We live in an era of “postmodern thought” where each person can supposedly establish for himself his own truth. The predominant proposition of postmodernism is that there is no absolute truth; hence there is no God.
I have heard it rightly argued that postmodern thought is self-defeating. If there is no truth outside of my own perception of truth then any kind of imposed idea cannot be absolute truth. Since postmodernism is an imposed idea, it cannot be considered truth. Therefore it is self-defeating thought.
I think that most people actually do have ‘gods’ in there lives, whether they want to acknowledge it or not. Many people have a view of God that arises from the kind of thinking that allows each of us to establish his own truth; in the same way they tend to establish their own idea of ‘God’. To them, God is a “higher power” who thinks and acts as they do; their idea of God being completely limited by their own narrow experience of human life. If they have been subjected to abuse, their God is one who could never send a soul to hell in judgment. If they are prejudiced, their God is one who would only allow people of a certain color or religious affiliation to be saved. If they have acted wickedly toward others, their God harbors the same feelings toward those whom they persecute.
As God himself states in verse 21 of today’s passage, “These [wicked] things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you. But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face.” We are all in danger of limiting our understanding of God by defining him in accordance with our own narrow experience. We all, from time to time, begin to think that God is altogether like ourselves. We forget that God is absolute truth (the logos), and that he has always been and always will be absolute truth – regardless of how we define him in human terms.
The ultimate example of what this type of thinking can lead to is the crucifixion of Jesus. When he was brought before the Sanhedrin, the chief priests and elders of the Jews already had their minds made up about him. They had decided that this was not the awaited Messiah – this man was not the man their God had promised to send. As such they wanted nothing to do with the truth about who he was, they called him a blasphemer and handed him over to Pilate that he might be killed. He was an inconvenient truth to them.
There is only one way to know the God of the Bible and that is to know the Bible. If we think we know God and we do not know the Bible we are fooling ourselves. If the leaders of the Jewish people had properly studied the Word of God they would have recognized Jesus as the Christ. By properly studying I mean without prejudice – without preconceived notions. We need to just open up to the word, know it and obey it as the absolute truth that it is. In so doing we can serve the one true and living God.
Father – We pray that we may know you in accordance with the one way in which you truly reveal yourself; through your Word. Give us the courage to reject any thinking or ‘understanding’ that we have that is contrary to your Word. Help us to set aside time today to be in your Word and listening to what you have to say to us about whom You really are. Amen.
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