Daily Delight
The next time a friend criticizes the Bible for contradicting itself, you can smile and say, "I so happily agree with you," and take them to one of the most glorious paradoxes in the Bible: Isaiah 57:15.
Here, God shows us two seemingly incompatible aspects of His character.
First, we see God's transcendence, which means He exists high above us. He does not need us. He is far from being weak like us.
-His holiness is so intense that majestic and powerful angels must hide their faces from seeing Him. (Isaiah 6:4)
-The appearance of His glory is like a devouring fire. (Ex 24:17)
-Lightning and thunder come from His throne. (Rev 4:5)
Even in the "boring" books like Leviticus and Numbers, God is communicating that He is holy and not to be regarded flippantly.
But don't forget the second half of Isaiah 57:15, starting with "and also."
God is immanent, or near to us. He walks closely with us. His Spirit dwells inside us.
-He made covenants with Noah, Abraham, and David that weren't "I will do this if you do this" but simply "I promise I will do this for you."
-He took the time to wrestle with Jacob, provide a husband for Ruth, and meet with His people in hundreds of different ways throughout the pages of our Bibles before we even get to the birth of Jesus.-In the New Testament, we see a God who "pitched His tent" among us (literal rendering of John 1:14) and spent 33 years eating food that we eat, walking on streets that we could walk on today, and telling broken people the good news they needed to hear.
He is so holy that no one can see His face and live (Ex 33:20), yet He commands us to seek His presence continually (1 Chron 16:11).
If God had all power but didn't care about our needs, Heaven would be silent when we cry out in praise or anguish. The imperfect love that we give and experience from other people would be the best we know.
Yet, if God was personal but not lofty, His love would be limited. There would be no hope for eternity or surety of promises being kept.
Praise God that He is both transcendent and immanent, both lofty and near! That, friends, is a glorious paradox.
About the Author
Hope Henchey
Hope is a 27-year-old currently based in the suburbs of Tampa who loves and needs Jesus desperately. She has a passion for inviting others to read the Bible for themselves...beginning with the four little people she gets to disciple every day and call her Mommy! Her husband of eight years, Peter, is a blue-collar entrepreneur who seeks to be a light for Jesus in the workplace. They are both obsessed with Romans 8 and dream of growing their family through adoption someday.
Hope loves being outside, and her family enjoys traveling around the southeast in their RV. As an Enneagram 7, Hope has many random passions and interests, including but not limited to Coke Icees, clean sketch comedy, dip pen calligraphy, group fitness classes, theology, home birth, spaetzle, urbanism, bullet journaling, curricula-making, and much more. Domesticity is not her greatest strength, and her home is very messy, but being placed in roles that don't come naturally has been a major way that God is sanctifying her.
She posts encouragement on Instagram @called.beloved.kept and write