Who Is God? (The Limits of Human Projection)
By Dr. Keith Waggoner
Most people try to understand God by imagining the best version of themselves. They gather their noblest traits such as love, patience, strength, compassion, and courage, and amplify them to the highest level they can conceive. They stretch their goodness to the edge of imagination, add in whatever beauty they can perceive, and then label that image “God.”
They take their love and project it outward.
They take their wisdom and lift it upward.
They take their strength and extend it into eternity.
Then they name it, and call it divine.
It may feel like a sincere and noble pursuit. But no matter how well-intentioned it is, the attempt still falls short. Painfully short.
God is not simply a better version of you.
He is not a cleaner version of your conscience.
He is not your ideal father figure or some cosmic therapist.
He is not the sum of your virtues multiplied by infinity.
He is something entirely different. Something wholly other.
- W. Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” If what comes to mind is only a glorified version of ourselves, we are not worshipping God. We are worshipping a projection.
And projections cannot save.
When we fashion God in our own image, we end up worshipping an idol. That kind of god never confronts us. It never corrects us. It never calls us to repent or compels us to bow.
But the true God, the God of Scripture, is not the work of our imagination. He is the Creator of all that exists. He speaks and stars are born. He moves and oceans part. He loves with a fire that refines and a grace that heals.
When He introduced Himself to Moses, He said, “I Am Who I Am.” He did not ask for our opinion or consent. He defines Himself.
Ephesians 3:20 declares that God is able to do far more than anything we ask or think. That includes what we think about Him. Whatever your mind imagines, He is greater. Whatever your heart longs for, He is fuller.
He is not just higher in degree. He is beyond all category.
He is not just better than us. He is the origin of all that is good.
He is not just loving. He is the source and definition of love itself.
So stop trying to climb the ladder of intellect or fantasy.
Stop reaching upward with your own ideas.
Start kneeling downward in awe and surrender.
We do not find God by building better theories.
We find Him when we humble ourselves.
He has revealed Himself. In the Scripture. In the silence. In the storm. And most clearly, in the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.” If you want to know who God is, do not begin by looking in the mirror. Begin by looking at the cross.
There you will see justice that never bends.
There you will see mercy that never runs dry.
There you will see power that overcame death.
This is not a god of your creation.
This is the God who created you.
He is not who you think He is.
He is infinitely better.