Week 4 – Devotional
Passages for Meditation: Deuteronomy 29 and 32; See selected verses on God’s transcendence
I have heard people say that they won’t believe in God because He doesn’t make any sense to them. I have even heard some go a step further in question and even judgment of God by saying, “How could a good and loving God allow this travesty to happen!” Certainly bad things happen in this world! Honestly, I must admit that there are a lot of things that I do not comprehend about God and His ways. However, that does not bring consternation to me; it brings comfort.
Here are my reasons for taking comfort in a God that I cannot fully comprehend. 1) The knowledge and power that would be required to create this world and universe certainly would be beyond my scope of comprehension and would require a Being worthy of my admiration, subjection, and worship. 2) If I could completely comprehend this Creator-God it would make me equal with Him. That is a scary thought because I know myself—limited, deceitful, selfish, thoughtless, wicked—well, you get the point. I don’t want God to be like me! If He was, He would not be worthy of my respect and worship. 3. What I can comprehend about God is a gift and blessing from Him that reveals His love, grace, and care for me, His creature. So, I take great comfort in the knowledge that God is transcendent or beyond me. I need to accept the truths about Him as He reveals them through His creation and written word.
I marvel at what Moses was inspired to says about God in two very revelatory passages:
1) Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” I must accept that there are some things in this life that God keeps from me for my own good. The things he does reveal are for my children and me that we might obey His good will for our lives.
2) Deuteronomy 32:3-4, “For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He.” From these two verses we can learn much about the God who is:
a. His name is worth talking about as well as being excited about,
b. His greatness is recognizable in an expanding and ever-growing way,
c. He is the Rock signifying His stability and protective power,
d. He is perfect, therefore He does not err or make mistakes,
e. He is just, therefore He will always be fair with us and hold us rightly accountable,
f. He is faithful, therefore He will never let us down even though we may not understand the hardship He brings our way,
g. He is sinless, therefore He will never treat anyone in a wrong way,
h. He is upright, therefore He will deal with us in every appropriate and best way.
I encourage you to take some time and meditate on these three verses and what they reveal about the God who is. Let’s respond in awe and worship of our great Creator and Lord!
With Prayer, Mark
© January, 2011
Magnify! 
Great verses Mark to remind us of God’s greatness and incomprehensibility.
It’s interesting that this week our church family is memorizing Romans 11:33-36. “Oh the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. . . ”
And then I am preaching from Mark 6:45-56 when Christ walks on the water and He “meant to pass them by”, which I believe is language that echoes back to Exodus 33 which you mention above in reference to Moses. When God “passes by” He is revealing His glory to someone (either Moses or Elijah–1 Kings 19). So here Jesus is “passing by” to show that He is God–for only God can walk on the water. He displays His power over nature as its Creator.
Thanks for the post–the Scriptural reminders and your meditations on them.