By Todd Paetznick, January 23, 2025

What has God revealed about Himself, and why should it matter?

God is infinite.

There is a scene towards the end of the movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull where one of the bad people wants to know everything that the aliens know.  (If you haven’t seen the movie – spoiler alert – the crystal skull discovered at an archaeological site belongs to an alien.  When the skull is brought near its original body, it reanimates the being.  Then, the being’s knowledge is telepathically transmitted to the movie’s antagonist, who wants to know everything it knows.  The knowledge is too much for her to take in, which results in her . . . demise.)  

Coming from the imagination of the movie’s creators, the aliens’ knowledge exceeded the human mind’s capacity.  In the Bible, it is known that people cannot see God without dying from the experience.  Even Moses, considered one of the greatest prophets, was only permitted to see the back of God.  Moses’ viewing of a portion of God is recorded in Exodus 33:18-23.  Just seeing a portion of God’s back affected Moses’ appearance enough that the people who saw him a short time later were afraid (Exodus 34:30).  God knew that Moses was a finite being who could not look at the face of God, an infinite being, without dying.  “[God] further said, “You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live!” (Exodus 33:20 NASB20).

David and Prayer

Everything we can observe and experience is also finite, just like we are.  It is a giant mistake to think we know more than God or that He should listen to us.  He does not need to hear our requests or depend on our advice or what we consider wisdom.  If it is true that God is infinite, how should we think differently about prayer and our conversations with God?  Through the Psalms, we can glimpse David’s thoughts and attitude.  It has been said that David was a man after God’s heart (1 Samuel 13:14).  But when that was written about David, he was still a boy, not yet a king, and his sins and flaws had not yet become public.  David’s attitude even as a young man was deeply committed to God.  He desired to follow God’s ways despite his flaws and sinful life.  

In one of the first of the Psalms, David expressed his desire for rescue while simultaneously recognizing God had rescued him in the past, can rescue him in this particular circumstance, and God desires to do good for His people.  “Arise, LORD; save me, my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the cheek; You have shattered the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the LORD; [May] Your blessing [be] upon Your people! Selah” (Psalm 3:7-8).  

Our attitude needs to be like David’s.  Despite being pursued by enemies who wanted him dead, David understood that God had saved him in the past and had the power to save him in his present circumstance; God wanted to do good for him and, in the process, would receive the praise and credit He was due.  The past, present, and future rolled into David’s prayers.  

We are not God

We are not God and are not infinite.  Our experience is like a fish living in an aquarium, never experiencing anything like the vastness of the ocean.  Our perspective is limited, and we often cannot imagine the implications of what we may ask God for in our prayers.  God’s thoughts are higher and greater than ours.  His perspective is the ocean compared to our perspective of the inside of an aquarium.  Our minds cannot handle the knowledge God possesses or His awareness of everything that has happened, is happening, or will happen.  And yet, God has revealed something about Himself in the Bible.  The Bible does not contain everything that can be known about God, but it contains everything we need to know.  

Why should any of this matter to us?  When we pray about our circumstances and desires, pray with the understanding that we are aligning our thoughts and desires with God’s.  God does not change to reflect our thoughts or desires, we need to adapt to His.  Amazingly, God cares about our lives and work lives.  He created people to do work and wants us to do good to others when it is within our ability.  Rather than thinking about and praying for something that benefits us, align our desires with God.