Do We Know God?

"St. Augustine in his cell" by Botticelli, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy

"God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand. If you understand you have failed." St. Augustine

I’ve quoted this before, but this verse brought that quote to mind again:

Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it. (Ecclesiastes 8:17 KJV)

To know what God is, what His full plans are, is not within the ability of His creation. We can seek Him, we can find Him, we can accept Him, but we cannot say we understand Him any more than Job did:

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. (Job 38:1-4 KJV)

What do we declare? Nothing more than what He has given us in His word and displayed for us in our own lives. We’re treading on thin ice when we go beyond that, aren’t we?

Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? (Job 40:6-8 KJV)

Do we condemn God in order to make ourselves feel better?  Which do we say: “God does not exist”; “We don’t need to have a mythical father to help us”; “No one can prove there is a God”?

Or do we acknowledge Him? Humble ourselves before His power and praise His name for what He’s done? I have, I do and I will – though there have been times I have failed to comply with His commandments, I’ve never doubted His existence and His interest in His creation.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. (Psalms 8:3-5 KJV)

We have very finite knowledge attempting to understand the infinite. Our minds cannot possibly encompass all that He is – and we don’t need to. We do need to know what He has told us:

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? (John 3:11-12 KJV)