Our god Is Too Small

Are you putting God in a box?

I am not a big fan of the phrase "put God in a box" but as it stands i'm at a loss for a better phrase to describe the situation. I'm tired of defining God. I'm tired of people who think they can define God.

I'm ready to stand with Albert Einstein on this one. He was once asked about church. He said that he couldn't stand the place because no one there knew a thing about God, yet they all thought they did. They drew these lines around where they thought he was but Eistein said that he saw God everyday in science and was conviced that they had no idea what they were talking about.

How often do preachers and teachers stand up before us and try to tell us that God is just so? But how do they know? I feel like the more I read Scripture the less I really know about God. I read His declaration of Himself, The Lord, The Lord, Gracious and Merciful, abounding in Steadfast Love and Faithfulness! and in the very next sentence He declares, Visting the iniquities of the parents on the third and fourth generations! What is that? How does that fit with His graciousness and mercy? He's just but He's merciful. He's love and yet wrathful. He's holy yet personable and desiring to have a personal relationship with us! How does it all work?

I am becoming more certain everyday that I know nothing about God. He's unfathomable and incromprehensible. I think that one of the biggest mistakes made by evangelicals today is to pick one attribute and hold to it. How much more are you missing if you only believe that God is love. That's like seeing a garden and only taking note of the lavender. You go from the garden completely missing the daisies and roses and blackeyed susans and violets and tulips and all the rest of the great things that are there!

Having such a closed minded view of God makes worship shallow. I makes God seem to be less awesome. Maybe this is why we don't tremble when we come before Him... Our god is too small. How can we tremble at someone who is as easily defined as a word in the dictionary? How can we fear the one who can destroy the body and cast it into hell if all we see is God is love? Where is our reverence? We have none and no hope of coming to that point unless our eyes are opened to His immeasurablity.

God, Let me not forget to tremble!