There are few joys in life greater than getting to know someone you deeply love. The longer a friendship grows or a marriage matures, the more you discover new depths of a person's character, heart, and ways. Yet no matter how well we come to know another human being, there is always a limit. We are finite people with finite minds, finite experiences, and finite lives.
Not so with God.
GOD’S INCOMPREHENSIBILITY
As we continue our Knowing God series, we are confronted with one of His most awe-inspiring attributes: His incomprehensibility. While that word may sound intimidating, it simply means that although we can know God truly, we can never know Him fully. Because God is infinite and we are finite, there will never come a day when we have exhausted the depths of who He is.
Far from discouraging us, this truth should fill us with wonder.
The Apostle Paul experienced this very response. After spending eleven chapters unfolding the riches of the gospel, God's sovereign grace, and His marvelous plan of redemption, Paul does not conclude with pride over his theological understanding. Instead, he bursts into worship: "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" (Romans 11:33).
The more Paul learned about God, the more he realized how much remained beyond his grasp.
That is true for every believer. We often assume we have a fairly good understanding of God. We know the stories of Scripture. We can explain basic Christian doctrine. We have walked with Christ for years. Yet compared to the infinite majesty of God, our knowledge is like a child who believes mastering simple addition means he knows all of mathematics. We have truly learned something—but we have only begun.
HUMBLED BY HIS MAJESTY
This realization produces humility. One of the greatest dangers in the Christian life is thinking too highly of our own understanding. We can begin to imagine that because we have studied theology or read many books, we have somehow mastered the knowledge of God. Scripture continually reminds us otherwise.
God's wisdom is deeper than we can fathom (Romans 11:33). His judgments are beyond tracing out (11:33). His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and His ways higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8–9). Even the greatest saints in Scripture found themselves overwhelmed by His majesty rather than confident in their own comprehension.
That does not mean God is unknowable. Quite the opposite. God has graciously revealed Himself. Through creation we learn something of His eternal power and divine nature (Romans 1:20). More wonderfully still, He has made Himself known through His written Word and supremely through His Son, Jesus Christ. The infinite God has stooped to reveal Himself in ways finite creatures can truly understand. We may never know Him exhaustively, but we can know Him genuinely.
This is one of the great comforts of the Christian faith. Our relationship with God is not built upon our ability to discover Him through human wisdom. It is built upon His gracious decision to reveal Himself to us.
FAITH IN SUFFERING
This truth also steadies us when life becomes difficult. There are seasons when God's providence seems impossible to understand. We experience loss, suffering, unanswered prayers, or unexpected hardship and naturally ask, "Why?" Scripture does not rebuke those questions, but it does remind us that God's wisdom infinitely exceeds our own.
Job never received a complete explanation for his suffering. Instead, God revealed His own greatness. In the end, Job found peace not because every question had been answered, but because he had encountered the God whose wisdom could be trusted.
The same is true for us. There will always be mysteries we cannot solve this side of heaven. But our confidence rests not in having every answer, but in knowing the God who does.
ENDLESS PURSUIT
Perhaps the most encouraging implication of God's incomprehensibility is what it means for eternity. If God were finite, there would eventually come a day when we had learned everything there was to know about Him. Heaven itself would eventually lose its wonder. But because God is infinite, our joy in knowing Him will never come to an end.
Throughout endless ages, we will continue discovering fresh displays of His wisdom, beauty, holiness, love, and glory. Every new glimpse will produce greater worship. Every deeper understanding will lead to greater delight. The infinite God will forever satisfy His redeemed people because His greatness can never be exhausted.
That changes how we think about the Christian life today. Bible reading is not merely completing a daily habit. Prayer is not simply fulfilling a spiritual discipline. Studying theology is not an academic exercise. Each is an invitation into a deeper relationship with the infinitely glorious God who has made Himself known.
The goal is not merely to accumulate information about God. The goal is to know Him. And the more we know Him, the more we will find ourselves joining Paul's response in Romans 11—not boasting in our knowledge, but bowing in worship before the God whose greatness is beyond all searching out.
That is a pursuit that will never end. And because it never ends, it will never cease to satisfy.
GOD’S SELF-REVELATION