by Pastor Joel Lawler

Romans 11:33 - "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!"

1 Corinthians 13:12 - "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."

It is very easy to forget that we are the creation and that we have a very limited perspective from which to base our knowledge on.  We only see a mere glimpse of God's creation and we know even less of His plan.

Our thoughts are monolithic and skewed by so many biases that are placed upon our understanding by culture, geographic location, environmental factors, upbringing and our place in history.  These are just a few factors and there are many more that shape our world view.

While we cannot fully understand God or even really begin to understand God, there is a way that we can be close to Him.

Jesus said in John 15:15 -  "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything

that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

Christ came to restore our connection with God so that we can communicate with God and get to know God's character.  While we were separated from God through the sin in our lives, we could not even begin to relate to God.  We were in rebellion to Him and He stood over us as our judge.  We were condemned to an eternity separated from the very one who created us. 

God's chosen people, the Jews, prior to Christ's death could not come into the presence of God.  The temple had an inner room called "The Holy of Holies" where the high priest could only go once a year to offer a sacrifice to God.  They would tie a rope around his ankle because if he had anything in his life that God did not accept or if he did not follow the rituals details exactly as they were laid out, God would strike him dead.  The rope served as a way to retrieve his corpse. 
On the Cross when Jesus died the curtain that separated us from God's presence was ripped from top to bottom.  It tore from the top because it was God who had removed the boundary that was put between us and Him. 

Through the extreme, intense suffering and death of the Son of God, our sin was paid for in full.  We now have a way to come to God and that is Jesus who is the way to truth and life.

We were once dead in our sin, by accepting the gift of salvation that God has provided, we can now live.

There is no greater love than what God demonstrated by taking our deserved punishment upon Himself so that we might be free and know Him.

We cannot understand God.  We can see what an incredible price He paid in order to save us from His deserved wrath.  If He loved us that much, He deserves our trust.  With so much given for us, we have to know God's heart is good and therefore place our complete trust in Him.