Unknowing God: Toward a Post-Abusive Theology

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And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. These are God-breathed words that the Holy Spirit inspired holy men of old to record over the centuries, words that the Spirit now illuminates our minds to understand and empowers us to obey. But without understanding this first, you will be trying to do everything in your own strength rather than using the greatest resource God can give you: Himself. When your desire to follow God outweighs your desire for a certain outcome, you are ready to hear from God. The Scriptures are God’s ultimate and final authority for what we are to believe and how we are to behave; they are our lifeline in this fallen world.

To know Packer, finally, is to meet a “theologizer”: someone who set out and communicated in crisp, concise speech what there is to be known of the reality of God on the basis of the Scriptures. We believe that faithful proclamation of the gospel is what our hostile and disoriented world needs. But, even though these believers in Ephesus were walking by faith in the Lord Jesus and with love for one another, Paul prays for more. You are ultimately the one responsible for your decisions, and you cannot rely exclusively on what other people say. When you find a relevant verse, read the other verses around it or the rest of the chapter — or even that whole book of the Bible — for context, to make sure it really applies to your situation.A new companion Bible study is also available to help readers explore these biblical themes for themselves. His last book provided wise instruction for those who are nearing the end of their respective races and want to learn how to finish well: Finishing Our Course with Joy: Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging (2014).

It proved to be an apt choice: Packer is one of the handful of authors I’ve met who lived up to, and in his case surpassed, the mental image I had constructed through reading his works.If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask Him, and He will gladly tell you, for He is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask Him; He will not resent it.