Understanding God in Christian preaching emphasizes the vastness and mystery of divine wisdom, contrasting human limitations with God's infinite knowledge. Illustrations often use images of partial or limited understanding, highlighting humility and dependence on the Spirit for true insight (Proverbs 3:5-6, 1 Corinthians 2:14). This subject calls believers to seek deeper revelation rather than relying on superficial learning.
Partial knowledge can breed arrogance; true wisdom requires humility and deeper study.
An astronomer who was on his way to give a lecture discovered that his seatmate on the airplane was a preacher. Early in the conversation he assured the clergyman that he knew everything about religion he needed to know. The preacher expressed delight and asked where the scientist had studied religion and how much he had read the Bible.
"Oh, no," the astronomer replied, "I've never studied theology, and I don't read the Bible, but I know the Golden Rule, and I figure that's enough religion for me."
"Well, on that basis," declared the preacher, "I guess I know all about astronomy."
The scientist scoffed and asked the pastor what he knew about the cosmos, to which the man of the cloth replied gravely, "Twinkle, twinkle little star; how I wonder what you are."
God teaches that human knowledge is limited and must focus on His purposes.
George Washington Carver was not only one of America's greatest agriculturists and scientists, he was also the pioneer of the synthetics industry which has revolutionized life in this country and around the world. When he was old and bent with years, he shared with a group of students one day the story of his single most crucial undertaking-unlocking the mysteries of the simple peanut. He first cried out, "Oh, Mr. Creator, why did You make this universe?" "Then," he told the students who were listening intently, "the Creator answered me. 'You want to know too much for that little mind of yours,' He said, 'Ask me something more your size.' So I said, 'Dear Mr. Creator, tell me what man was made for.' Again He spoke to me, and He said, 'Little man, you are still asking for more than you can handle. Cut down the extent of your request and improve the intent.' And then I asked my last question. 'Mr. Creator, Why did You make the peanut?' 'That's better!' the Lord said, and He gave me a handful of peanuts and went with me back to the laboratory and together, we got down to work." The results of that conversation with God are history. God wanted Dr. Carver to realize that his knowledge was only partial, and that his mind was not great enough to unravel all the mysteries of the universe, or even of man. He showed him that such a simple thing as a lowly peanut had enough potential within it to keep his brilliant mind well-occupied for a lifetime. The Prize of Folly
One of Aesop's fables tells of a lottery that Jupiter held for the gods. It happened that the best prize, "wisdom," fell to his daughter Minerva, upon which a general murmur arose that the wheel had been rigged. In order to punish and silence the protesters, Jupiter awarded them the prize of "folly" instead of "wisdom," and they went away perfectly contented. And from that time, it is said, the greatest fools have looked upon themselves as the wisest men.
Human minds cannot grasp God’s mysteries without the Spirit’s revelation.
Can a man born blind conceive in his mind all of the varieties and properties of color merely by hearing of them? How foolish it would be for a blind man to conclude that because he cannot see colors they do not exist. He simply lacks the capacity for seeing them. It would be equally foolish for us to reject the existence, the reality, of that which is mysterious to us, but which has been revealed to us by God. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:10-11, "But God hath revealed them [the elements of mystery in the gospel] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God."
Our understanding of God and truth is always partial and imperfect in this life.
When Paul says, "For now we see through a glass, darkly" in 1 Corinthians 13:12, he is not speaking of seeing through a dirty windowpane but of looking into a shadowy mirror such as those manufactured in Bible times in Corinth. All our attempts to look at truth as we see it reflected in creation, in history, in our own consciousness, and even in the Bible, can give us only a dim and imperfect idea of God and of heavenly realities because of human finiteness and sin. Our perception of realities may be more or less the truth as far as our perception goes, but this is always dim and imperfect.
Human consciousness reveals an innate awareness of God despite atheistic claims.
Dr. Stebbing of Gray's Inn, speaking, in one of his sermons, of Hume, and some other metaphysical writers, said sarcastically, "Our thoughts are naturally carried back, on this occasion, to the author of the first philosophy, who likewise engaged to open the eyes of the public. He did so; but the only discovery they found themselves able to make was, that they were naked." Percy.
Human history and cultures universally acknowledge God, refuting atheism.
In the height of his culture, the olden Greek erected an altar; and when Paul stood on Mars Hill he could appeal to that presentiment of the Unknown God which lives in the consciousness of mankind. The sable Numidian, however he may symbolize him, however gross his conception of him, worships God. The Persian saw God in the sun, the fire. The colonists of Columbus's newly-discovered Western World found the savage aborigines worshipping God; and Europe, with this her nineteenth-century civilization, with one accord bows before the throne of the Invisible God. Down from the far, far ages, from the infancy of the world and of the human race, comes a voice from the heart of humanity. Its utterances in the past are recorded by the iron pen of history; it thunders in our very ears in the present; it speaks of God. And we are asked to believe that the great heart of humanity lies, has always lied! It does not lie, it has not lied. God exists; and before him have I knelt, and with all the fervor of which my nature is capable have I poured out my soul in gratitude to him for that he has rescued me from the horrible pit, the blinding creed, of atheism.
— IV. Bebbington
Time together reveals true character more than brief daily conversations over years.
Three days of uninterrupted company in a vehicle will make you better acquainted with another than one hour's conversation with him every day for three years. Lurater.
Even simple believers know spiritual truths wiser than great philosophers through faith.
St. Chrysostom is wont to insist, by virtue of faith, rustic and mechanic idiots do, in true knowledge, surpass the most refined wits, and children prove wiser than old philosophers. An idiot can tell us that which a learned infidel doth not know; a child can assure us that wherein a deep philosopher is not resolved: for ask a boor, or a boy educated in our religion, who made him, he will tell you, God Almighty; which is more than Aristotle or Democritus would have told. Demand of him why he was made, he will answer you, to serve and glorify his Maker; and hardly would Pythagoras or Plato have replied so wisely. Examine him concerning his soul, he will aver that it is immortal; that it shall undergo a judgment after this life; that, accordingly, it shall abide in a state of bliss or misery everlasting: about which points neither Socrates nor Seneca could assure any thing. Inquire of him how things are upheld, how governed and ordered, he presently will reply, By the powerful hand and wise providence of God: whereas, among philosophers, one would ascribe all events to the current of fate; another, to the tides of fortune; one, to blind influences of stars; another, to a confused jumble of atoms. Pose him about the main points of morality and duty, and he will, in a few words, better inform you than Cicero or Epictetus, or Aristotle or Plutarch, in their large tracts and voluminous discourses about matters of that nature. Dr. Barron.
True knowledge of God reveals Him as Father, inspiring courage and brotherhood.
A Jew entered a Persian temple, and saw there the sacred fire. He said to the priest, "How, do you worship fire?"—"Not the fire: it is to us an emblem of the sun and of his animating light," said the priest. Then asked the Jew, "Do you adore the sun as a deity? Do you not know that he also is a creature of the Almighty?" The priest answered, that the sun was to them only an emblem of the invisible light which preserves all things. The Israelite continued, "Does your nation distinguish the image from the original? They call the sun their god, and kneel before the earthly flame. You dazzle the eye of the body, but darken that of the mind; in presenting to them the terrestrial light, you take from them the celestial." The Persian asked, "How do you name the Supreme Being?"—"We call him Jehovah Adonai; that is, the Lord who was, who is, and shall be."—"Your word is great and glorious; but it is terrible," said the Persian. A Christian approaching said, "We call him Abba Father." Then the Gentile and the Jew regarded each other with surprise, and said, "Your word is the nearest and the highest; but who gives you courage to call the Eternal thus?"—"The Father himself," said the Christian, who then expounded to them the plan of redemption. Then they believed, and lifted up their eyes to heaven, saying, "Father, dear Father;" and joined hands, and called each other brethren. Krummacher.
God knows His own even when human judgment is harsh and indiscriminate.
The Albigensian war, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, commenced with the storming of Bezieres, and a massacre, in which fifteen thousand persons, or, according to some accounts, sixty thousand, were put to the sword. Not a living soul escaped, as witnesses assure us. It was here that a Cistercian monk, who led on the crusaders, being asked how the Catholics were to be distinguished from heretics, answered, "Kill them all! God will know his own."
— Percy
Human knowledge of God is limited, like seeing only a widened river, not the ocean.
A young child, who has hitherto fancied that the rim of the sky rests on the earth a few miles away, and that the whole world lies within that circle, sails down the Forth there, and sees the river-banks gradually widening, and the river passing into a frith. When he comes back, he tells his young companions how large the ocean is. Poor boy! he has not seen the ocean, — only the widened river. Just so with all creature-knowledge of God. Though all the archangels were to utter all they know, there would still remain an infinity untold. Culcross.
Ignorance of the Bible leads to confusion about basic Christian facts.
A minister in New-York City says that he asked an apparently intelligent young lady who Pontius Pilate was; and she answered, "One of the apostles."
All knowledge should be limited by religion and directed toward practical use and action.
Being now to open a fountain such as it is not easy to discern where the issues and streams will take and fall, I thought it good and necessary, in the first place, to make a strong and sound head or bank to rule and guide the course of the waters, by setting down this position; namely, "that all knowledge is to be limited by religion, and to be referred to use and action." Lord Bacon.
Even great minds recognize their limited knowledge compared to the vastness of divine truth.
Sir Isaac Newton, after his sublime discoveries in science, said, "I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem only like a boy playing upon the seashore, and diverting myself by now and then finding a pebble, or a prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lies all undiscovered before me." Akin to this is a true Christian experience.
True knowledge of God comes not only from nature and history but also from personal experience.
The writer asked an aged negress if she had known Washington. She answered by asking, "Do you know God?"—"I hope I know something of him, ma'am."—"How, then, may one know God, sir?"—"We may learn something about his goodness and handiwork from what we see in yonder garden, and in these beautiful trees."—"You are right, massa; but is there no other way of knowing him?"—"Yes, ma'am, we may also learn something of him from his dealings with the sons of men, the history of nations, and the lives of individuals."—"Can we? But in no other way?"—"From the Bible we gain more knowledge of God than from all the other sources put together."—"Yes, indeed! and is there no other way?"—"By experience." Laying her hand upon her heart, and lifting her bleared eyes to heaven, she exclaimed, "Ah, now you have it, massa!"
— G. W. Hervey
Even the wisest acknowledge their limited understanding of both natural and divine knowledge.
Among the Romans, Nasica was called Corculum for his pregnancy of wit; among the Grecians, Democritus Abderita was called wisdom itself; among the Britons, Gildas was called the sage; among the Jews, Aben Ezra was called Hechachan. They said of him, that, if Knowledge had put out her candle, at his brain she might light it again; and that his head was the throne of wisdom. Among the Israelites was Ahithophel, whose counsel was an oracle. Here, now, was a pack of wise men; but why the Nile should overflow in the summer, when waters are at the lowest; or why the loadstone should draw iron to it, or incline to the pole-star, — which of them, with all their knowledge, can give a reason of either? And as in human, so in divine knowledge: the most acute and judicious have and must acknowledge their ignorance, and deplore their errors in divers points. We know but in part. If he that learned his divinity among the angels, to whom the Holy Ghost was an immediate tutor, knew but in part, it is well with us if we know but part of that part. Spencer.
Knowledge alone is neutral and can serve either sin or righteousness depending on its use.
Virtue is an angel; but she is a blind one, and must ask of Knowledge to show her the pathway that leads to her goal. Mere knowledge, on the other hand, like a Swiss mercenary, is ready to combat either in the ranks of sin or under the banners of righteousness; ready to forge cannon-balls, or to print New Testaments; to navigate a corsair's vessel or a missionary ship. Horace Mann.
Sacred knowledge fearlessly explores all realms to enrich and comprehend God's creation.
In the performance of its sacred offices, it fears no danger, spares no expense, looks in the volcano, dives into the ocean, perforates the earth, wings its flight into the skies, enriches the globe, explores sea and land, contemplates the distant, examines the minute, comprehends the great, ascends to the sublime; no place too remote for its grasp, no heavens too exalted for its reach. De Wut Clinton.
Partial knowledge leads to wrong judgments without seeing the full picture.
A traveller, as he passed through a large and thick wood, saw a part of a huge oak, which appeared mishapen, and almost seemed to spoil the scenery. "If," said he, "I was the owner of this forest, I would cut down that tree." But when he had ascended the hill, and taken a full view of the forest, this same tree appeared the most beautiful part of the landscape. "How erroneously," said he, "I have judged while I saw only a part!" The full view, the harmony and proportion of things, are all necessary to clear up our judgment. Dr. Olin.
True pleasure comes from knowledge of truth and intellect, surpassing sensory pleasures.
The mind is the man, and the knowledge of the man. A man is but what he knoweth. The mind itself is but an accident to knowledge; for knowledge is a double of that which is. The truth of being and the truth of knowing is all one, and the pleasures of the affections greater than the pleasures of the senses. And are not the pleasures of the intellect greater than the pleasures of the affections? Is it not a true and only natural pleasure whereof there is no satiety? Lord Bacon.
Without understanding, valuable knowledge or resources may be unappreciated or wasted.
A scientific man travelling in South America, who had provided himself with gold, found, that, in one part of his journey, he was very much puzzled to pay his bills, as the people had never seen gold, and did not know its value.
Knowledge must be joined with holy practice to be truly valuable.
Knowledge is a jewel, and adorns him that wears it. It is the enriching and bespangling of the mind. Knowledge is the eye of the soul, to guide it in the right way; but this knowledge must be joined with holy practice. Many illuminated heads can discourse fluently in matters of religion; but they do not live up to their knowledge: this is to have good eyes, but to have the feet cut off. How vain is knowledge without practice! as if one should know a sovereign medicine, and not apply it. Satan is a knowing spirit; but he hath no holy practice.
— T. Watson
God knows every thought of a person's heart, no matter how many or how fast.
The thoughts of a man's heart, — what millions are there of them in a day! The twinkling of the eye is not so sudden a thing as the thinking of a thought; yet those thousands and thousands of thoughts which pass from thee, that thou canst not reckon, — they are all known to God.
— A. Burgess
The more one thinks of God, the more mysterious and unknown He appears.
Simonides, a heathen poet, being asked by Hiero, king of Syracuse, What is God? desired a day to think upon it; and when that was ended, he desired two; and when these were past, he desired four days; thus he continued to double the number of days in which he desired to think of God, before he would give an answer. Upon which the king expressed his surprise at his behavior, and asked him, What he meant by this? To which the poet answered, "The more I think of God, he is still the more dark and unknown to me."
Reason alone is insufficient for true understanding without divine experience.
A deist, on a visit to his friends, among other topics of conversation, enlarged considerably on the sufficiency of reason, separate from Divine assistance, to guide us to happiness. To whom the relative present, who was a farmer, made the following reply:—
"Cousin, when you were about fourteen years of age, you were bound apprentice to your trade, and having served the appointed time, you soon became a master, and have now continued in business about twelve years. I wish to know whether you could not prosecute your trade at this time to greater advantage than when you first embarked in it as a master?" The tradesman admitted that his experience in business was of considerable value to him; but asked, what relation that had to the present topic of discourse. The farmer answered, "You were come to the perfect use of your reason, and had been for a long time taught how to manage your trade; and if, therefore, your reason without experience was insufficient to preserve you from many errors, in so cut the rope, at that time and place, and let their boat loose, it would have done the boatmen much damage.
There would have been a fight, and many would have been drawn into it.
But the boy, who considered himself the injured party, prevented it all by a kind and pleasant submission to the injury.
# SUFFICIENCY OF.
plain and easy a business as yours, how can you imagine that it should be sufficient, without Divine assistance, to guide you to heaven?" The deist was confounded.
