The great A.W. Tozer wrote the following:
{"To be articulate at times, we are compelled to fall back upon 'Oh' or 'O' - a primitive exclamatory sound that is hardly a word at all, and that scarcely admits of a definition....
In theology, there is no "Oh!", and this is a significant, if not omnious thing. Theology seeks to reduce what may be known of God to intellectual terms, and as long as the intellect can comprehend, it can find words to express itself. When God Himself appears before the mind, awesome, vast, and incomprehensible, then the mind sinks into silence and the heart cries out "Oh Lord God". There is the difference between theological knowledge and spiritual experience, the difference between knowing God by hearsay and knowing God by acquaintance. And the difference is not verbal merely; it is real, and serious, and vital.
We Christians should watch lest we lose the "Oh" from our hearts. When we become too glib in prayer, we are most surely talking to ourselves. When the calm listing of requests and the courteous giving of the proper thanks take the place of the burdened prayer that finds utterance difficult, we should beware the next step, for our direction is surely down, whether we know it or not."}
OH God! OH God! That I might know You more, so that I may be at a loss for words that describe my experience.
Last year, I was reading in Matthew. When I got to the 6th chapter and the 33rd verse, I could not proceed any farther.
"Seek ye first, the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all these things shall be added unto you".
I had spent the vast majority of my life seeking "things" to make me content that I might then find vocabulary to thank God. What a perversion of existence that is.
All that we have in Christianity and all that we do should be an outflow of our acquaintance and experience with our God. Spending time with Him and His Word will produce all we want to know and be in Christ Jesus. If God is our supplier, would it not be a better thing to pursue the supplier rather than the supply?
When we "witness" to someone, how often do we find ourselves at a loss attempting to describe our God Who is of Himself, limitless? Or do we rather, describe the supply, and bits and pieces that we know and can somehow attempt to understand? Worse yet, often our focus is on our achievement rather than His wonder. Is it any wonder that people only see us, rather than His image? I think not.
I remember when I first "encountered" God. It had never entered the sphere of my understanding what happened on that day. Some describe it as His "shekinah glory", and it likely was. But description beyond that leaves me at a loss. I can tell you the effects. But I cannot describe the cause, God Himself.
As our dear departed brother Tozer so wonderfully shared above, as we proceed in our theology and learn of God, we tend to reduce Him to the level of our understanding. Worse yet, we contend with others that "we know", when if fact we are "unknowning" compared to His greatness.
When I encountered God for the first time, His real presence in me, it was incredible. It was very obvious to those who saw me thereafter. They knew something had happened to me without me saying a word, yet neither they nor I could define what it was that brought about this "change" or "look" that had come over me. I was floating as I went my way. My head and my heart was in the clouds. I was in love with God. More, I believed that God was in love with me. But I could not tell you just what happened to bring me into His presence or how it came to be. His sovereign goodness just chose to do it. But I have to believe from the reactions of those who saw me, that somehow they saw more than me...they saw a glimpse of Him upon me. Is that what the unsaved are looking for?
Such an occurrence cannot be described, nor can it be taught or learned. I am quite certain that there are Doctors of Theology that have not experienced God. They have plenty of head knowledge, but lack experience and acquaintance understanding.
Sadly, the image of God that somehow shown on my face faded. I had no idea how to maintain the experience or acquaintance. I was born into religion. What did I know about personal experience with God? Nothing. I knew it was fading, but was at a loss as to what to do about it.
Some 30 years later, I came to the rhema of Matthew 6:33, and I stopped right there. I remembered that before that weekend, I had told God that if He did not reveal Himself to me, I was never going to darken the door of a church again. You see beloved, I put all the religiosity away from me and sought God. Nothing more, nothing less. "I want YOU, God!" It was then that He showed up in all of His magnificent glory. I was forever changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, God flooded my soul. The rhema of Matthew 6:33 revealed to me that the object of all my pursuits have been a perversion of the relationship that God has desired to have me with me.... up close and personal.
I sought things, carnal things, religious things, sinful things, glory, power, prestige, position...you name it, I was looking for it. What actually happened was that it was all vanity, all in vain. The reality of all that I had pursued eluded me because my pursuit was for the supply rather than the supplier. I didn't realize that if I had the supplier, I had the supply as well. But by comparison, the supplier far paled the supply.
I, like you, live in this carnal flesh and yet see through a glass darkly. So I cannot any more comprehend the vastness of God than fly to the moon. We are like the tiny uncapped bottle that was tossed into the middle of the ocean and sank to it's deepest depths. There was from that moment on, nothing but ocean in the bottle. But the bottle did not contain all the ocean, only a minuscule part. We have 100% God in our hearts, but we do not contain the completeness of God, no not by any stretch of imagination.
We are like the town residents who ponder of the refuse left behind by a violent tornado. We see it's effects and wonder about it's power. It overwhelms us when God shows up. But too often our attention is on what was left behind, rather than on God Himself.
We should be like the "storm chasers". They are after the storm that has such power. They somehow sense it's wonder and want to experience it up close and personal. Could it be that God wants us to find Him and experience Him up close and personal? Oh yes, yes, yes. He gave His only Son, that we might do just that! God wants us to be vitally connected to Himself. God wants to be found, not for His supply, but for Who He is. When we begin to pursue Him in such a way as this, our prayer life begins to take on a whole new perspective. Our worship becomes enthralled. Slipping away to be alone with Him becomes a passion rather than chore. We are compelled to drink in His wonder.
Not long ago, I was pondering all of this. It was spring time once again, and all the new life was springing forth. I was outside and just looking at the growth of new life. Fresh green leaves, beautiful flowers, the endless repetitive perfection of the clover leaf. I realized that man in all his knowledge and pride had yet to create one living cell. Yet our God has created all of this life. His creation sustains itself in balance. All is provided for. Only our own dominion over creation given to us by Him disturbs the balance of life and even the continuity of some species of life. But what about our God? Who can fathom the depths of His aura?
Are you connected to God in religious practice? Or are you seeking Him above all things? God desires to be connected to us by acquaintance and experience......do we share His desire and live to bring it to pass? Or are we busy trying to be our own god, or worse yet, make God our servant?
Well, as usual, I've rambled on here, just sharing as it pours forth. But God wants us to want Him more than anything else. What will you do to cooperate with His desire, His provision and experience Him for yourself. He is so much more than a historical figure in the book we call the bible. He is waiting for you to come to Him for Who He is, not for what He has.
In awe of Him,
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