God's Infinitude

Another repost (and substantial re-edit) of an old attribute of God post. I’ll be linking to it in this week’s Theological Term of the Week.

That God is infinite means that He is not limited in any way. There is no way to measure any of His characteristics, because they are are without bounds.

Because God is infinite, He is also incomprehensible. Psalm 145:3 tells us that God’s “greatness is unsearchable,” which means we will never be able to fully grasp all that He is. We may understand some of what He is, but we will never, even in eternity, come close to wrapping our pea brains around his infinite greatness.

That God’s attributes are infinite just means that God himself—his nature—is infinite. As finite creatures, we can only begin to grasp the infinity of God by separately considering the unlimited nature of his various attributes. So we look at God’s infinity in relation to time and call it God’s eternity, and his infinity in relation to space and call it His immanence and transcendence. We call His infinite knowledge omniscience and his infinite ability omnipotence. By looking at each of these aspects of the infinity of God separately, what it means that he is wholly infinite becomes a little clearer to us.

In thinking of God’s infinitude in relationship to all of His attributes, we need to go beyond thinking of each attribute as a boundless amount of a certain characteristic to thinking of each attribute as unlimited in quality as well. All of God’s attributes belong to him in perfection and without defect. His goodness, for instance, is not only boundless in quantity, filling the earth and beyond, but it is also of boundless quality. As with all his other attributes, God’s goodness is perfect. It cannot be added to or improved upon; it is always expressed flawlessly.

What does God’s infinitude mean to us? It means that the aspects of his character that He extends to us will never run out. God’s kindness toward us in Christ Jesus shows us the “the immeasurable riches of his grace” (Ephesians 2:7). Yes, he stoops down, way down, to raise sinners up, but no sinner is too low for the reach of God’s immeasurably rich grace. And throughout eternity, his people will remain in his presence on the basis of his neverending—or infinite—grace. Now that is graciousness we can rest in!

That God is infinite means we must “honor him as God”—as someone not like us, but in a class by himself (Romans 1:20-23). A right response to Someone so far beyond what we are and what we know is worship and awe.

I will extol You, my God, O King;
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And His greatness is unsearchable.

(Psalm 145:1-3 NKJV)

Sunday's Hymn

Today’s hymn is written by Irish poet Thomas Moore.

Come, Ye Disconsolate

Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,
Come, at the shrine of God fervently kneel;
Here bring your wounded hearts; here tell your anguish;
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,
Hope when all others die, fadeless and pure;
Here speaks the Comforter, in God’s name saying,
“Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot cure.”

Come, ask the infidel what boon he brings us,
What charm for aching hearts he can reveal,
Sweet is that heavenly promise Hope sings us—
“Earth has no sorrow that God cannot heal.”

Other hymns by poets:

• William Cowper
• John Donne
• George Herbert
• Alfred Tennyson
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning
• John Milton

Other hymns, worship songs, sermons etc. posted today:

• Lord’s Day 29, 2009, at The Thirsty Theologian
• It Is Well With My Soul at The Happy Wonderer
• Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Wretched at Fieldstone Cottage
• Journeying On from The Valley of Vision at The Upward Call
• Your Weekly Dose of Spurgeon at Pyromaniacs: Are We “Original Thinkers” or Witnesses?
• According to Thy Gracious Word at Hiraeth
• Jesus, Friend of Little Children at Whatever Things…
• O Breath of God, Breathe on Us Now at Tapestry of Graces
• Come, Ye Sinners at Lux Venit

Have you posted a hymn today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar and I’ll add your post to the list.

Saturday's Old Photo

Here we are, more than 20 years ago, all packed up and ready to leave Minnesota to return to Whitehorse after our summer holiday outside.* I miss the old Jimmy, which served us well until the floor rusted through.

That back seat was a little bit crowded for three kids, expecially since the youngest still required a car seat, but they survived. This is one of the road trips mentioned in this post—the one in which we took up chanting “Get me out! Get me, get me out!” in response to youngest daughter’s pleas to get out of her car seat. Two thousand, four hundred and sixty miles one way makes for a long trip, so we needed to find fun wherever we could.

The kids are 7, 5 and 2. I made the wee one’s corderoy overalls. One of the best things about having little girls, you know, is being able to sew for them.

That’s me on the far left. I don’t know if I’m supposed to be in the photo or out of it. Either way, I failed.

It was typical for us to travel with something or other—bikes, trikes, strollers, etc.—tied to the top of the truck. Can you guess what that is tied to the top of the Jimmy in this photo? Two hints: I still have it stored behind the garage; and group of teenagers tried to steal it in the middle of the night, but my husband caught them in the act and prevented the theft.

If no one has guessed correctly by next Tuesday, I’ll clue you all in. This contest is open to everyone except those in the photo and their immediate family members.

[There’s another photo from another family road trip here.]

*Have I mentioned that Yukoners use the term outside to refer to anywhere far enough south of us to be considered civilization?

Update on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 10:13PM by rebecca

Update: I’ve now identified what’s under the tarp here.