For some reason, I find myself often reading that amazingly frank text from Isaiah 55, where the Lord reminds us, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” (Isaiah 55:9, NRSV) I know that rather instinctively, but suspect that there is a need in my life to be reminded often that God’s infinite being can never be fully grasped by my very finite mind.
The temptation for most of us maybe that we confuse what we understand about God with the ultimate truth of who He is. As soon as I do that, I’m guilty of substituting my own image of God with God Himself. That at least borders on idolatry, if not outright crosses the line.
As Miraslav Volf suggests in his wonderful book, Free of Charge, “Our hearts become factories of idols in which we fashion and refashion God to fit our needs and desires.” (page 22) Our temptation is – and this may happen to most of us more often than we realize, and certainly more often than we wish – that we easily confuse what we have understood to be true of God with some kind of infallible truth. My concern here is not that there isn’t some infallible truth about God, but rather my concern is with the fallibility of my own understanding of that truth.
Of course, because of the coming of Jesus of Nazareth into the world, we who are Christian are quick to suggest that in Christ, we see the truth about God. Amen! After all, it was Jesus who said, “whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9) Interestingly, Jesus said that to a group of disciples who often confused their image of God’s Messiah with the ultimate truth about God’s Messiah. So this problem isn’t a new one, by any means!
Scott Peck, in his book Further Along the Road Less Travelled, once said, “But the Jesus of the Gospels – who some suggest is the best-kept secret of Christianity . . .” (page 160) reminds us that even when it comes to understanding God because we know Jesus, there is danger in confusing our understanding of Jesus with the real Jesus.
None of this is to suggest that we simply give up trying to discover truth about God. Quite the contrary. It simply reminds us of what an exciting venture it is to travel the Christian journey, what a beyond-human-words God we love and serve, and hopefully, a word of caution. It’s a dangerous thing to confuse our understanding of a God whose ways and thoughts are beyond us with that God Himself.
May there be no idols in our hearts and minds in this new year.
Wye Huxford 