Do you sometimes slip into forgetfulness like I do? Have you acted more like you are God than His child? Perhaps judged someone unfairly? Acted superior to someone? Or even presented yourself as an expert on parenting or nutrition or someone else’s future?
Let’s get back to remembering God and falling on our knees.
Let’s honor Him with our words, thoughts, and actions.
Let’s celebrate what He has shown us and devote our lives to learning more about Him!
