The Boundless Delight of Seeking God (God is Infinite – Pt 2).
Because God is infinite, knowing God is an infinite privilege. It’s a privilege that never ends and that will continually open before us new experiences of His glory and goodness. In Psalm 16:11 the psalmist exults in this when He says: “You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” There are many things in our lives that we seek after and delight in, but scripture shows us that these things cannot compare to the infinite joy of knowing God. Let me illustrate with a comparison between a candle and the sun. The joys of this world might be compared to the candle, and the joy of knowing God compared to the sun. Now this comparison is useful in one sense, but in another sense it’s got real problems. The problem with the comparison is that it puts the joys of this world on the same playing field as the joy that we find in God. But God transcends all the things that He has made, as we see clearly in Genesis 1:1. He is infinitely above all the works of His hands. In that sense, there is an infinite gap between the goodness of God, and the goodness of the things He has made. There’s no comparison in that sense.
But there are at least two useful things about this illustration. First, it can begin to actually give us a meaningful idea of how much better God is than the joys of this life. A candle will flicker and give light in a dark room, and that can be very useful and helpful. The sun, on the other hand, blazes with a fire 1.3 million times the size of our entire planet. When we consider this, it begins to dawn on us just how much greater God is than anything else we might find or have in this life. Now the second useful thing about this illustration is that it also shows us something about the relationship between God and the joys of this life. Again, turning to Genesis 1, we see that God created all things – and that He created them to be “good.” What this means is that even the good things of this life find their source in God’s goodness, because they come from Him. Just as the light of a candle ultimately derives from that of the sun, so too the joys of this life find their origin in the infinitude of God’s being.
As we begin to open this up, we can see that the infinitude of God’s excellence finds more and more application as we consider that He is infinite in all His attributes as well. For example, God is infinitely beautiful. When you think about that, what could we possibly desire, seek after, or delight in more than Him? Another example: God is infinitely wise. When we need wisdom, where could we possibly go to seek it apart from Him? God is infinitely powerful. Where else then could we possibly go for help than to Him? God is infinitely good – what else in life could we possibly consider to be better than Him? And here is one of the great beauties of this doctrine of God’s infinite nature. The beauty of this is that in seeking after God, and delighting in knowing Him, we find a pursuit that will never become boring or wearisome. On the contrary, the further in to God we go, the greater our wonder and delight will become.
The delight of knowing God, who in the covenant has declared Himself to be our God (Gen 17:8), is an ever and increasing delight. It is a delight that progresses and grows infinitely. “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps 73:26). When describing the nature of God, theologians often make a distinction between the “communicable” and the “incommunicable” attributes of God. What that means is that some of His attributes He shares with us, and some He doesn’t. Love, for example (1 Jn 4:8), is a communicable attribute that He gives to us. Now typically, God’s infinitude has been classed as an incommunicable attribute, and in the basic sense, that’s certainly true. We are not infinite as God is. But I believe that there is a sense in which God’s infinitude is communicable, because He gives to us an infinite desire and capacity to know and enjoy Him. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has put “eternity into man’s heart.” What this means is that each one of us has an insatiable and infinite desire for God. As Ecclesiastes 2 therefore clearly reveals, this desire cannot be satisfied by the things of this world. We might gain everything, and yet as Solomon so long ago discovered, we would come to the realisation that: “behold, all is a breath and a striving after wind, and there is nothing to be gained under the sun” (Ecc 2:11).
So where does all of this leave us? It leaves us with one inevitable conclusion: that there is nothing that ought to inspire us more than knowing our infinite and limitless God. There is nothing in which we might find greater delight than in knowing Him. The puritan Thomas Watson said: “If God be infinite, filling heaven and earth, see what a full portion the saints have; they have Him for their portion who is infinite” (Watson, Divinity, p.52). So then the apostles have declared to us “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8), and it is the infinite God of all glory who now works in us and is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Eph 3:20).
Let’s return for a moment to Psalm 16:11: “You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Is this your experience? Has God made known to you the path of life? Have you begun to see and know that in His presence there is fullness of joy? And that at His right hand are pleasures forevermore? What is it that you seek after and delight in in your life? What are the things that you’re spending your time on? What do you spend your money on? Where do your thoughts go when you’re by yourself? If we answer these questions honestly, we’ll start to see whether the psalmist’s experience is really ours or not.
There can be no higher goal in life than knowing God. The joys of this world, which are good gifts from God (1 Tim 4:3), are passing like a gust of wind. But the joy of the Lord endures forever. Rightly used, the gifts of this life should actually bring us further into enjoying God Himself – which is why thankfulness is so important (1 Tim 4:3). But above and beyond these things, it is God alone – in and of Himself – who is worthy of our whole and total devotion. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). What is it in your life today that’s stopping you from being whole-heartedly devoted to Him? What is it that has captured your affections?
There’s something infinitely exciting about the doctrine of God’s infinitude. It’s the dawning realisation that there is a never-ending stream of joy set before us in the presence of God. It is the inkling in our minds that God has prepared for us who love Him something which no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined (1 Cor 2:9). So you tell me – is there anything under the sun worth seeking more than knowing God? Is there anything that offers greater delight than knowing Him? If you know what I’m saying is true, then you are already on the journey. Keep seeking Him, keep putting off the flesh and its desires.
But if what I’ve been saying here is foreign to you, then perhaps you have never known God at all. If that’s the case, then please don’t despair – because the opportunity is still before you right now, and the answer is very simple: come to Christ. Come and believe in Him, repent of your sin, confess them to God, and He will forgive you. When a sinner honestly admits to God that he is a sinner, and that he has have sinned, in response God has promised that He will forgive everyone who confesses their sins (1 Jn 1:8-10). And as you do this, rejoicing together with God’s people, turning away from the sin in your life, you too will begin to see and know what the psalmist is talking about. God will make known to you the path of life, and you will find that in His presence there is fullness of joy, and pleasures forevermore at His right hand.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Here is a catechism summarising what we’ve learned over the last two articles in our study of God’s infinite nature:
Q. What does it mean to say that God is limitless?
A. To say that God is limitless means that He is infinitely boundless, incomprehensible, perfect, unchangeable, and incomparable in all His being, attributes, and works.
Q. How ought we to benefit from the doctrine of God’s infinitude?
A. The doctrine of God’s infinitude ought to humble us before God as our Maker, awe us by His majesty, inspire us in seeking Him, and increasingly delight us in knowing Him.
Q. How ought the doctrine of God’s infinitude to humble us before Him and awe us at His majesty?
A. By showing us that, as our Maker, God infinitely transcends us in every way, and that His excellence is beyond all human measure, limit, and comprehension.
Q. How ought the doctrine of God’s infinitude to inspire us in seeking Him and increasingly delight us in knowing Him?
A. By showing us that God, in His boundless nature, infinitely exceeds in excellence any other thing that we might seek after or delight in.