God and Reason (4)

“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29.13

Improve reason
Thus far, we have answered our first question, Is God reasonable?, both affirmatively and in the negative: With respect to humankind’s ability to reason, God is andis not reasonable. He is reasonable in that He invites us to reason with Him, using the familiar tools and protocols of reason. And He is not reasonable in that there are matters relating to God, His works, and His ways that our reason will never be able to understand, at least, not in the same way God understands them.

What are the implications of this for humankind’s ability to reason with God?

First, since it pleases God to use human reasoning skills to communicate Himself and His will, we do well to improve our use of reason to the full extent, and to apply our reasoning powers to every medium and means by which God is pleased to reveal Himself to us. Reason can be understood as the action of our minds in seeking to understand the nature, associations, and implications of a particular fact. The fact of God is accessible to our reason, at least in part; yet only as we apply our reason to the fact of God may we expect to gain the benefit of that activity which God intends by inviting us to reason with Him.

Put another way, if we are sluggish in reason, so that we do not like to have to think hard and long about matters; or if our skills in reasoning are inadequate, poorly honed, or rusty from disuse, then we should make it our business to overcome our laziness and improve our use of reason, since the great prize of reasoning with and knowing God lies open to us.

Seek the sources
Second, the fact that we can know God through reason encourages us to appeal to all those places where God has declared that He is willing to meet and reason with us. These may be described in two general categories: the revelation of God in Scripture, and the revelation of God in creation.

First, we should apply our reasoning powers to the study of Scripture. We will hear God speaking to us in Scripture when we seek Him there with all our heart. The Bible over and over declares itself to be the very Word of God, the primary verbal source by which we may reason with and know Him. The Bible is written in human language, following the rules of human grammar and syntax, using words and meanings accessible to human reason. The more we read and study the Bible, and the more we use the tools of reason in doing so, the more we should expect to engage with God in a reasoning exchange of mutual knowledge and understanding.

Conversely, if we neglect the Scriptures, or if our use of Scripture is spotty or haphazard, or merely for what we may gain for ourselves, then we will not be using our reason aright, and cannot expect to gain the benefit God intends for us by His invitation to come and reason with Him.

Second, and in the light of what God reveals about Himself in Scripture, we ought to ponder the creation, where the glory of God is being revealed, and the works of human culture as well, as part of the revelation of God in creation (Ps. 68.18; Acts 14.17).

We should pay careful attention to the works of God, the history of His relationship to the world and to His people, the counsel and experience of our forebears and elders, and the indications of the Spirit’s workings in the world today. We may learn about God from studying the arts and literature, history and biography, the human as well as the natural sciences – but only so long as we allow the Scriptures, the primary revelation of God, to guide our reading and study.

God can be known by our reason, and He urges us to seek and search for Him where He may be found. We will be good stewards of our ability as reasoning beings as we take up His invitation and come to reason with Him in Scripture and creation.

Two caveats
At the same time, we must not waste our reason on frivolous or sinful things, for this would not be good stewardship. We may find ourselves embarrassed, ashamed, and filled with regret when we actually do sit down with God to give a reasonable accounting of the life we have lived with the gifts He has provided. God has given us reason, in part, so that we may know Him and grow in our love for and obedience to Him. If we compromise or corrupt our reasoning powers by applying them to things that do not contribute to the knowledge of God and His intentions for us, then we betray the fundamental purpose for which God has given us reasoning skills.

But, second, since God is not bound by our reason, we must consider whether there are other ways of knowing Him which go beyond reason, or work alongside orwith reason, or which complement our reasoning abilities. For if such means to the better knowledge of God exist – and we believe they do, and that God Himself directs us in how to make use of them – then we are not being reasonable in allowing these to lie fallow.

We shall have more to say about such matters as we work through the remaining questions in this series.

God is reasonable, but He is not limited in His will or ways by our ability to figure Him out. Let us accept His invitation to come and reason as He guides us into a deeper understanding of the use of reason in our relationship with Him.

For reflection
1.  God invites you to come and reason with Him, and to seek and search for Him with all your heart. Describe your present approach to this summons.

2.  What does God promise to those who take up the call to seek and search for Him with their reason?

3.  Meditate on Hebrews 11.6. Besides sound reason, what else is necessary to gain the benefit God intends from reasoning with Him? What’s the difference between this and reason?

Next steps – Preparation: Review your practice of seeking and searching for God. What’s one thing you could do to engage more of your reason in seeking to reason with God?

T. M. Moore

This is part 1 of a 2-part series on God and Reason. You can download this week’s study as a free PDF, suitable for personal or group use, by clicking here.

We invite you to register for the free online course, One in Twelve: Introduction to Christian Worldview. In this course T. M. Moore provides a sweeping panorama of how life in the Kingdom of God unfolds in an age in flight from God such as ours. Set your own schedule and study at your own pace. Learn more, and register for One in Twelve, by clicking here.

Help us discover the state of people’s understanding of God’s truth. Watch the brief video explaining our Understanding the Bible Questionnaire (click here). Then download the Questionnaire and begin using it with the people in your Personal Mission Field. Be sure to come back to the website and record the answers you receive. We’ll update you from time to time on what we’re learning.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.