There is none like you, O LORD;

         you are great, and your name is great in might. (Jeremiah 10:6)

What we believe about God matters more than we can probably imagine. God did not give us an enormous book of Divinely inspired Scripture so that we could conclude that theology is not all that important or does not have much to do with our lives. We were made to know and love God. But how can we know and love God if we do not know him according to his word? God has not left us ignorant about what he is like and he does not allow us to conceive of him in any way we prefer. Rather, beginning with the first words of the Bible, God begins to progressively reveal himself to his people. What an enormous privilege we have in being invited to know God!

As the first chapter of Genesis unfolds it becomes clear that there are great mysteries being revealed. By mystery, we do not mean something that cannot be understood or explained. Rather, mystery, in the sense that the Bible typically uses it, refers to something that is partially veiled early on and then more fully seen in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. This is certainly true as we consider the doctrine of God’s triune nature. Our hope is bound to the truth that the salvation decreed by the Father has been accomplished by the Son, and applied to our lives by the Holy Spirit.

The creation account also exposes us to the almighty power and goodness of God. The creation of the cosmos was a supernatural act of God’s power. Not only that, as Genesis 1 states repeatedly, all of God’s acts of creation were “good.” This is so because God’s very essence is goodness. He does all things well. Nothing God does is contrary to or inconsistent with his perfect goodness.

When we grow in our knowledge of God we are gaining far more than mere information. The knowledge of God is truth that changes us. Growing in the knowledge of God is to have our loves and priorities oriented toward him. It is to find comfort in our sorrows and hope in our dismay. It is to have our loneliness lightened and our joy deepened.