If there is one thing we can easily understand about God, it is that we cannot understand Him. Though we focus all our mental energies upon comprehending Him, we will learn nothing about Him except what He condescends to reveal about Himself to us.

Even then, the revelations must remain within the limitations of our finite minds, and be of such a nature that we can relate them to knowledge we already have; otherwise we have no vehicle that will carry us from the known to the unknown, from the human to the divine. The difficulties are as infinite as God Himself.

Difficult to speak correctly of God

For example, it is difficult, if not impossible, to speak correctly of God, for the only words we have by which we may speak of Him are human-words and not God-words. We can only use words that describe the characteristics and nature of human beings. We have no such parallel words with which to describe the nature of God.

Therefore, we have no ground upon which we can stand to make the leap across the impassable chasm between He-who-alone-is-God and we-who-are-not-God.

God inscrutable and ineffable

This makes God inscrutable and ineffable—meaning His nature is such that He cannot be searched into or understood, and He cannot make Himself known to any created being. To be understood, God must speak to God. But all that is created is not-God, and there is no language that can translate the infinite nature of the Creator to the finite mind of the created. This results in great misconceptions about God, and massive misinterpretations of His nature and ways.

The difficulty lies not in God, but in our limitations: our inability to comprehend the exclusive nature of God, and to think rightly of the Unique without attributing to Him human characteristics—and failings.

God is unique

God is unique in the only true use of the word. He alone is God; all else is not-God. He alone is uncreated; all else is created by Him. He alone is self-existing; all else depends upon Him for existence. He alone has life in Himself; all else receives life from Him. He alone is free; all else functions within His set limits. He answers to no one; all others answer to Him. He is judged by no one; all others are judged by Him.