Book Report #3: AW Tozer - "The Pursuit of God"
Back in the days when I didn’t trust God — and didn’t like him very much, either — I used to think of him like an ant farmer. He’d created us, set us in this ecosystem to run around like little insects while he watched us from above. Every now and then, he’d shine a magnifying glass on us and singe — or obliterate — us with his wrath. Most of the time, he just watched us from afar. I had no real answer for why he sent Jesus to die for our sins other than it was a necessary but reluctant action he had to take to save face for giving life to such a recalcitrant and rebellious creation.
Clearly this is a very immature and viewpoint of the work God is doing in the world, but I was in a bad mood for much of my 20’s when I wasn’t out partying with my friends.
That’s why Chapter 3 of “The Pursuit of God” was mind-blowing for me when I look back at how I used to understand God.
CHAPTER THREE: Removing the Veil
God formed us for his pleasure…He meant for us to see him and live with him and draw our life from his smile.
Because of our rebellion, we have no conscious awareness of his presence and goodwill, as I take it. Tozer writes that God has both a omni-presence and a manifest presence, which I have never heard of, but it matters. God’s omnipresence is evident in the world: everywhere we look, there he is: in the heavens, in creation, in a baby’s smile, in a dog’s “soul" and in millions of every day occurences. In addition, he sees all and knows all because he is in his creation — not that his creation is divine, as some might say, but because he’s placed his stamp on everything in our little eco-system called the universe.
But, Tozer says that he has a “manifest” presence that can be felt “physically”, if I can put it that way. This is evident in some people’s experience of a sweet fragrance when praying, what the priests saw and experienced in the Holy of Holies of God’s tabernacle, or when God passed by Moses to show him his glory. Very cool stuff!
But most of us — certainly not I — have never experienced this manfest presence of God, and why is that?
With the veil removed by the rending of Jesus’ flesh, with nothing on God’s side to prevent us from entering [the Holy of Holies, why do we tarry without?
It is the veil of our fleshly fallen nature living on, unjudged within us, uncrucified and unrepudiated.
There must be a work of God in destruction before we are free. We must invite the cross to do its deadly work within us. We must bring our self-sins to the cross for judgment. We must prepare ourselves for an ordeal of suffering…
Yikes. To the unbeliever, this sounds like my ant/magnifying glass perception was right on the money. Instead it’s a careful and deliberate pruning of the brand by a loving gardener, as I’ve come to see through the removing of this veil. But this is not a work I can do.
Let us beware of tinkering with our inner life in hope ourselves to rend the veil. God must do everything for us. Our part is to yield and trust. We must confess, forsake, repudiate the self-life, and then reckon it crucified….Insist that the work be done in very truth, and it will be done.
Self-help rarely, truly works, because it’s focused on self, and frankly, even on my good days, I’m pretty much a mess. We’ll never find the answer in ourselves, because it’s simply not there. Only by looking externally will we find Peace and Truth, which is Jesus himself.
So, quite the chapter. I’ve been reading this book with a friend, and so far our texts back and forth read, “Wow.” “Wow.” “WOW!” “IKR?”
