The final Bible story I want to explore in depth in this series on knowing God is Job's encounter with God in the whirlwind. The story of Job is as follows: Though a holy and honorable man, Job loses his health, wealth, and family in a series of calamities. Job must deal not only with … Continue reading Facing the Whirlwind
The story of Moses and the burning bush is etched in the minds of most of us who grew up in Sunday School or hearing Bible stories from our parents. Its beats are so familiar — Moses is tending sheep in the wilderness when he sees a bush burning with fire but not being burnt … Continue reading Naming Fire
In the most recent post in this series on Knowing God, I talked about the strange stories in the Scriptures about what it's like for humans to meet God, and how these stories all resort to playful, or even nonsensical, use of language to get across just how much of a jumbled and contradictory paradox … Continue reading Entertaining Angels (An Integral Reading of Genesis 18.1-15)
The past posts in this series on knowing God have insisted on two paradoxical things: First, that our words, concepts, and experiences can never adequately describe God, and second, that God can nonetheless be known. With this in mind, the best word to describe God is probably Mystery. Contrary to what popular literary genres might … Continue reading Mysterious Encounters
O Immanuel, our king and our lawgiver, the hope of the nations and their Saviour: Come and save us, O Lord our God. Most of us are familiar with the Immanuel prophecy through Isaiah 7. In context, Jerusalem is under threat from the combined armies of Israel and Aram and the prophecy offers hope that … Continue reading O Immanuel: God is with Us
Matthew Root 