The Uncontainable God

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man... - Acts 17:24

Uncontainable. The attribute I find the most comforting is this, His omnipresence. The human idea we can keep Him sequestered in only certain corners of life and the world, reminds me of how much at times I want to hide away or even go as far as denying Him existing right there beside me in all of life. I know as much as my human mind will allow me to that God exists.

The small signs of His presence in my life. I could list them, but they are so ordinary that you would not recognize God being there for yourself. But when you know what you are listening for or watching for, you recognize it for being exactly what it is. At least for a split second, until lies and doubts contradict the sacred.

Paul was asked by the Areopagus (Greek council) to explain this new teaching that he had been presenting while in Athens.

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.  For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. Acts 17:22-23

The God who made the world.. the uncreated God. The same God still uncreated rested nine months in Mary’s womb. In darkness, maybe resembling the same darkness God brooded over before Creation. Before birth, before growth, before God walked in human form as a Son to an earthly mother and earthly father, but also still the Son of God.

This is a lot to wrap my mind around. This trinity of God and Jesus Christ and then the Holy Spirit all being one. When I think of Mary as the first person to have God within, it is easier to understand. The name so familiar that I don’t even question the real meaning of it: Emmanuel meaning God with us. God the Creator. Now flesh and blood.

The God who made the world and everything in it.. The gold and silver, the stones, and the forest of trees. The men and women with the creative minds. All this He made. And look back at us centuries ago, the same as today. Still building idols up high, just like Babel.

We will reach the very heights of everything great, we think so arrogantly. We will contain God in buildings with crosses and murals and stained glass. We will take all that our Creator made for us and make something much better than God could have ever imagined. We will take trees and build crosses and we will show signs of worshipping gods that we still don’t have names for.

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth.. Paul tells this questioning counsel in Athens that God does not need our human hands. But He created us for Himself, to fellowship and have a relationship with. He offers us love:

that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,  for

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Acts 17:27-28

God is with us. Today His Holy Spirit lives with us abiding and helping us always and everywhere. There is nothing unimportant, “all is clothed with divine light.” Light from remembrance of who we are as individuals, as His Beloved and who He is. All of Him uncontained, uncreated. There is no place so small or dark nor so big and bright that God cannot be.

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man…Acts 17:24