Our Unapproachable God

Did you know that if you look directly at the sun, an incredible 93 million miles away, the penetrating light will cause damage to your eyes in as little as a few seconds?  Right at its core that same sun burns at 27 million degrees Fahrenheit.  Pretty extreme.  The sun is inaccessible, unreachable. 

Paul saw a light that was even brighter than the sun, a light that struck him blind for 3 days!  “𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏, 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒏, 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔.”   (Acts 26:13) Timothy says this when describing the Great I Am.  “𝑮𝒐𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝑹𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑳𝑶𝑹𝑫 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒎 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒆. 𝑻𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓. 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒏.”   (1 Timothy 6:15b-16). Unapproachable light.  Inaccessible. A God way more dangerous than staring into the sun!

And yet our Unapproachable God tells us to ‘𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖!’   How is that even possible for me, a sinner, to approach such a pure and holy God? Surely, if I even dared to come close, I would be nothing but dust in a second.  A few wisps of smoke and ash blown away in a hot searing wind. 

𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗱, 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀.  𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘂𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝘄 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗙𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.   “𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒏, 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔, 𝒃𝒚 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝑯𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒊𝒍, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔, 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒉.”   (Heb 10:19-20).  The God who told Moses, “𝑵𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆!”  made a way for us to draw near.  Incredible. 

Often, I think we forget the mystery of God, how powerful, how dangerous.  We don’t take the time to consider His infinite glory and majesty.  To gaze upon His greatness.  How we, as His children, have this inconceivable access to our Father.  I believe when we take the time to meditate on these things, we will once again remember the astonishing power of God, how we serve a God who is greater, a God who can make impossible things possible!

Approaching an unapproachable God with you,