Recently, I've been reading a lot of A.W. Tozer, and all I can say is this man was not only a brilliant theologian, but he has helped me to walk even deeper than before with God - the realization being - no matter how much I think I know, I've not even begun to scratch the surface.
I've been learning a lot, but also unlearning a lot - which is vital too. Many times we are taught wrong and because of this we have a false perception of who God is - as if we could even fathom such a thought.
In Chapter 6 of "The Knowledge of the Holy," Tozer writes,
How often do we fall into these little traditions of thought about God and believe things that can't possibly be true of Him? For years I, like others, have believed that God made Adam and Eve because He needed fellowship, but to say the words together, "God needed" is nothing but foolishness.
I could rephrase it into "God wanted" - but even this comes across as foolish. God is all-sufficient! God needs or wants for nothing! It is therefore a very arrogant expression to say God needs us at all! The one thing we do know is that God loves us. It was out of this love - a love that we cannot fully understand - He created us!
Even in this fallen world that has turned it's back on God, He made a way for us to be in fellowship with Him forever. The price He paid for that is all the proof we need that He does love us.
I've been learning a lot, but also unlearning a lot - which is vital too. Many times we are taught wrong and because of this we have a false perception of who God is - as if we could even fathom such a thought.
In Chapter 6 of "The Knowledge of the Holy," Tozer writes,
The problem of why God created the universe still troubles thinking men; but if we cannot know why, we can at least know that He did not bring His worlds into being to meet some unfulfilled need in Himself, as a man might build a house to shelter him against the winter cold or plant a field of corn to provide him with necessary food. The word necessary is wholly foreign to God. Since He is the Being Supreme over all, it follows that God cannot be elevated. Nothing is above Him, nothing is beyond Him. Any motion in His direction is elevation for the creature; away from Him, descent. He holds His position out of Himself and by leave of none. As no one can promote Him, so no one can degrade Him. It is written that He upholds all things by the word of His power. How can He be raised or supported by the things He upholds?
How often do we fall into these little traditions of thought about God and believe things that can't possibly be true of Him? For years I, like others, have believed that God made Adam and Eve because He needed fellowship, but to say the words together, "God needed" is nothing but foolishness.
I could rephrase it into "God wanted" - but even this comes across as foolish. God is all-sufficient! God needs or wants for nothing! It is therefore a very arrogant expression to say God needs us at all! The one thing we do know is that God loves us. It was out of this love - a love that we cannot fully understand - He created us!
Even in this fallen world that has turned it's back on God, He made a way for us to be in fellowship with Him forever. The price He paid for that is all the proof we need that He does love us.
