It’s easy to have preconceived notions about people, and not really see them. We do it all the time. In fact, our brains are wired to make quick assessments of people and situations for our safety. How someone is dressed as we walk past him on the street may determine whether we smile or cross over to the other side. We also do it with people we know very well. We assume that we know their thoughts and motives. And that means we miss out on the rich, ever-changing complexity of the people we encounter, both strangers and long-term friends.
Many of us do the same thing with God as we do with people. Those of us who have been in church for any length of time may be tempted to think, “Ah yes, I have God all figured out.” But then we are seeing through the lens of our expectations rather than with clear eyes.
The Psalms are wonderful for reminding us of God’s complexity. In them, we get to glimpse the way people thousands of years ago experienced the Holy One. The writer of Psalm 29 says (in my own paraphrase), “Wow, look how powerful God is! Our God is breaking trees and shaking the ground.” This is an awe-inspiring portrayal of a God to be worshiped, perhaps from a safe distance. Thunder and fire describe the divine presence. Yet this powerful God is not the only portrayal.
The Psalmist of number 131 knows the Holy One as the tender presence of a mother holding her weaned child at her breast. “I am content,” this psalmist relates, “to simply rest with God, not needing anything” (again I am paraphrasing).
In addition, many of the Psalmists find God to be a place to take refuge, a Protector, in times of trouble. The Israelites often lived in times of threat, either from other tribes, or from the empires that ruled them. They were in physical danger, being pursued by enemies. In these Psalms, like in Psalm 18, the Holy One is likened to a rock and a fortress.
In Psalm 51, King David pleads with God for mercy, deeply aware of his own wrongdoing. David is relating to God as one who can transform his heart, and cleanse his insides from the guilt of the terrible things he did.
In this one book of the Bible, God is described with rich complexity, and there is wonderful variety in how the people experienced God. Yet in many ways God is vast beyond our understanding. Psalm 139 proclaims that the thoughts of God are more numerous than the sand. If we fall asleep while attempting to count them, we will wake up and find God still with us! This God who is powerful and mighty, tender and merciful, holds both nations and each tiny newborn. God is immanent and transcendent, closer to us than our very breath and more vast than our entire universe.
Though God is unfathomable, the Psalms show us that God is also knowable. We know what God is like through Scripture, especially the life of Jesus, through nature, and even through encounters with one another. Yet the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy that God dwells in unapproachable light and no one has seen or can see God (1 Tim. 6:16).
Here is the paradox, the mystery, the ambiguity. The prophet Isaiah proclaims that heaven is God’s throne and earth is God’s footstool (Isaiah 66:1). God doesn’t dwell in houses made by human hands, the book of Acts reminds us (7:48). Nor can God be limited to our mental constructs and doctrines.
How, then, do we hold both truths – that God is knowable and yet unknowable? How do we embrace the revelation and the hiddenness of God? One way is to allow ourselves, and those around us, to have unique experiences of God. We can find the courage to share with one another what we know and what we don’t know about the Holy One, and so grow closer to one another and closer to God.
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