Toward Understanding God

Mary was intently working with crayon and paper, absorbed in an artistic production which was taking shape before her. “What are you doing, Mary?” asked her mother.

“Why, I’m making a picture of God,” replied Mary.

“Don’t you know you shouldn’t try to do that! Nobody knows what God looks like.”

“Well, when I get through they will,” said Mary.

I tell this story not because I feel that way about this book, but because I do not feel that way about it. And yet, this book is being written because I have a very sincere desire to know and understand God better, and because I have a growing conviction that there are many people who have a deepening desire to understand God better.

The thesis of the book is that God is the ground and the goal of all that is, as Creator and Redeemer. The past, the present, life and death; philosophy and theology; all that is—finds meaning in him. “In Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17, R.V., margin). God is the center of reference in this book, and if it holds together at all, it holds together in God. The method is seen in the chapter heads and then in the divisions within the chapters. May I ask that the reader turn to the table of contents, before reading further, and hurriedly glance at the chapter headings and divisions as a sort of preview, if you desire more than the following peek at the main points?