“To some people,” says Dan Bennett, “God is a peg to hang their troubles on.” Albert Einstein called God a “scientist.” Elizabeth Barrett Browning thought of him as a “poet,” and Martin Luther referred to God as “A mighty fortress.” Some refer to God as a “higher power,” but poet John Greenleaf Whittier joins a host of others who believe he is “a God of love.”

            Do all those people know who God really is? Or more importantly, do they really know God? If you read my book 40 Days in God’s Presence, I hope you came to know God in a greater way as we tried to learn of his character through the eyes of those who knew him personally. But even those who encountered God in the Bible struggled at times with how  to describe him:

            Jonah: A determined, merciful Pursuer

            Daniel: A Lion Tamer and a faithful Deliverer

            Ruth: My Redeemer and a Defender of widows

            Noah: A Shelter from the storm

            Isaiah: A holy and exalted God

            The Prodigal Son: A forgiving Father

            Abraham: God, the Provider and Promise Keeper

            The Children of Israel: A jealous God

Lot: One to be feared  

David: My Shepherd

           Many tend to define God based on their experience, teaching, gifts, and even their upbringing. Years ago, I attended a seminar that included what I’ll call family structuring. In this exercise, one volunteer selected several willing participants to represent his/her family members. The key volunteer played him- or herself. The one structuring his family placed the members wherever he desired in the room and whispered to them what they should do or what facial expressions they should wear. Then he placed himself anywhere he wanted within the family structure. After everyone was in place, the seminar leader said, “Freeze.” And several seconds passed while we made our own observations of each “family member.”

The results of these experiments were quite revealing. One in particular placed the head of his home standing on a chair, arms curved and fingers stretched out like an eagle’s talons ready to attack the bird’s prey. There, the “father” hovered powerfully over the other family members—and all of them, even though they were only actors, felt the impact of that moment. So did the one who had created the scene for his family as he looked up at the one standing over him.

During those “structured” moments, we caught a glimpse of how our families often function—or dysfunction—at least according to our own perspectives. But a wise leader also showed us how our own families sometimes shape our image of God, especially from the way we perceive our earthly fathers. Wrong or incomplete images can result in an imbalance. God is righteous, but he is not an overpowering ogre. He is loving, but he also disciplines.

If we are not careful, we will try to bring God down to our level of understanding and create a God that is much too small. If we can explain every facet of God’s workings, then perhaps our knowledge and experience are too limited. God is too big to define, yet he can be known intimately and personally. How?

            Some people in the Bible thought they knew God, and that their images of him were superior. In reality, they didn’t have a clue. For example, one day, the Jewish Pharisees were challenging Jesus as he taught in the temple. For a truth to be acceptable, law required two or three witnesses to verify that truth. Yet there was Jesus, whom they saw as just another man; Jesus, son of a carpenter, claiming to be the truth and light. His witnesses? He testified for himself, and his other witness was his Father. When the Pharisees, whose image of God was as a giver and keeper of laws, questioned Jesus as to who his father was, Jesus replied, “If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (John 8:19).

            Later in Jerusalem the Jewish leaders again questioned who he was. This time, Jesus spoke even more plainly: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Incensed, they tried to stone Jesus, not because of something he did, such as performing miracles, but because of who he was: Jesus, the Son of God. And because Jesus claimed to be God himself.

Jesus said, “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

Do you want to know God? Then you must personally encounter Jesus. Do you want to know what God is like? Look at his Son. The Bible says Jesus is the “image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Col. 1:15

Watch Jesus as he cradles little children in his arms, and you’ll see the tenderness of God. See Jesus stoop down to encourage a broken woman, and observe God’s compassion. Listen to his parable of the prodigal son and discover God’s forgiveness. Watch him overturn the money changers’ tables in the temple, and witness God’s righteous anger. And look at Jesus as he is being crucified with arms outstretched for you, and see God’s love.

God is just, and he is holy. He is the Resurrection, and he is Life. He is the Judge and the Redeemer, the Author and Finisher of our faith. He is the Highest Power, because he is the only Power. He is jealous, because he is Love itself.

Man’s loftiest words still can’t come close to explaining or describing God. He is infinite and indefinable, yet he chose to make a way for our finite minds to grasp knowing him. Seeing God through Jesus’ eyes keeps us from trying to squeeze God into our own molds of experience or incomplete understanding. And it always results in balance—not in the sense of “making God big,” as A. W. Tozer says, because “you cannot make God bigger.” Instead, he says, “we are only to see Him bigger”—like a star through a telescope.44

No matter what our experiences, our upbringing, or what others tell us, when we admit our inadequacy in defining such a great God and instead see him through the person of Jesus, that’s when the real blessing comes.

In reality, we can experience the blessing of knowing God intimately only by knowing Jesus intimately—because when you see Jesus, you’ve seen God. He and the Father are one.

 Personal Truth 

Those who see God only through their eyes have already reduced him to their size.

 Personal Prayer

 God, you are bigger than I can imagine, feel, or comprehend. That you made a way through Jesus for me to know you personally makes me feel so small and unworthy. Enlarge my heart and my vision so I can embrace your fullness. I am so thirsty for you, God!

 Personal Question

How big is your God?