Take a minute and picture what it will look like when you are finally face to face with God. What do you think God will look like? What do you think the surroundings will look like?
I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.
Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body. Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.
As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.
When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking. -Ezekiel 1:4-28
I doubt that if you ask most people what they think God looks like, they would give the description given in the passage above. There is a saying that goes as much as God has made us in His image, so in our mind, we make Him in our image. The problem with that, though, is we tend to put God in a box that is no bigger than our own imagination. In fact, most of the time we don't even give God that much credit. We ascribe so many of our characteristics and logic to God that there are times when it becomes a roadblock to actually knowing our Lord.
Part of the problem is our natural inclination is to make ourselves our own God. Even those of us that are Christ followers struggle with this and we can unknowingly end up worshiping ourselves, just under the name of "God". If in our own minds we make Him think like us, talk like us, love and hate like us, and are motivated like we are, then are we not just worshiping an imaginary version of ourselves?
God is much bigger than that. In fact, after reading a description of God like the one above, God is seems almost scary in how big He is. Proverbs 3:5 says that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.
Don't try to box God in by trying to make Him look like you. Instead open Him and yourself up by letting Him make you in His image.
Activity: Spend some time outdoors thinking about how big God is. Think about how much greater Heaven is than anything we can imagine. Think about what infinite really means and though you can't successfully do it, try to wrap your mind around what infinity and eternity really mean and how God is both eternal and infinite. Then take a few minutes to worship Him because of how vast and huge God is.
Prayer: Take some time to just sit and spend time with God. You can spend some time praying for things on your heart, but also take some time to just listen. Pray for your relationship with God and that He reveals His nature to you over and over again. Then spend time simply seeking His face and trying to find out who He is.
I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.
Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body. Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.
As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.
When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking. -Ezekiel 1:4-28
I doubt that if you ask most people what they think God looks like, they would give the description given in the passage above. There is a saying that goes as much as God has made us in His image, so in our mind, we make Him in our image. The problem with that, though, is we tend to put God in a box that is no bigger than our own imagination. In fact, most of the time we don't even give God that much credit. We ascribe so many of our characteristics and logic to God that there are times when it becomes a roadblock to actually knowing our Lord.
Part of the problem is our natural inclination is to make ourselves our own God. Even those of us that are Christ followers struggle with this and we can unknowingly end up worshiping ourselves, just under the name of "God". If in our own minds we make Him think like us, talk like us, love and hate like us, and are motivated like we are, then are we not just worshiping an imaginary version of ourselves?
God is much bigger than that. In fact, after reading a description of God like the one above, God is seems almost scary in how big He is. Proverbs 3:5 says that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.
Don't try to box God in by trying to make Him look like you. Instead open Him and yourself up by letting Him make you in His image.
Activity: Spend some time outdoors thinking about how big God is. Think about how much greater Heaven is than anything we can imagine. Think about what infinite really means and though you can't successfully do it, try to wrap your mind around what infinity and eternity really mean and how God is both eternal and infinite. Then take a few minutes to worship Him because of how vast and huge God is.
Prayer: Take some time to just sit and spend time with God. You can spend some time praying for things on your heart, but also take some time to just listen. Pray for your relationship with God and that He reveals His nature to you over and over again. Then spend time simply seeking His face and trying to find out who He is.
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