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An Inspiring Devotional

Author: A.W. Tozer

As part of the C.S. Lewis Institute’s Fellowship program, the month of July was dedicated to understanding true conversion and what it is. Part of that is understanding God, the gift He gives us, and how we are to worship and magnify His name. Conversion is about turning: turning from the old, into a new way of life. As such, A.W. Tozer’s short but transcendent devotional, The Knowledge of the Holy, talks about why it is imperative to truly know God, as best we can, and how although there are things we will never understand, we learn about God through His attributes.

These divine attributes are His triune nature (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), self-existence (i.e., God was not created), self-sufficiency, eternal nature, infinitude, immutability, omniscience, wisdom, omnipotence, transcendence, omnipresence, faithfulness, goodness, justice, mercy, grace, lovingness, holiness, and sovereignty. But what do these attributes really mean? How do they inform our understanding of God’s majesty, our worship of Him, and how we are to respond to Him in our daily lives and in our quiet personal devotionals?

Tozer devotes an entire chapter to each attribute of God, breaking it down in a worshipful way. It’s extremely thought provoking, the type of book you read that changes your life and your perception. Sometimes it’s difficult to keep the different attributes separate – such as omniscience and omnipotence – meaning that this is not a onetime read, but a devotional that will continue to benefit the reader time and time again as we go back and sit quietly with each chapter, enmeshed in thought and praise for the complexity and majesty of God, that He would make himself known to us.

Image by Kate Cox from Pixabay

This book truly helps us think about what we have heard throughout our entire lives, and what it really means. What does God’s holiness really mean? What is holiness, and how does God’s holiness affect how we approach Him, how He interacts with and ultimately sanctifies us through His son’s blood? What does grace mean, especially in the context of God’s justice? What does mercy mean as it equates with justice, as it equates with punishment of sinful natures? What does it mean that God is three, yet one? And so forth. Tozer admits to the inherent mystery in God, the fact that we cannot possible, fully understand such an incredible being, but he also shows us that God has done so much to reveal Himself. We know everything we need to know, and as we grow in love, as we open ourselves to God, we learn more all the time and start to reflect God in our owns lives, in the gentleness that will take us over if we only allow it to.

The Knowledge of the Holy is a book that every Christian should read, regardless of where they are in their walk with God. It’s a book with strong traditional values, meaning that it is, above all, respectful to God, true to (and reliant upon) scriptures, reverent, and deep thinking. It’s not a read-once-and-never-pick-up-again book either, but one with depth that requires multiple re-readings and leads to quiet, prayer filled moments with God and new revelations each time it is opened. Highly recommended.

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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