“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

I’ve been impressed and encouraged lately by the determination of God to reveal Himself to man, to me. God is so far above us, His mind is so beyond our minds, that it is nearly an insurmountable challenge to make Himself known to us.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:8-9

In fact anything we know about God we know only because He has chosen to reveal Himself to us. The challenge must be on the line of me wanting to make myself known to the microbes congregated on the table surface next to me.   These little germs have no knowledge of me, no sense that I hover over them, no innate desire to communicate with me. They are drawn to me by need – by the nature of my body’s power to nurture and sustain them, but there is no thought to communicate. Any parallel ends here because I have no great good will toward these microbes, but God’s will toward us is good and shaped by longing for relationship with us – miracle of miracles!

The history of God’s interactions with man is replete with the ways He has shown Himself to us. Creation reveals Him like art reveals the artist; oral tradition tells the tales of His working on behalf of those who seek Him; the Bible shows us His power and tells the story of a love that won’t give up; in Jesus we see God’s drive to know us and to let us know that we are known – God’s willingness to destroy the static of sin that shuts down any attempt at communication; and Holy Spirit reveals a God so eager to live in constant communication that He dwells within us!

For me the outcome of seeing God’s continual work at not only staying in touch with man, but enhancing man’s ability to be in touch with God – my ability to be in touch with Him — is a profound sense of being loved. Every self revelation of God to me draws me deeper into loving Him and heightens my willingness to trust Him with all of me. “How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure…”

“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19