Knowing God (Dan Burns, guest post)

On Wednesdays we celebrate “walking in the Word” through study & application of Biblical doctrine. Rightly understanding Biblical doctrine fuels doxology, delight in Jesus, & gospel centered discipleship. This week my good friend and mentor, Dan Burns, invites Richly Dwelling readers to go further up and further into our brief series: Knowing God. Dan answers the question, “Why study the doctrine of God?” A perfect complement to our series so far: Knowing God; God is Eternal, God is Love; God Never Changes; and God is One. 
 
Dan and his wife Catherine serve with World Outreach in central Asia, working to equip and empower Christian leaders in a country where more than 70% of the population is Muslim. Dan is a missionary of missionaries, with whom I have been good friends with since we worked together at 2nd Presbyterian in Memphis, Tennessee. Dan’s wife, Catherine, serves with Lisa and I on the board for Abide Church and The Dwelling. 

The mountains visible from my window rise to a height of over 16,000 feet. Every morning as their snow-capped peaks and dramatic ridge lines declare the majesty, power, and creativity of God (Psalm 19:1-2), my eyes are drawn upward to contemplate our Creator. There is a particular stretch in my morning jogging route where I have a direct view of these mountains. I am inspired and full of zeal to take on the uphill portion of my run. Along the way, however, the incline takes its toll and my gaze begins to drop. Pedestrians become obstacles, curbs turn into barricades, and the grade seems to increase exponentially. My pace slows, my gaze drops to the sidewalk, and I grumble to myself about why I have picked such a foolish hobby.

Why do we study the character of God? Because we invest a lot of my time orienting ourselves by gazing left, right, and down. We expend mental energy wordsmithing human definitions of goodness, patience, gentleness, and mercy. While we may have begun the day gazing upward, it is not long before our horizontal and downward orientation dominates our processing. Even contemplating the fundamental axiom “God is love” (1 John 4:8) produces differing results if we begin with a vertical glace (God by His very nature defines love) or a horizontal glance (humanly defined love defines God). The daily demands of life and our human nature draw our gaze downward. So we study the nature and character of God to lift our gaze to Him, that He might reorient our understanding of virtue and truth.
 
The nature and the character of God are the very contours that inspire our awe and elicit our praise. God’s goodness is part of his nature, His very moral character (Mark 10:18). God does not try to “be” good. Rather, He defines goodness itself. His actions, His mission (particularly revealed through Jesus), and his interaction with His creation, these are all good. God is the very source, author, and arbiter of goodness. We experience the quality of goodness because God has chosen to share that with us. To understand goodness, I need to start with understanding God, and what it means for Him to be good and share His goodness with creation. 
 
Then, by reflecting on the nature of God’s character, we can see tangible ways we were designed to act, speak, and think in the same way. Those characteristics can feel like distant peaks that involve a strenuous climb. Granted. But, as I love to say to my city-dwelling friends, when I look down from a high vista and see the brown smog covering the city, “Any day in the mountains is better than a day in the city.” The effort is well worth it. The world may deny the existence of God and declare that the character attributed to Him is old-fashioned, obsolete, and oppressive. But once you have seen the mountains, experienced their majesty, and been awestruck by their grandeur, it is hard to stay in the city. So, head to the mountains, and “Taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).”

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