Day 20: The Holiness of God

Whiteout weather is severe snowfall that blinds and disorients anyone unfortunate enough to be in it. Depth perception, contrast, and visual cues disappear; and the freezing glare is so strong, it can shock people with intense pain. It is literally overwhelming.

Such is God’s holiness to depraved man. 

Holiness means set apart in perfection, and it is an attribute of God we often talk, sing, and read about. But unfortunately, it rarely breaches the surface of our souls. What we fail to understand is that His holiness is not docile. It is not a soft falling snow that gently blankets the meadow of our souls. Rather, it is a complete whiteout. It consumes us and leaves utterly exposed with zero recourse to hide or escape. No sin can only be mildly disturbed by the holiness of God. Every crevice of it is laid bare, and it is excruciatingly painful to endure.

In the presence of His holiness (which is only merely glimpsed this side of heaven), we are left undone. Unable to think or function or even exist because of its intensity, we are left with only one recourse: to die. 

And that’s exactly where He wants us. Because only when we die to ourselves can we be made alive in Christ.

Christ makes us aware of God’s holiness, died to pay for our unholiness, and intercedes on our behalf as His Spirit works out our holiness. He then demands something we are completely incapable of on our own – that we become His whiteout in this world. He commands: “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). We cannot be holy as He is holy, because His holiness will always remain at an inconceivable distance. But we can take part in His holiness whiteout because He is holy, and because He empowers us through His Spirit.

Prayer:

Glory be to God on high. We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee, for Thy great glory. Lord, I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me which I knew not. I heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee and I abhor myself in dust and ashes. O Lord, I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, yea, twice, but I will proceed no further. But while I was musing the fire burned. Lord, I must speak of Thee, lest by my silence I offend against the generation of Thy children. Behold, Thou has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to confound the mighty. O Lord, forsake me not. Let me show forth Thy strength unto this generation and Thy power to everyone that is to come. Raise up prophets and seers in Thy Church who shall magnify Thy glory and through Thine almighty Spirit restore to Thy people the knowledge of the holy. Amen.   – A.W. Tozer

Response:

In what ways have you belittled the holiness of God in your theology and practical outworking of faith/sanctification? 

How does meditating on His holiness excite you in taking part of His “whiteout” in this world – ushering His holiness into every possible crevice of this world?