To begin to comprehend the incomprehensible

Who is God? How are we even to begin to think about him? Is there somewhere, somehow, to unravel the vastness of the seemingly incomprehensible? God can so easily seem distant, severe, austere and disapproving. But where do we begin if we really have no idea what or who this God, followed by millions for millennia, is?

We begin with Jesus.

That might sound simple—even obvious. But I vividly remember the day that I actually grasped this.

Prior to this point, I had found the concept of God confusing, perhaps even frightening. The God presented in the Old Testament seemed to me to be distant, awe-inspiring, and mighty. He appeared removed and far away.

But Jesus, he was different.

In the New Testament, we have the four accounts of his life. We can see him talking, walking, we hear how he acts, interacts and responds. We see him as a man, who was also, somehow, God. And so, for that reason, is far more accessible, because he is one of us. Different, yes, but one of us.

I do not remember what it was that provoked this thought in me. But I distinctly remember the moment, the day, when it dawned on me that this unfathomable God that I followed, he was just like Jesus. For Jesus, I knew. At least I knew of him. I had read and heard about him since I was a small child. Jesus, I could picture. I knew how Jesus responded to people, particularly those who were vulnerable and weak and to the sinners that flocked to him.

God was suddenly no longer quite so mysterious, or so frightening. And I found myself filled with excitement. I even remember running to my husband and saying to him, “I’ve just worked it out! God is like Jesus!” For me, it was a moment of awe and wonder. And in it, I found a deep peace. For this God who I had found so incomprehensible is safe and good, and so far removed from what we can imagine God to be, for he is just like Jesus.

Clearly, this is no new thought. For the apostle, Paul, himself wrote precisely this in his letter to the church in Colossae,

“He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God.”

Colossians 1:15

So, now, when I think about God, I always run my thoughts through the person of Jesus. For he is the one who came that we might know what God is like. And he died that we might be a people who live in communion with the one who made us.

The verse above is merely the beginning of a truly magnificent description of who Jesus is, Paul writes:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1: 15 – 20

Dear Jesus, what a gift we have been given! Thank you. Thank you that you show us who God is, that we can look to you to see and to know what God is like. Please give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Grow our understanding of you and draw us closer to you, day by day. Amen

How has your understanding of God grown and changed over time? How do you see Jesus? And how has/does this influence how you see God?

Here are a few previous posts that relate, in case you missed them:

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