Worshiping the Infinite and Intimate God
by Bob Kauflin
Desiring God, One day when my son
Devon was about four
years old, he was
pondering God’s being.
Not your typical four-
year-old activity, I
admit. But Devon was a
unique child. And as he
mused, he had a
profound thought. God
was greater than the
moon and the stars, but
he could still fit
inside of us. His
conclusion?
God is so big. But
sometimes he can be so
small.
My son’s insight hints
at the tension we feel
when we think about
God’s transcendence and
immanence.
Infinite and Intimate
Transcendent is the
theological word that
means God is above,
completely other than,
and independent of his
creation.
God is infinite in all
aspects of his being and
never changes.
Only he has no source,
no beginning, and no
end. God needs
nothing, depends on
nothing, and owes
nothing. He is “holy,
holy,
holy” — perfect in every
way. Simply put, God is
God and we are
not.
“At times, God feels too
distant to be loved. At
other times, God
feels too near to be
feared.”TweetShare on
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Except that God is also
immanent. God sustains,
is involved with,
and is present within
his creation. He keeps
our bodies from
exploding apart, grows
the grass that livestock
eat, and is
personally invested in
his world (Colossians
1:17; Psalm 104:14,
24–30). Despite how
small and sinful we are,
he is loving, kind,
gentle, compassionate,
and good.
In our corporate worship
gatherings, as well as
our personal
interactions with God,
we tend to swing between
God’s
transcendence and
immanence like a
pendulum. At times, God
feels
too distant, dissimilar,
and above us to be
loved. At other times,
God feels too near,
present, and like us to
be feared. It’s an
ongoing challenge to
hold these two thoughts
about God together,
but it is massively
important that we do,
for at least four great
reasons.
1. God says he is big
and near.
The Bible doesn’t reveal
a God who is sometimes
fearsome and
sometimes approachable.
Nor does it depict a God
who is sometimes
infinitely exalted above
us and at other times
intimately involved
in our affairs. He is
both simultaneously.
Scripture never shrinks
back from describing God
in seemingly
contradictory ways. Here
are just two examples:
Thus says the One who is
high and lifted up,
who inhabits
eternity, whose name is
Holy:
“I dwell in the high and
holy place,
and also with him
who is of a contrite and
lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of
the lowly,
and to revive the
heart of the contrite.”
(Isaiah 57:15)
Who is like the Lord our
God,
who is seated on
high,
who looks far down
on the heavens and
the earth?
He raises the poor from
the dust
and lifts the needy
from the ash heap,
to make them sit with
princes,
with the princes of
his people. (Psalm
113:5–8)
God dwells in eternity
yet feels at home among
the lowly. God is
seated on high but makes
his way to the ash heap
to lift up the
needy. In another place,
Isaiah reminds us that
the Holy One, who
is our Maker and Lord,
the God of the whole
earth, is pleased to
refer to himself as our
husband and Redeemer
(Isaiah 54:5). Where
else but in God’s word
can we find such a mind-
stretching, soul-
stirring depiction of
God?
The great Dutch
theologian Herman
Bavinck had it right:
There is no book in the
world which to the same
extent and in the
same way as the Holy
Scripture supports the
absolute transcendence
of God above each and
every creature and at
the same time supports
the intimate
relationship between the
creature and his
Creator.
(The Wonderful Works of
God, 115)
The Bible reveals a God
who is immeasurably
greater and more
satisfying than any god
we could ever conceive
of on our own.
2. We want to know God
as he is.
We often avoid
theological tensions by
trying to squeeze God
into
human boxes. We
vacillate between God’s
transcendence and
immanence lest he appear
to have a multiple-
personality disorder.
But God is not double-
minded. He is God. He is
holy enough to
consume sinners in
wrath, and tender enough
to envelop us in
unending, rapturous
delight (Psalm 21:8–9;
16:11).
He is powerful enough to
keep innumerable blazing
stars in their
courses, and intimate
enough to name each of
them and to number
the hairs on our heads
(Jeremiah 31:35; Psalm
147:4; Luke 12:7).
We are so used to making
God in our own image
that it can be hard
for us to believe he
doesn’t act and think
like us. Even in
preparing to write this
article, I was struck by
how consistently
unimpressive my thoughts
about God are. So we end
up experiencing
brief, scattered moments
of awe rather than an
ever-intensifying,
ever-deepening attitude
of wonder.
When we forget God is
transcendent, we find it
hard and
unnecessary to fear him.
When we forget God is
immanent, we find
it hard and unnecessary
to love him. But he is
both. And that
makes us fear and love
him all the more.
3. The tension deepens
and sweetens worship.
The transcendence and
immanence of God are a
doorway to deeper and
more grateful worship.
Our church gatherings
and our personal
devotions can suffer
from a failure to
treasure both God’s
transcendence and
immanence. If God isn’t
great, he won’t compel
our reverence, fear, and
obedience. If we don’t
think of him as
near, he won’t evoke our
gratitude, joy, and
amazement.
“The transcendence and
immanence of God are a
doorway to deeper
and more grateful
worship.
Most churches today tend
to emphasize how near
God is. We major on
feeling comfortable and
welcomed. God forbid we
should think for a
moment that, rather than
deserving a fresh-brewed
cup of coffee
upon our arrival at
church, we should be
struck dead for the sins
we committed just that
morning. But apart from
God’s mercy, the
latter would be more
appropriate.
What if we came to a
Sunday meeting or began
our Bible study with
the awareness that we
have no way of reaching
the God we’re
wanting to meet with
unless he provides one?
Wouldn’t we sing
louder and read our
Bibles more
intentionally if we
understood
that the God who invites
us into intimate
fellowship created the
universe from nothing
and that his “is the
greatness and the power
and the glory and the
victory and the majesty,
for all that is in
the heavens and in the
earth is [his]” (1
Chronicles 29:11)?
At the same time,
seeking to engage with a
God who we see as only
transcendent can lead to
worship that is dutiful,
boring,
distasteful, or even
irrational. We can begin
to question why we
keep praying to a God so
far away, singing songs
to a God who
might not hear us, and
listening to preaching
about a God who
doesn’t seem very
connected to (or
interested in) his
world.
God made us in his
image, and he is
infinitely distinct from
us.
Both are true. And the
more we understand how
different he is, the
more we will marvel that
he has chosen to draw
near to us, that he
knows us, calls us by
name, and delights in
us. Which leads to a
final reason why holding
God’s immanence and
transcendence in
tension is so crucial.
4. The tension
illuminates the gospel.
Countless Christians
live with a deficient
experience of the
gospel. They can affirm
that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God who
lived a perfect life,
died on the cross to
take their punishment,
and rose from the dead
for their justification.
But it doesn’t
make much of a
difference in their
daily lives. Rather than
a
source of comfort and
joy, it’s an abstract
doctrine that assures
them they won’t go to
hell when they die.
But when seen in light
of God’s transcendence —
his holy
otherness, absolute
perfection, limitless
knowledge,
inescapability, and
unswerving eternal
commitment to justice —
the
gospel becomes
unspeakably good news.
It reveals God’s
immanent
heart of compassion,
mercy, kindness, and
goodness beyond our
ability to take it in.
It is truly a love that
surpasses knowledge
(Ephesians 3:19).
And now that Jesus and
the Father have sent
forth the Holy Spirit,
God reveals his presence
not only around us, but
within us (John
14:26; John 15:26). The
God who knows no limits
of time, space, or
properties has taken up
residence in our hearts
(1 Kings 8:27; 1
Corinthians 6:19). All
this is why God alone
can say, “Turn to me
and be saved, all the
ends of the earth! For I
am God, and there
is no other” (Isaiah
45:22).
There is no one like
him. He truly can and
does save. He is
holiness and mercy,
grace and truth,
sovereign and servant,
God
and man. He is over all,
through all, and in all
(Ephesians 4:6).
May our thoughts and
worship of God
increasingly reflect who
he
really is, for our
endless joy and God’s
endless praise.
He is so big. But he can
be so small.
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