The Unlimited God
Bible Reading: Psalm 145:3; Isaiah 55:6-9; Romans 11:33-36
We humans have limits. There is a limit to how far or how fast we can run, jump, or swim. No matter how strong we are, there’s only so much we can carry, or lift. On the best of days there is only so much we can accomplish. Our cars are limited in how fast they can go. Our computers are limited by how much memory they can hold. Everything we own is limited by how long it can last. There are limits to how much we can spend (except when it comes to the government) (haha). There are even limits to how much we can think, or love, or endure. The very length of our existence on earth is of limited duration.
It’s difficult to think of a God without limits. There is a temptation, if not a sinful tendency, on our part to put “God in a box.” We are prone to think of Him in earthbound ways. Just as the French writer Voltaire once said, “If God has made us in his image, we have returned him the favor.” A.W. Tozer likewise noted, “This God we have made and because we have made Him we can understand Him, because we have created Him He can never surprise us, never overwhelm us, nor astonish us, nor transcend us.”
Because God is infinite, it means He is measureless and knows no bounds. It is not just that He transcends us (which He does), but His transcendence is in an infinite sphere of existence in which it is impossible for us to comprehend. We’ve measurements for length and weight and volume and speed and power and other such things, but these are all rendered useless when it comes to our understanding of God.
Though we struggle as limited beings to comprehend a God without limits, there is much comfort and hope bound up in our consideration of it. We are limited, but God is not. What is true of the person of God, is true of Him in all His perfections. So, when it comes to His thoughts and ways, they are higher to us than the heavens are from the earth (Isaiah 55:8-9). When it comes to His love and the “breadth and length and height and depth of it” we are told it is a love which “surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:18-19). When He forgives, He removes our transgressions from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). His omnipotence is such that “nothing is too hard” for Him (Jeremiah 32:17). When He saves He “saves to the uttermost” (Hebrews 7:25). The peace He can bring to our hearts is a peace “which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). Indeed, our infinite God is able to work in our lives in a manner which is “far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). He is infinite in who He is and infinite in what He does! His greatness is unsearchable (Psalm 145:3)!
J. B. Philips authored a book entitled “Your God is too Small,” in which he deals with many of the common misconceptions regarding God. It is possible for us to invent in our minds a small and manageable god whom we can contain. We are better off to trust the Spirit, in whom our minds are being renewed, to increasingly aligned our thinking to the truth about God revealed to us in of the Word.
Infinite God. In our minds we’ve shrunk You to such an extent you bear little resemblance to the full measure of your limitless perfections. Forgive us. Open our eyes that we might behold the wonderful truths from your Word which can work to correct our smallish vision of You. May our hearts be henceforth filled with praise and thanksgiving as we worship You according to the wonderful reality of who You are!
“To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.”
Isaiah 40:26
