Finite minds come to the end of understanding.
When I sit back in times of contemplation and think about God and who He is, I am often amazed at my own short-sighted visions of Him and His character. As much as I would like to profess that I allow God, through His Word, to completely shape the view I have of Him, I am still bound by this mortal body and finite mindset. If God is truly God—meaning omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent—then He is vastly greater than what any human mind can comprehend.
I recently read an article by a scientist who was explaining the “self-assembly of the bacterial flagellum.” The point of this article was not to provide scientific knowledge for research but to debate the point of Intelligent Design. He argued that this process happens naturally and automatically. The debate centered on whether this was set in motion by an intelligent designer or guided each step along the way for every one of these cells.
While that is an interesting debate, it really shows a lack of understanding of the extent of God’s omnipotence. If God is all-powerful, He could create bacteria any way He chose. He can set the principles in motion and say, “Keep doing that.” This is what it appears God did when He created the world. He said, “Let there be light.” and there has been light ever since. Hebrews 1:3 tells us that He continues to speak and that He “uphold[s] all things by the word of His power.” All He has to do is speak and things happen. They will continue to go on until He says otherwise.
At the same time, He also oversees the operation of every molecular development in the universe. We know how He is involved in our daily lives and that He listens to our prayers. He is concerned when sparrows fall and He numbers each of our hairs. Colossians 1:17 informs us that “by Him all things consist.” The meaning there is that everything is held together by Him. He keeps the universe running according to the rules that He set forth. He keeps the world from flying apart.
Whenever I read this verse, I think of gravity. Gravity is the force that holds us down on the ground. It is the force that keeps our solar system orbiting around the sun. To some extent, scientists can explain how gravity works. They can calculate the amount of gravity an object exerts on another object. But the one thing they cannot explain is why it works. I see this as God’s hand in action. He is making all things hold together.
In the end, it really doesn’t matter how God actually makes this world work; that is His business. We do see, through His creation, His incredible design. We see His ingenuity, His brilliance and His wisdom. Romans 1 tells us that we can learn so much about God simply by observing His creation. In verses 19 and 20, Paul writes “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead.”
We know through His Word that God created all things. Upon further study, we see it was God the Son who actually did the work of creation. Colossians 1:16 says, “For by Him [i.e. Christ] were all things created.” That shows the accuracy of this passage in Ephesians 4:6 when it says God is the “Father of all.” If He is God the Father and if Christ, His Son, created everything, then He is definitely the Father of all.
The point of Ephesians 4:6, however, is that there is one God. On the surface, this looks like a contradiction to the concept of the Trinity. If there is a Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, how can there be only one God? Of course, the answer is that when we refer to the Trinity, we are referring to the Godhead: the one God in three persons. How does this occur? This is where our limited, finite minds come to the end of their understanding. We can say that it is God manifested in three persons. It helps us with our understanding. Then we consider that it is still one entity and it staggers our minds.
This is the great proclamation of Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.” The word for “Lord” here is the Hebrew word Jehovah: the self-existing God. Next, we see that this word for God is a plural form. What this verse is really saying is, “Jehovah, the triune God, is one God.” Only a God of infinite power and knowledge can express Himself as three persons and still be one God!
In my feeble mind, I imagine God wisely giving us these illustrations and manifestations of Himself so that we can understand Him better. He has shown us three facets of Himself that we can explore and seek to understand. He knows that this is the closest we can get to understanding how the triune Godhead works. We long for the day when we shall know Him completely, when we shall be like Him and see Him as He really is. Then, and only then, will we be able to understand the depths of this marvelous doctrine.
It stands to reason that if He is God, which He is, then we must abide by His rules and come to Him in the way that He prescribes. I often think of this when discussing matters of faith. Many people are under the false impression that they can come to God in the manner of their own choosing. I have often heard the phrase “I believe in a God that….” And then they go on to describe a God who fits their own set of beliefs. The Bible describes this as changing “the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man” (Rom. 1:23).
The fallacy of this is that it has no real basis other than in the minds of those individuals. That is why in that same passage it says, “Professing to be wise, they became fools.” It is much wiser to seek and find out what the God of the universe says about Himself. We should mold our thoughts and opinions around what He says and not the other way around.
We can fall into the same trap, even as believers, if we are not careful. We tend to think that we have a good understanding of God. We can make ourselves believe we have the whole Trinity figured out. While we are blessed with Spiritual understanding from the Holy Spirit that is not given to the natural man, we should never be complacent with our knowledge of God. Even the apostle Paul said his lifelong aim was to “know Him” (Phil. 3:10). May we never lose the wonder of the depths of His knowledge and power.
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33)