“Neither the writer nor the reader of these words is qualified to appreciate the holiness of God. Quite literally a new channel must be cut through the desert of our minds to allow the sweet waters of truth that will heal our great sickness to flow in. We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking of someone or something very pure and then raising the concept to the highest degree we are capable of.
God’s holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable… Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard.”
–A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy. (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1961), pp. 104-5.
I have pondered the holiness of God. I have reached to understand it. I read this and am comforted to know that God’s holiness is beyond my mortal, and yes limited understanding. I am amazed by God.
A.W Tozer’s book on the attributes of God is a must read for anyone who is seriously wishing to understand God. It is clear from reading his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, he was a man who met with God. The book challenges and probes our thoughts of who God actually is. Read it and be even more amazed by God.
Mmm, Tozer is one of my favorite theologians, he was a man who truly loved the Lord with all of his being.
I love that. We can try our hardest to understand God’s holiness, and it’s certainly good to study it, but we will never fully understand it, and somehow that’s not a bad thing.
Thank you for posting this =)
Finite man tries vanely to describe the infinite God in terms which are by his finite nature, well finite. I like this point, that He is not like us, we are to search for Him, to understand Him for who He is, and this understanding not based on how great we can conceive Him to be, but for who He says He is. We tend to create God in our image and confine Him to our understanding rather than letting Him introduce our feeble minds to how great he really is. May He be ever exalted in our hearts.