3. What we must know about God

Since God’s majesty is intrinsically above and beyond the power of human understanding, and just cannot be grasped by it, we must adore its loftiness rather than scrutinize it, so as not to be entirely overwhelmed by such brightness.

This is why we must seek and consider God in his works which, for this reason, the Scripture calls manifestation of what is invisible (Romans 1:29,20 [ASV] “because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse:”; Hebrews 11:1 [ASV] “Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.”) because these works portray to us what we could not otherwise know of the Lord.

We are not talking here about empty and frivolous speculations which keep our minds in a state of uncertainty, but of something which it is essential for us to know—something which does us good, and which establishes in us a true and solid piety, that is, faith mixed with fear.

In looking at this universe, then, we gaze upon the immortality of our God. It is this immortality which gives rise to the beginning and origin of everything which exists. We gaze upon his power which has created such a vast system and now sustains it. We gaze upon his wisdom which has brought into being such a great and varied array of creatures, and rules them in a finely-balanced and ordered way. We gaze upon his goodness which was the very reason why all these things were created and continue to exist. We gaze upon his justice which displays itself in a marvelous way in the protection of good people, and in the punishment of bad ones. We gaze upon his mercy which so gently puts up with our sins, in order that it might call on us to put our lives straight.

Indeed, it is so very necessary for us to be plentiful taught about God, and we really ought to let the universe do it for us. And it would do, if it were not for the fact that our coarse insensitivity is blind to such a great light. But it is not only in being blind that we sin. Such is our waywardness that, when it considers God’s works, there is nothing that id does not perceive in an evil and perverse sense. It turns upside down all the heavenly wisdom which otherwise shines so clearly there.

We therefore have to come to the Word of God where, through his works, God is very well described to us. There his works are not evaluated according to the perversity of our judgement, but by the standard of eternal truth. We learn there that our God, who is the only God, and who is eternal, is the spring and fountain of all life, righteousness, wisdom, strength, goodness, and mercy. Everything which is good, with no exception whatever, comes from him alone. And so it is that all praise should rightly return to him.

An although all these things appear clearly in each part of heaven and earth, it is ultimately in the Word of God that we always truly understand what is the main goal towards which they are heading, what their value is and in what sense we should understand them. Then we go down deep inside ourselves and consider how the Lord displays in us his life, wisdom, and power, and how he exercises towards us his justice, kindness, and goodness.