中世紀神學家托馬斯．阿奎那（Thomas Aquinas）為了全心投入尋求上帝的生活，經歷重重攔阻，忍受了許多磨難。他的家人曾經將他軟禁了一年，試圖阻止他加入道明會（Dominican Order）。這是一個致力於過簡樸生活、研讀聖經和教導真理的修會。阿奎那用了一生的時間研究聖經與上帝的創造，撰寫了近百本的書籍。最後，他體驗了一個從上帝而來的經歷，以致於他寫道：「我再也寫不出來了，因上帝給了我如此榮耀的知識，讓我覺得過去所寫的如同稻草一樣。」在短短三個月之後，他就去世了。

使徒保羅也曾描述一個從上帝而來的經歷，這經歷是那麼不可思議，以致無法用言語來形容。那時他「被提到樂園裡，聽見隱秘的言語，是人不可說的」（哥林多後書12章4節）。因為使徒保羅「所得的啟示甚大」，所以上帝將「一根刺」加在他身上（7節），好讓他能保持謙卑地倚靠上帝。上帝對他說：「我的恩典夠你用的，因為我的能力是在人的軟弱上顯得完全。」（9節）

我們越認識上帝，就越明白我們絕對無法用言語來描述這位上帝。然而，在我們軟弱和不知該說什麼的時候，基督的恩典和美善卻能光照我們。

Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas endured much to dedicate himself to a life of seeking God. His family imprisoned him for a year in an attempt to discourage him from joining the Dominican Order, a monastic group dedicated to a life of simplicity, study, and preaching. After a lifetime of studying Scripture and creation, and writing nearly one hundred volumes, Aquinas had such an intense experience of God that he wrote, “I can no longer write, for God has given me such glorious knowledge that all contained in my works are as straw.” He died only three months later.

The apostle Paul also described an experience from God so overwhelming that it was impossible to put into words, when he was “caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell” (2 Corinthians 12:4). “Because of these surpassingly great revelations,” Paul was given an unidentified “thorn in [his] flesh” (v. 7) to keep him humble and reliant on God. He was told, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (v. 9).

The more we understand about God, the more we understand how impossible it is for us to capture who He is in words. Yet in our weakness and in our loss for what to say, Christ’s grace and beauty shines clearly through.