Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. Isaiah 40:28 (NIV)
If you have grasped only God’s transcendence, then you still may be in danger of a distorted picture. God is also immanent—He is up close and personal.
Some people believe God doesn’t care: “Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God’?” (40:27).
It is precisely because of God’s greatness that He will not get weary of us. “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (40:29). You probably get tired and weary of yourself—the same battles, limitations, and frustrations. But God never gets tired of you.
The same God to whom the population of the world is like a swarm of grasshoppers, and the nations are as a drop in the bucket, is intimately concerned about you.
You might say, “I can’t take in these two pictures. As soon as I focus on one, I lose sight of the other. How can God be awesome and eternal, and at the same time, up close and personal?” Jesus Christ embodies both.
Jesus is God—awesome and eternal. He spoke to the wind, and it stopped. He commanded the devil, and he left. He wept with Mary and Martha at a graveside, but then He said, “Lazarus, come out,” and he came out (Jn. 11:43).
Jesus also got up close and personal. He bent down and said, “Let the little children come to me” (Matt. 19:14). He talked to a broken woman by a well, a greedy businessman in his office, and a scared rabbi at night. He had compassion on the crowds and He forgave those who were crucifying Him.
How does a view of God that doesn’t include Jesus lead to a distorted picture?
