Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Psalm 139:7-10 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
INFINITE
In the Athanasian Creed we confess this about our God: "... the Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit: ... the Father infinite, the Son infinite, the Holy Spirit infinite ..."
Our God is not limited in any way at all. That is what we confess here. In the original Latin of this creed, the word chosen in this place to describe Father, Son, and Spirit is "immensus", from which we get our English word immense. It expresses that God is vast, boundless; that one cannot draw limits around Him to contain Him in any way; that there is no boundary of time or space which He cannot cross; that He is limitless in every respect.
God is not limited in what He can see. He can see all. He is not limited in what He can know. He knows all. He is not limited as to where He can be. He is in all places at once. As David said, "Where can I flee from your presence?" The answer is: nowhere.
While this may make us feel small and insignificant, it should also delight us that the God who knows no bounds has chosen to know us and to love us! "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" the psalm says (8:4). And the beauty of it is that He does care. He uses His limitless nature to care for us: "If I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."
Our God is always with us to bring us the comfort of His forgiveness when we are burdened with sin. He is always there to strengthen and increase our faith in Christ Jesus -- in Christ's suffering for our guilt and rising to life for our justification. Our God is always with us to guide us through the many struggles of this life to the joys of eternal life in heaven -- to salvation with no limits.
Jesus, Thy boundless love to me no thought can reach, no tongue declare;
Unite my thankful heart with Thee and reign without a rival there.
To Thee alone, dear Lord, I live; Myself to Thee, dear Lord, I give.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 349:1)
