The Depths of God's Glory and Goodness

     Something peculiar yet intriguing resides in the character of God. To one He is Light, to another, a Father to the Fatherless, and so on and so forth. God presents Himself to individuals as Beloved, Friend, Counselor, Teacher, and Guide. The wellspring of the knowledge of God never ends! But it seems that, in the noise of life, this wellspring often gets passed by when, in reality, it should shape the very essence of who we are.

     On one hand, God carries goodness. A goodness that goes far beyond our comprehension. Apart from God, nothing is good; with God, all things are glorious. The things void of the presence of God--vanity. The things saturated in the essence of God--vital. Nothing in this world has the capacity to hold goodness. It may appear good, pleasant, or desirable, but true goodness resides only in the Father.
     Because of this inclination to the Father, a driving passion to seek resides within every individual. It's who, what, and where the worshiper seeks that determines their course. But a passion to seek this goodness--the true abundant life--resides in the depths of all. In turn, many rebel because of a belief that goodness dwells apart from God. When one seeks the depths of goodness where the enemy dwells, a false goodness takes its place. Thus veiling the eyes to the depths of God's true goodness--His love.
     Love embodies God's goodness. It resides in all places at all times, but many still remain blinded to it. It's in this love that many find the depths of the wellspring of the knowledge of God. God's abundant love drives the sinner to his knees in repentance and raises him up as a saint. It compels the saints to live passionately for the sake of the Kingdom of God. To find God's goodness is to become saturated in His love.
     And the only natural response to a love such as His? Love. "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Passionate affection and a glorious love remain the only logical response to a goodness such as God's unfailing love. And it's in that love that many find true abundance of life, and many fail to realize it. The fact that God's glory shines all around makes the latter of that last statement ironic.

     In God's other hand resides His overflow of glory. In the same as His goodness, only He holds glory. It's in this glory that many discover God's goodness, yet even still, many miss out on the true depths of the riches of God's glory. In His never-ending glory we find the seraphim dancing and singing from alpha to omega, literally on fire for God. With eyes all around and within, the beauty and glory that they behold before the throne has never left them bored or empty. They constantly, for undoubtedly too many years to count, are blown away by the abundant revelations of God's glory that emanate from Him.
    Within these chambers of the heavenly throne room, John sat and attempted to record the glorious sights before him. This looked like this...and that seemed like that. John could not completely describe exactly what he beheld due to the overwhelming glory before him.
     It's in this beautiful glory that Isaiah cried out, "Woe is me!", and Moses sought more and more. And within this glory, David beheld the heavens that God simply spread out like a curtain and pleaded, "Who is man that You are mindful of Him?" This glory, the glory of God, we often miss.
     Painted in every sunrise and sunset, spread out like a tent to dwell in, created with beauty and grace, nature declares the goodness and glory of God. Our very beings declare His glory and goodness. He becomes our lifesong in the discovery of the never-ending wellspring of the knowledge of God.

     In light of the characteristics of God's glory and goodness, pride has no place. For since nothing has goodness apart from God, and only God contains and deserves all of the glory, everything apart from God is vanity. We are clay leading clay to the knowledge of the Potter. Only when He dwells within us do we contain any good, and the work He then therefore does within us brings exceedingly more glory unto Himself. So pride has no place in the presence of God.
     One can claim that another or himself lives closer to God, but what does this even mean? If God's glory and goodness never ends, how can one understand more and be closer? All of anybody has only merely scratched the surface of who God is. We all are closer to the beginning of the knowledge of God than the end! Beloved, rejoice in that statement!
     Don't hear these words wrongly, God indeed transforms us from glory to glory. But even the reknown scholars, teachers, and pastors of our day do not have glory within themselves. It's the fact that from glory to glory God transforms us into a closer resemblance of Jesus--God Himself. Within this, the more we look like the Potter, the more glory the Potter recieves. Apart from Him, nothing is good; without Him, not one thing is glorious. He transforms the clay.
     Sure, our love for Him grows deeper and deeper still, and, like Moses, we should cry out to be closer to Him still, but we all are closer to the beginning of the knowledge of God than the end. This looks like this...and that looks like that shall be our only response until we no longer look into a mirror dimly lit, but see face to face the glory of God. And until then, we have a lifetime, as short as it is, to fall deeper and deeper still into the wellspring of the knowlede of God, constantly blown away, like the seraphim, by the everlasting depths of who God is; His goodness and His glory ever driving us into a greater passion and love for the furthering of the Kingdom of God and His glory.