Seeing God as He is transcendent fosters reverence for His immanence.
God is transcendent...He is completely separate from His creation in holiness, in righteousness, in perfection, in His very being. Yet God is also immanent. He is personally involved and interested in our lives and intimately acquainted with our ways. When I meditate upon these truths, I am comforted. When the days grow weary with monotony, I know that God cares about my days for He has called me His own. When I flit about in busyness I remember the God Who is Here. I must be tethered to the moment He has given me and walk with Him in His holiness.
Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin." Exodus 20:20
"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Who did He consult and who made Him understand?...Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold He takes up the coastlands like fine dust."
Isaiah 40:12-15
Psalm 139 For You [God] formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother's womb...My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in eh depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them."
God is both immanent and transcendent. These two qualities of the Most High cannot be separated. They are a part of Who He is and we must understand as well we can in our finite minds, this fact of God Almight
Sadly,religion separates these two aspects of God's character. Where transcendence reigns-legalism tends to rise. Legalists resort to following rules with focus on outward behavior and appearances rather than God. Those who practice legalism may appear more somberly spiritual than our liberal sisters in Christ, but it is the practice of the Pharisee's, behaving as polished, white sulpechurs. And where immanence reigns-liberal doctrine arise.These steps are framed in the practice of "following the Spirit" and often ignoring the Word, but opens the door to compromise. Each little step of compromise will add up to a leading away from worship of God to worship of the created things. It is slippery slope to apostacy whether it be worship, service, "signs & wonders" or acceptable sins that are "not so bad".
Either practice is unbalanced and focuses on the works of man and his changing standards rather than on the unchanging, immanent, transcendant God of the Universe.
God is both transcendent and immanent and these two characteristics cannot be separated.We must come to Him in reverence for the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and couple it with the fact that He is our Father in Heaven and has adopted us into His family through His Son, Jesus. We must understand that He is truly interested and involved in our personal lives. Even the monotonous. Even when we become too consumed with busyness.
"The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He makes known to them His covenant." Psalm 25:14
Keep God exalted...the Lord is enough! His Word is complete for what we need for life. Know it, know Christ for He is the Word...the living Word of God.
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