THE GOD BOX

Taking Measurements

It has been often said that God cannot be put in a box.  This comes from the widely-held belief concerning Him being far beyond our natural comprehension, which is true.

On the other hand, it should not be believed that there is no way for us to get to know Him in a very close and personal way.  For He is well able to allow and enable even a small child to know and understand everything that He wants them to about Himself.

Just to be clear, I am talking about our Heavenly Father, who is the Lord God Almighty and the Creator of all that exists (apart from Himself, of course), and I am here to contend that He actually does fit in a box (so to speak).  In fact, He fits quite nicely.  For there are four aspects to our Heavenly Father that can be thought of as being the four corners of a box that holds everything about Him and the righteousness of all of His most awesome ways.

Of course, it may very well be that I am certifiably insane.  For who in their right-mind would dare to profess to having sufficient knowledge and understanding about such—right?  If you believe this to be true, I hope you will want to help me see where I have went off of the rails, but in any event, since this is a very short book, it should not prove to be much of a waste of your time.  Be assured that I hope it will actually prove to be of great help to all who will be drawn to read it.

The First Corner

(Absolutely Perfect)

As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.  For who is God besides the Lord?  And who is the Rock except our God?

[Psalms 18:30-31 NIV]

I would normally start off with another corner, but it was brought to my attention that the other three will not matter a whole lot to someone who does not understand what our Heavenly Father wants to accomplish in this world.  Of course, many have been led to believe that there is no need to understand when one has enough faith, but since the kind of faith that truly is of our Heavenly Father is not blind, nor deaf, much more can be understood than what most in even the Christian community dare to consider.

Moreover, our Heavenly Father wants us to understand so much more than what most assume.  For what is naturally enough for us is not nearly enough for Him—be assured.

So, let us start off with the absolute truth of the matter truly being that our Heavenly Father is absolutely perfect in all of His most awesome ways, and there is no greater proof of that than what He wants to accomplish in this world.  For the reason why He created us to live in this world as we naturally are is for the purpose of giving Him opportunities to receive a very special kind of love from us.

Now, that would be certainly special enough if it was a matter of need, but part of our Heavenly Father being absolutely perfect in all of His most awesome ways is that He is absolutely holy, which means that He is absolutely complete in Himself and without need of anything.  Therefore, we exist in order to provide Him with something He wants, which makes each and every one of us most precious in His sight.

Yes, from our own ground-based points of view it seems much more likely that He created most (if not all) of us to be the objects of His scorn—certainly not His affections.  After all, just how precious can millions of starving and abused children be to Him when He apparently just sits upon His throne in His Kingdom of Heaven and does nothing to deliver them out of circumstances that they had no choice but to be in?

Be assured that even the great suffering in this world is all part of His plan.  For it is relatively easy to love someone when everything is going well in a relationship, but it takes a very special kind of love to want to hang in there when nothing is really all that good.

It all depends upon the other person, of course.  For wanting to hang in there with someone abusive, who keeps breaking their promises to change, often ends as a very sad story (to put it mildly).

Be assured that it is vastly different with our Heavenly Father, and He does indeed promise to more than make up in the world that is yet to come for the hardships we have been subjected to in this world.  For it is written: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. [Romans 8:18-21 NIV]

The Second Corner

(All-Powerful)

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.  He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses.  Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him.  For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.  The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. [Psalms 33:6-11 NIV]

Our Heavenly Father’s promises would ring as hollow as political promises made on a campaign trail far too often do if He is not really all-powerful.  For stuff happens—right?

It certainly happened in the Garden of Eden.  Well, at least that is what I have heard, and maybe you have, too.  For it has been widely taught that sin was never meant to enter into this world.  In fact, almost every doctrine of almost every major Christian denomination is based (in one or another) upon that premise.

To be perfectly honest about it, I cannot imagine why anyone in their right-mind would want to believe that our Heavenly Father’s plan went terribly awry in the Garden of Eden.  For if that is indeed true, who is to say that it could not happen again, and if it could happen again, just how secure can eternity really be for any of us—regardless of how much faith one may want to have in Him?

Yes, it can be argued that it is not a matter of wanting to believe that things went horribly wrong in the Garden of Eden.  For that is just what happened.  Says who?

Be assured that it has not been our Heavenly Father.  For He says that the absolute truth of the matter truly is that He is all-powerful, and that this means He is in FULL control over ALL that has happened in the past, is happening in this day and age, and will happen forevermore.

No, nothing can happen unless it is in accordance to our Heavenly Father’s will, and this includes even what we naturally consider to be bad.  However, this does not make our Heavenly Father bad.  For what we naturally consider to be bad, He means for His glory and our ultimate good by giving us opportunities to give Him the full benefit of our considerable doubts, such as trusting that what happened in the Garden of Eden was all part of the plan He set in motion long before He laid the foundation for this world.

Of course, most on the Arminian side of Protestant divide contend that our Heavenly Father being all-powerful is a moot point.  For they have been led to believe that He does not interfere with our freewill.  I wonder what the Prophet Jonah [Jonah 1:1-4:11] and the Apostle Paul [Acts 9:1-19] would have to say about that?

Those on the Calvinist side of the Protestant divide lean in the opposite direction, and some lean really hard.  For they have been led to believe that our Heavenly Father created some for glory and all of the rest for destruction, with none of us being given a choice of where we would want to spend all of eternity.

As with so many other things, the absolute truth of the matter lies between the two extremes.  For we do have freewill, but it is actually quite limited.

In fact, it is only in respect to the choice each, who reach their own age of accountability, is given to make concerning whether or not they want to truly accept Him as being their own Heavenly Father, which most certainly includes the acceptance of His only begotten Son, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, as being their own personal Savior, that we can be sure of there not being any true interference involved.  For it would not fulfill His purposes to force anyone to spend all of eternity with Him in His Kingdom of Heaven as an heir to all that is His in glory against their will.  For it is written: “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” [Joshua 24:15 NAS]

The Third Corner

(All-Knowing)

The Lord knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile. [Psalms 94:11 NIV]

Yes, it is naturally inconceivable that the Creator of all that exists (apart from Himself, of course) would subject Himself to all of the agony that He truly has, but He insists that it is well worth it.  For He knows how it will all end, and great will be His joy when the time comes for Him to gather all of His children by faith unto Himself to spend all of eternity with Him in His Kingdom of Heaven as heirs to all that is His in glory.

There are some in the Christian community who do not believe that our Heavenly Father really knows what is yet to come.  Oh, they give Him credit for having a pretty good idea on account of being intelligent enough to calculate all of the possible endings in much the same way as a super computer would with access to enough pertinent data, but that is not the same as actually knowing what is yet to come.  By the way, that is called the Doctrine of Middle Knowledge, if you are interested.

Others believe that our Heavenly Father really does know what is yet to come on account of already seeing it happen.  Put me down as being in this group.

No, I cannot explain how our Heavenly Father can actually see into the future—certainly not in scientific terms.  Alas, I suppose I should have paid more attention to the Star Trek episodes where someone traveled back and forth through time—huh?

In all seriousness, believing in our Heavenly Father not being bound by the natural laws of physics is purely a matter of faith until He takes you on a trip like He did the Apostle John, with the New Testament Book of Revelation being the written account of that.  Hey, it could happen.

Yes, it can be argued that our Heavenly Father does not need to really know what is going to happen in the future to make confident predictions if nothing can happen unless it is in accordance to His will, but if this is indeed true, how could He know what names to put down in His Book of Life before He created any of us?  Hardcore Calvinists would argue that this serves as proof of predestination, but does this not make our Heavenly Father out to be a cold-hearted monster?  Um, is it just me or do you also find it rather curious that only those who want to believe they are one of the chosen few bound for glory find the Doctrine of Predestination acceptable?

Be assured that the absolute truth of the matter truly is that our Heavenly Father has known since the very beginning who would and would not want to truly be one of His children by faith.  For it is written: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. [Psalms 139:13-16 NIV]

The Fourth Corner

Always-Present

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.  If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

[Psalms 139:7-12 NIV]

Despite what has been so widely taught in His name, the absolute truth of the matter truly is that our Heavenly Father is always-present (omnipresent).  Simply put, this means that He truly is everywhere all of the time.

I do not know how our Heavenly Father can do this.  I just know that He can, and not just by blind (nor deaf) faith, neither.  For He has personally assured me of the absolute truth about His omnipresence, and it all makes perfect sense to me. For everything that exists is actually an extension of Himself (in one way or another). 

As it turns out, the real reason for why our Heavenly Father chose to partially hide Himself from our physical sight is that He wants us to want to love Him for the right reason.  For if we could actually see Him in all of His glory, many would naturally bow down before Him because of being too afraid not to while others would naturally bow down before Him out of greed for personal gain.

No, that is not beyond our comprehension.  For there have been billions of examples of people under the rule of heartless authorities meekly going along with their totalitarian programs because of being too afraid of being killed if they did not.  Our Heavenly Father would quickly move to assure each and every one of us of the absolute truth of the matter truly being that He is full of goodness and mercy, of course, but there would still be far too many who would naturally be too afraid of His awesome power to want to truly draw near to Him.

A good example of those who would only want to bow down before our Heavenly Father out of greed for personal gain is a fairly recent marriage between a billionaire and a lady of spectacular beauty.  For when asked by a news reporter at the public announcement of their upcoming nuptials if she would be marrying him if he was not so rich, the lady smiled and asked the reporter, “Do you think he would be marrying me if I did not look like this?”

It is on account of being led to believe that our Heavenly Father is too holy to be in the very presence of sin that makes some literally scoff at the idea of Him really being everywhere all of the time.  Others are much more comfortable with thinking of angels being near while far too many simply do not want to think about it all.

Tragically, the 800-pound gorilla bathing in the baptistery is that the main reason for why far too many in the Christian community do not want to accept that our Heavenly Father really is always-present is that this would mean that He does not need them to seek and to save the lost in this world until the time for His return comes to pass, and that would make them be of far less value to Him from their own ground-based points of view.  Aside from the shame, the great tragedy is that all who want to think more highly of themselves than they should will not be exalted by Him, come Judgment Day.

No, it is not at all true that our Heavenly Father is too holy to be in the very presence of sin, and a careful read of the first two chapters of the Old Testament Book of Job should serve as written confirmation of that.  For if it was possible for Satan to twice stand before our Heavenly Father while He sat upon His throne in His Kingdom of Heaven, who from among us could possibly be more sinful than the devil himself?

Okay, much has been made in certain theological circles about the Book of Job probably being nothing more than merely a story based upon ancient Hebrew oral traditions—certainly not an actual account of a period of time during the life of a real flesh and blood person by the name of Job, but all doubts can be dispelled by just listening to what our Heavenly Father has to actually say about it, as well as everything else.  For He has been talking to each and every one of us (on an individual basis and without exception) since we were in our mother’s womb.

Alas, our Heavenly Father really has been oh so very near to all of us in this world, but far too many quite simply just don’t want to believe it.  Quite sadly, this is nothing new.  For it is written: “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.  To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’  All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations.” [Isaiah 65:1-2 NIV]

Attaching the Bow

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” [Matthew 7:7-11 NIV]

Be assured that the absolute truth of the matter truly is that what is contained in the God box (the actual one—not just this book) is a very special gift from our Heavenly Father to us all.  For it is a gift of Himself, and all He wants from us is to be truly accepted as being our own Heavenly Father, and for us to want to truly become one of His children by faith.

Quite contrary to what has been so widely taught in our Heavenly Father’s name is that He does not expect us to prove ourselves worthy of His favor, and a quick connecting of some dots should prove that this is indeed true.  Well, at least to those who will want to humbly accept it.  For if it is indeed true that our Heavenly Father is our Creator and all-powerful, no one can do anything without Him allowing and enabling them to, and if He is indeed all-knowing, He would know everything that there would be to ever know about everyone long before He brought each individual into existence.  Furthermore, if He is indeed always-present, He would be actually there whenever anyone did anything.  So, how could it be possible to prove anything to Him if He is indeed all that He says He is?

Yes, that is an awful lot to swallow, and what makes it much worse to many is that part of truly accepting our Creator as being our own Heavenly Father and to want to truly become one of His children by faith is truly accepting His only begotten Son, who is Christ Jesus, as being our own personal Lord and Savior.  For it is quite natural for us to want to believe that we can make the grade on our own, and it certainly does not help that the devil and his demons are allowed to tempt us with thinking that we can be our own god.

Ah, but our Heavenly Father could not be absolutely perfect in all of His most awesome ways if He did not know what He was doing, nor had the power to accomplish all that He desires to.  Be assured that all who will but want to truly have a very close and personal relationship with Him will know, which goes far beyond merely having a great amount of faith, just how perfect our Heavenly Father truly is.  For that very special gift of Himself includes being made acutely aware of His Holy Spirit always being with us, and those who will want to truly listen to what He actually says is absolutely true will hear Him remind them often of the absolute truth of the matter truly being that what was true for the children of Israel long ago also applies just as much to them.  For it is written: The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” [Jeremiah 31:3 NIV]