God Imagined vs. God Revealed
Lenten Devotional Series Day 6. Today’s meditation comes from Exodus 20:4-6.
In a hilarious scene from the film Talladega Nights, race car driver, Ricky Bobby (played by Will Farrell), offers a blessing before a meal: “Dear tiny, infant baby Jesus… Dear eight pound, six ounce, newborn baby Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant, so cuddly, but still omnipotent.”
His wife objects, “You know Jesus did grow up.” But Bobby is adamant that he can imagine Jesus however he wants. He likes the Christmas-time baby Jesus, so that’s how he’ll imagine him.
The second commandment warns against imagining God simply however we wish to do so. Instead, we are first to think of and imagine God only as he has revealed himself in his Word. Second, we are to walk by faith and not by sight. Let’s look at each of these requirements in turn.
Images have a limited ability to reveal. Before you meet someone, there’s only so much you can learn from a photograph. But then when you do meet one another, a much deeper personal connection can be made through the spoken word.
God’s first action in Genesis 1 is speech. In this, he reveals himself not as an image, but as one whose words have the power to create the cosmos and bring creatures to life. Throughout the rest of the biblical narrative, God continues to relate to us personally through his spoken word, in which he reveals his character, plan, and purpose. God’s word always corrects our tendency to circumscribe him in our imaginations, to imagine him simply as we’d like. The second commandment reminds us that God’s self-revelation provides the boundaries for how we are to imagine him.
The second commandment also reminds us that we walk by faith and not by sight. How so? The Bible makes a connection between hearing and faith: “Faith comes by hearing.” If our faith is to increase and mature, what we need is not better eyes to see, but better ears to hear. God says, “I can only be worshipped as I reveal myself, not as you may imagine me.” The God revealed in his Word is far greater than we can imagine.
Today in prayer, begin with the Collect of the Day (below). Then ask the Lord to show you ways in which your imagination of him is disconnected from reality. Thank God for revealing himself to you in his Word, and ask him for ears to hear his Word correctly, so that your faith might increase and mature. Then finish with the Lord’s Prayer.
The Collect of the Day. O Lord, for our sake you fasted forty days and forty nights: give us grace so to deny ourselves that our flesh may become subdued to your Spirit, and that we may always obey your divine will in righteousness and true holiness, to your honor and glory; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.