Actually, I don't know.
I can't speak for God. Well, I can. I do. After all, that is my calling. A preacher is a messenger. If a preacher/pastor/teacher (bishop/elder/shepherd... it could go on) only speaks his mind, then silence would be an improvement. But if he speaks the mind of Christ, all of the weight and authority of God Himself rides with him.
But it isn't the office. It isn't the experience, the education, the influence. It isn't his entourage. It's isn't his dynamic personality, great vision, slick strategies, or deep passion.
It's truth. When the preacher (or any man, woman or child) sees what God has said – and properly declares it – there is power.
So, let's start over. It is still beyond me to describe how God sees things. Job couldn't do it. Isaiah couldn't do it. Paul couldn't do it. So who am I?
But I do have questions.
What is His perspective? Is it every conceivable perspective?
There are things we know for sure. He sees all. He knows all. He can do anything. So, why do we find so often in the Scripture that He describes Himself as emotional and inquisitive in the moment?
Some would say that it is nothing more or less than anthropomorphisms. In other words, God is just condescending in His description of Himself so as to be understood by us.
Perhaps.
Yet, we are made in His image. Our curiosity, inquisitiveness, and emotion may merely reflect the creativity, infinitude, and majesty of our Maker. But there are SO MANY STORIES in the Bible that seem to communicate something more.
The conversations had within the Trinity. "Let Us make man in Our likeness." "Go to, let Us go down and see." "Who will go for Us."
"Where are you, Adam?"
"Stop, Abraham. Now I know..."
"I'm sorry that I made humanity."
"I'm sorry that I made Saul king."
Need I go on?
He is angry with the wicked EVERY DAY. That's what the Bible says. Well, it's always daytime somewhere. So He is always angry with sinners. OK, but the text naturally communicates that there is a repeated fresh frustration with those who continually rebel against Him. And some day He will be fed up. His wrath will reach maximum and then there will be hell to pay, literally.
His mercies are new EVERY MORNING. Every new day brings a fresh supply.
God existed BEFORE the created universe. Before there was a "there" - He was. Before matter, time, and space - God was. Before light. Before chemistry, physics, biology, etc. Theology. God was. Then. After that. Sequentially. Chronologically. In the beginning. In our beginning.
History.
But it will end. Time will be no more. Or at least "time will be up." There will be no reason to measure it anyway. Yet the tree of life will yield fruits by the month, apparently forever. God will reign forever into the eternal future after the story of redemption has been finally and (for most) fatally completed.
And this is God's story. He wrote this whole thing. He who calls the end from the beginning knew every minute detail, yet I am absolutely convinced that He relishes every moment of the playing out of His plan.
His perfect Son was not the perfect priest for us until He had TASTED death for every man. That's what the Bible teaches.
He who exists in and of and by Himself; the I AM; the self existent One; He who was, is, and is to come; the very source of all being has also EXPERIENCED the very story He wrote. He is even now EXPERIENCING this very moment of worship as I meditate on what His nature is like. It is a mystery beyond all exploration or analysis. Yet, He seems keenly intent on making sure that we do indeed explore and analyze. In faith, yes. But the very heart of worship is awe. And that awe doesn't come from us repeating things that we feel and imagine (albeit foolishly) that we grasp fairly well. That worship stems from us looking over the horizon into the body of heaven's clearness and realizing that the ever expanding universe will never, could never surpass the limits of our God.
He transcends us.
I pray. "Now Lord, consider this." He already has. "Dear Father, I have an idea." Too late. "Why?!" I wouldn't understand if He told me. Not unless He gave me eyes to see.
So, I trust. I don't see what He sees. I don't see the way He sees. I can't. But that's OK. I'll just keep reading His text messages to me. I'll keep eavesdropping on the witness of the Spirit among us. His written revelation has been magnified for me and for you. He has made it large and important. He has chosen that it be the tool that cultivates the faith in us that accesses the grace in Him that was worked by His love for us through the sacrifice of His incarnate Son.
I do know that He saw this. He saw His Son willingly living and dying to bring many sons to glory and He was so pleased. In that, I do see what He sees. I see Jesus. He is high and lifted up. All things have been put in place to maximize the majesty and honor of the impeccable Christ. This view is one view that I share with the Father.
And, actually, it is enough.
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