Series Index_Attributes of God

God is...

7. Faithful
He has never let anyone down in the past. He can be trusted for the future.

6. Immutable
Because God never changes, we can be confident.

5. Creator
If anyone knows about creativity, it is God. We get it from him.

4. Eternal
He has no beginning, no end. Can we imagine eternity?

3. Omniscient
Only HE knows everything. That's a good thing.

2. Incomprehensible
He is impossible to fathom, which is even more reason to believe he is God.

1. Good
His goodness is abundant, and everything he does is good. Believe it?

Intro
B. Michelangelo and Me: Why we didn’t want to paint God?
Three excuses to NOT seek God.

A. Why bother?
Does it make any difference what I think about God?

Love never fails

I've listened to Brandon Heath's CD What If We several times, but never heard this song on it, "Love Never Fails," until this morning, when I had been thinking about God's faithfulness. It's now one of my favorites. [Another reminder that the more I seek God, the more he will be found (Jeremiah 29:13).]

Love Never Fails—doesn't that sum up God’s faithfulness? This song is based on 1 Corinthians 13, a place where we learn who God is and who he wants us to be:



Lyrics
Love Never Fails
Brandon Heath

Love is not proud
Love does not boast
Love after all
Matters the most

Love does not run
Love does not hide
Love does not keep
Locked inside

Love is the river that flows through
Love never fails you

Love will sustain
Love will provide
Love will not cease
At the end of time

Love will protect
Love always hopes
Love still believes
When you don’t

Love is the arms that are holding you
Love never fails you

When my heart won’t make a sound
When I can’t turn back around
When the sky is falling down
Nothing is greater than this
Greater than this

Love is right here
Love is alive
Love is the way
The truth the life

Love is the river that flows through
Love is the arms that are holding you
Love is the place you will fly to
Love never fails you

More on God's faithfulness

God is Faithful _ (Attributes of God)

8 ABC’s of God: Faithful

ATTRIBUTE DEFINED
Faithful: Firm in adherence to promises or in observance of duty; dependable.

BIBLE VERSES
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love...
Joshua 21:45 Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
1 Thessalonians 5:24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
Hebrews 10:23 ...He who promised is faithful.

(Also see Gen 21:1; 24:7; 28:15; Deut 31:6; 32:4; Rom 15:8; 1 Cor 1:9; 1 Pet 4:19)

CHRIST'S EXAMPLE
2 Timothy 2:13 If we are faithless, he remains faithful-- for he cannot deny himself.
Hebrews 2:17 ...So that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins...

DIRECTLY TO ME
People have failed me. Circumstances have failed me. My body and own spirit have failed me. But God has never failed me (Hebrews 13:5). Because of his faithfulness in the past, I know he is safe to trust for the future.

ECHO IT
God is faithful to me; I am to be faithful to him. He rewards faithfulness (James 1:12). But he is a jealous God and despises when I turn to lesser gods. My unfaithfulness rises from fear, selfishness, pride, weakness...but God is not influenced by any of those (James 1:13-14).

FORGIVE ME
Lord, I can’t explain why I sometimes doubt your faithfulness. Forgive my lack of belief that your grace will be as sufficient for tomorrow as it has been for today. Forgive me for listening to the lies of the world that you won’t be true to your Word, especially in the little things. You are as faithful in small things as in big things.

GLORY TO GOD
Lord, it is your very nature to be faithful—not just to believers or to humankind in general, but even to yourself. You can’t or wouldn’t be otherwise. We praise you for your Word being solid and dependable. Everything about you is stable and unwavering. We can rest on your promises.

HIS WORDS
Memorize:
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD Series

More on God’s unchanging nature

A.W. TOZER
In this world where men forget us, change their attitude toward us as their private interests dictate, and revise their opinion of us for the slightest cause, is it not a source of wondrous strength to know that the God with whom we have to do changes not? That His attitude toward us now is the same as it was in eternity past and will be in eternity to come?

PHIL JOHNSON
God never changes. Devoid of all change—in his purposes, his promises. Because God is perfect, he cannot change for the better and he will not change for the worse—so by definition he cannot change. … God is not subject to mood swings. His attitudes are fixed.

TYNDALE BIBLE DICTIONARY
God’s immutability or constancy does not imply that he is static or immobile. He is a dynamic, living God who is constantly working (Jn 5:17). Sometimes God is described as being sorry, repenting, or changing his mind (Gn 6:6–7; 1 Sm 15:11; Jon 3:10). In their contexts, such figurative expressions show the constancy of a God who, in holiness and righteousness, always abhors sin and reacts against it.

In his grace and mercy, he forgives the penitent, and he carries out his promises without fail (Ps 110:4; Is 46:10; Jer 18:7–10; Eph 1:11). Thus, the constancy of God is significant in all human relationships with him, including petitions offered in prayer.

CHARLES HODGES
God can neither increase nor decrease. He is subject to no process of development, or of self-evolution. His knowledge and power can never be greater or less. He can never be wiser or holier, or more righteous or more merciful than He ever has been and ever must be. He is no less immutable in his plans and purposes.

We know that God is immutable in his being, his perfections, and his purposes; and we know that He is perpetually active. And, therefore, activity and immutability must be compatible.

C. H. SPURGEON
These passages are not suggesting there was a change in the character of God, only in His actions toward man based on the actions of men. It is man who changes and due to the changeless character of God, He must change His actions or dealings with man...

But God’s actions are always consistent with His character.

The immutability of God is a terror to the wicked because it means that God must always deal with men in accord with His holy character and plan...On the other hand, God’s immutability is a constant comfort to believers because it means God is faithful, always, to His promises and the principles of His Word. For this reason, God is called “the Rock” (Deut 32:4).

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD Series

God is Immutable _ (Attributes of God)

8 ABC’s of God: Immutable

ATTRIBUTE DEFINED
Immutable: changeless; not subject to variation in form or quality or nature

BIBLE VERSES
Job 23:13 But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back?
Psalm 102:27 You are the same, and your years have no end.
Ecclesiastes 3:14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.
Malachi 3:6 For I the LORD do not change.
Hebrews 6:17,18 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

CHRIST'S EXAMPLE
Psalm 16:10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
Hebrews 1:11,12 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

DIRECTLY TO ME
How am I affected by God’s immutability?

• It means I’m safe. Because he is stable, the unchanging Rock, I can live my life in a stable way. He’s not a wishy-washy God that would change the game plan mid-stream.

• It means I have confidence. Because God and his kingdom won’t ever change, I can rest there, knowing that he's going nowhere. He's here for the long-haul.

• It means I'm free. I can take chances and experiment in life because God has my back, and even when things around me change, he won’t change.

Hebrews 12:27,28 This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of things that are shaken--that is, things that have been made--in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
(Also Psalm 46:1-5)

ECHO IT?
Am we to echo this trait? In some ways, yes. Be unchanging in faithfulness, in love, in joy. Once we get a good thing going, we need to hang on and not change. But too often we’re not the firm foundation to begin with; we’re sinful and weak, so it's good for us to change.

Be thankful that we are capable of change and that he is not.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
1 Corinthians 15:52 ...and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
(Also Philippians 3:21; Psalm 55:19)

FORGIVE ME
So why do I still feel insecure or fearful at times? Is it because I don’t trust his unchanging character? That means I don’t know him well enough. If I really knew who God was, I would totally trust him. Forgive me, Father, for times when I wish that you would change and be different. I thank you that you don’t.

GLORY TO GOD
Father, I praise you for being our fortress. I can’t imagine what a disaster this place would be if you were not immutable. You hold us together and love us unchangingly. We can’t grasp it because we fail in this trait ourselves. Grant that we rely more and more on your unchanging nature, trusting you more fully, and praising you more consistently.

HIS WORDS
Memorize:
Numbers 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

More on God's unchanging nature

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD series

God is Creator _ (Attributes of God)

8 ABC’s of God: Creator

ATTRIBUTE DEFINED
Creator: one that creates; a person who grows or makes or invents things

BIBLE VERSES
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
Zechariah 12:1 Thus declares the LORD, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him.

CHRIST'S EXAMPLE
John 1:3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him.
Hebrews 1:2 He has spoken to us by his Son,... through whom also he created the world.

DIRECTLY TO ME
I see the Lord’s creation constantly, everywhere. And I see the imagery of his creativity in my own soul and through the hands of others. The innate desire to create, using the things he created for us, is breathed into us by his Spirit.

ECHO IT
A most beautiful and miraculous example of creativity is the creation of a new person from a man and a woman. Only from the hand of God can such a magnificent creation occur. We are all breathing testimonies to God’s creativity.

FORGIVE ME
Father,
Is our largest sin related to creativity our eagerness to take credit for it? Our pride over what WE create as our own, instead of reflecting the glory back to you? What do we create totally from scratch? Absolutely nothing. Herod died (Acts 12:23) because he did not give the glory back to you; please remove the pride of self-glory from our character, a trait in total opposition to your attribute of Creator.

Or is the larger sin in not recognizing that we are the created ones (Isaiah 45:9) and you are the uncreated one? Because you are our creator and sustainer, we live solely at your mercy—but there is no safer place to be.

GLORY TO GOD
Lord,
I praise you for being THE Creator of all things. Your work is evident in every sight I see, every sound I hear, every bite I taste, every smell I smell, every texture I touch. You are behind it all.

Let the physical things you created point me to the spiritual things, to your eternal power and divine nature (Romans 1:20). Because of you, I am a new creation in an invisible realm in an everlasting kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:17).

HIS WORDS
Memorize:
Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him.

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD series

Eternity of God

Since God is eternal, He can be and continue forever to be the one safe home for His time-driven children.

…We who live in this nervous age would be wise to meditate on our lives and our days long and often before the face of God and on the edge of eternity. For we are made for eternity as certainly as we are made for time, and as responsible moral beings we must deal with both.

…The marks of the divine image have been so obscured by sin that they are not easy to identify, but is it not reasonable to believe that one mark may be man’s insatiable craving for immortality?

The ancient image of God whispers within every man of everlasting hope; somewhere he will continue to exist. Still he cannot rejoice, for the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world troubles his conscience, frightening him with proofs of guilt and evidences of coming death. So is he ground between the upper millstone of hope and the nether stone of fear.

Just here the sweet relevancy of the Christian message appears. Jesus Christ ... hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

~ A. W. Tozer
Knowledge of the Holy

God is Eternal_Attributes of God

8 ABC’s of God: Eternal

ATTRIBUTE DEFINED
Eternal: Being without beginning or end; continuing without interruption; timeless.

BIBLE VERSES
Psalm 102:12 But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations.
Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity.
Romans 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

CHRIST'S EXAMPLE
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
1 John 1:2 We proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.
1 John 5:20 We are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Revelation 1:17,18 Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore.

DIRECTLY TO ME
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
John 3:15 Whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Jude 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

Unlike God, I had a beginning. Yet he has “put eternity in my heart,” so that I imagine life with no ending, like him. Even ancient cultures who did not know God made plans for an afterlife, because they, too, knew the physical end was not the end. This thought is from God, part of our being made in his image.

ECHO IT
We want to be like God—eternal, but our immortality is not inherent, as his is. Our eternal life comes only as a gift. Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

FORGIVE ME
Father, forgive us for seeking immortality on our own terms—by wanting to make a name for ourselves here so we won’t be forgotten. Also, forgive our presumption that eternal life is our right. Not so. It is 100% your gift to bestow, not our earning or our due, and that gift only through Jesus Christ. You owe us no life after death. Eternalness is your inherent nature, not ours.

I also seek forgiveness for my obsession with time instead of living in the light of eternity. I too often allow myself to feel rushed, and thus impatient. Let me release the pressure of the time-bound clock and live instead with your eternal vision.

GLORY TO GOD
Father, I praise you for being everlasting to everlasting. Another one of your attributes that I can’t fathom—it’s too big. You didn’t allow our minds to be large enough to grasp it, so we stand in total awe. Grant us awareness that each day here is a small, small thing compared to the grandness of your eternal nature.

HIS WORDS
Memorize:
Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
…14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD series

God is Omniscient_Attributes of God

8 ABC’s of God: Omniscient

ATTRIBUTE DEFINED
Omniscient: having total knowledge; knowing everything. Latin: omni—all; science—to know.

BIBLE VERSES
Job 37:16 Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,
Psalm 94:11 The LORD--knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.
Psalm 139:2-3 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
Daniel 2:22 He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.
1 John 3:20 For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

MORE
Numbers 32:23; 1 Samuel 16:7; Job 23:10; Psalm 90:8; Psalm 139:23; Psalm 147:5; Isaiah 46:10; Isaiah 65:24; Jeremiah 1:5; Ezekiel 11:5; Luke 12:7; Acts 2:23; Hebrews 4:13

CHRIST'S EXAMPLE
John 2:24-5 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
John 6:64 ...For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.
John 18:4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, "Whom do you seek?"
John 21:17 ...and [Peter] said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."

DIRECTLY TO ME
I see God’s omniscience especially when I look backwards. I see how his knowledge guided me into the best situations, some I wouldn’t have chosen from my own knowledge. I read how he did the same throughout the Bible. I want to use that past proof as reason to trust his omniscience in the future. Because he knows, all is well.

ECHO IT
No, this is not an attribute that I am called to mimic. Omniscience belongs to the Lord alone.

FORGIVE ME
Lord, I need forgiveness for my lack of trust in your omniscience, and for my fear of it. It can be frightening to realize that you know everything I’m thinking, and I think I would feel better if you did NOT know everything about me. But I’m wrong. It would be far scarier if you were in the dark about me. I can rest, knowing that you know everything and you use that knowledge wisely and lovingly.

GLORY TO GOD
Father, I praise you for knowing everything! My salvation depended on you knowing all my sins so that you could fix my desperate situation and draw me into relationship with you. We are a blessed people because of your omniscience and mercy.

HIS WORDS
Memorize:
Genesis 16:13 So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, "You are a God of seeing," [EL ROI] for she said, "Truly here I have seen him who looks after me."

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD series

God is Incomprehensible_Attributes of God

8 ABC’s of God: Incomprehensible

ATTRIBUTE DEFINED
Incomprehensible: impossible to know or fathom; cannot be searched out; past finding out

BIBLE VERSES
Job 11:7-9 Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven--what can you do? Deeper than Sheol--what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.
Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Romans 11:33-34 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?"

CHRIST’S EXAMPLE
1 Timothy 6:16a Who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see.
Ephesians 3:8b This grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

DIRECTLY TO ME
Psalms 145:3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

ECHO IT
No, this is not a communicable trait. God knows everything about us. He is incomprehensible to us, but we are never incomprehensible to him.

FORGIVE ME
Father, forgive my insatiable desire to want to figure you out, instead of just trusting you. I mistakenly think: “If I can just totally understand, then I can totally believe.” But you want me to believe without total understanding.

You and I know there is absolutely, positively, no way that I can ever fully understand you (even in heaven?). You don’t ask me to; you ask me to believe that you have everything figured out. Please help me rest with NOT knowing fully, and help me believe even more because of it.

GLORY TO GOD
Lord, you are incomprehensible, and I am glad! You are so far beyond me; it is a relief and a security. I don’t have to know it all—I just have to know the one that does know it all. And that one is you! Because your ways are so far above my ways, I give you glory. Because your thoughts are not my thoughts, and are higher than the heavens are above the earth, I give you glory, Father. Let me delight and marvel at how unfathomable you are!

HIS WORDS
Memorize:
Isaiah 55: 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD series

A delightful story of God’s incomprehensibility

[Sorry I’ve lost the source...]

Augustine, the distinguished bishop of Hippo in North Africa, was strolling the beaches of the Mediterranean Sea one morning, engaged in deep thought. He was attempting to come to grips with the depths of the doctrine of the Trinity.

He was interrupted in his thoughts when he stopped to watch a little fellow running toward the ocean with a bucket. He watched with amusement as the little guy filled his pail with water and hurried back up the beach to pour it into a little hole he had pawed into the sand. Within seconds the sea water soaked into the sunbaked, thirsty sand.

The bishop's eyes followed the little boy down to the ocean again, and then back up to the hole. Once again the little guy poured the water into the hole, and once again the sand swallowed it up greedily.

"What are you trying to do?” asked Augustine with a smile.

The little boy, a little annoyed at being interrupted in the middle of his busy task, replied, "I'm trying to put the ocean into this hole."

Suddenly, it dawned on Augustine that he was behaving much like this little fellow. He was trying to cram the ocean of God's truth about Himself into his little box of brains and was having no more success than the little boy with his bucket.

The more I know about God, the more I know I don’t know. Isn’t it a wonderful thing?

God is Good _ Attributes of God

8 ABC’s of God’s Goodness

ATTRIBUTE DEFINED
Good: possessing desirable qualities, beneficial, agreeable; moral excellence, piety; kind, benevolent

BIBLE VERSES
Gen 1:31a And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
Exo 33:19a And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.'
Psa 31:19a Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you.
Psa 119:68 You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.
Mat 19:17a And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good.
Jas 1:17a Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.

CHRIST’S EXAMPLE
Acts 10:38b [Jesus] went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

DIRECTLY TO ME
Psa 16:2 I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you."
Mic 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

ECHO IT
Yes, we are called to mirror God’s goodness. But we can’t do it by our own willpower. When I see non-believers do good, I wonder: Where does their power to do it come from? Doesn’t it have to come from God, too, even if they don’t know it? Does it still glorify him?

FORGIVE ME
Lord, forgive us for often choosing the easy thing, or the selfish thing, or the proud thing instead of the good thing you have empowered us to do through your Spirit.

Also forgive us when we doubt your goodness. We often say, “God is so good,” yet we and unbelievers alike struggle the most with “why do bad things happen to good people?” (And who among us is “good”?!) Grant us more faith to delight, not doubt, what you are doing, even if, at times, it appears bad instead of good. If it is from your hand, it is good.

GLORY TO GOD
Father, I praise you for being Good personified! Let us brag of your goodness, and imitate it to others so that you may be glorified for it.

HIS WORDS
Memorize:
Psalm 145:9 The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD series

Michelangelo and Me: Why we didn't want to paint God

This is God...
How would you describe God, in 50 words or less?

How would you draw him? “The Shack” author William P. Young shook us up when he mentally drew God as a large African-American woman.

Michelangelo painted him like this in "The Creation of Adam", one of his six depictions of God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1511.


But he almost didn’t.

3 excuses Michelangelo could have used to NOT paint God, or,
3 excuses why I don’t know God better:

(1) I already know God.
Michelangelo: Something was already painted there.
Me: I’m convinced I already know who God is.

Just as a previous fresco of a starry sky had been painted on the Sistine Chapel before Michelangelo was charged to do his painting, we, too, often see a preconceived image of God on our internal canvas.

Maybe it’s a bearded, long-haired flannelgraph God left over from hot summer VBS days. Or lyrics rattling in our heads from 10 a.m. Sunday mornings (“There’s an all-seeing eye watching you”). Or the voice of Jim Carrey or George Burns echoing between our ears.

If we like those images, we don’t want them tampered with. Why mess up a good thing?

Or if we do NOT like those images, perhaps that deters us from digging deeper into who God really is. We don’t want to make things even worse.

But regardless of our scenario, we DON’T really know God like we think we do. Our minds can never grasp him. We have to keep seeking him and continually letting our old image of God die as he reveals himself to us in new and true ways.

We won’t be disappointed. He promises to exceed our highest expectations.

(2) It doesn’t really matter how I see God.
Michelangelo: He already had a job, and didn’t want this one.
Me: I’ve got enough to do, and it doesn’t really matter what I think about God anyway.

Pope Julius II lured Michelangelo to Rome on the promise that he could build the pope’s spectacular tomb. But he effectively diverted him to the Sistine Chapel job instead, a task that Michelangelo initially did not want, but took to secure the tomb project later.

Look beyond the immediate to see the more important larger picture. Michelangelo did. We think: “I’ve got more urgent things facing me than researching God.” But we’re wrong. Taking the time to learn about God will make everything we do later more meaningful, more purposeful, more satisfying.

Why miss out on the good life now from not walking in closer step with God? Who has it together enough to NOT need to know him better?

(3) It’s too hard; I’m not a theologian.
Michelangelo: He wasn’t a painter; he was a sculptor. He had much to learn.
Me: God is too big. I can’t do this.

Did you know Michelangelo didn’t feel qualified to paint the Sistine Chapel? Painting wasn’t his expertise. But the world is glad he took it on.

Is it too hard to really know God? Well, yes! He IS too big for us to get our arms around. But he is not untouchable.

Who fully understands their spouse? Or their child? Does that mean we shouldn’t try to know them better anyway?

God wants us to seek him so that he can be found. No, we’ll never fully understand God, but we’ll find joy in the trying. And he’ll give us as much success as we can handle.

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.
Isaiah 55:6

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD series

Why bother to know God?

Why bother?
Why should I get to know God?

What difference does it make what I think about God? What does that have to do with me?

Because what I think about God ultimately determines what I think about myself...And what I think about myself determines how I respond to God...And that determines everything.

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.

~ A. W. Tozer
KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY

How can I feel joy and love and passion for a God that I think is cruel and unfair and mean? Why would I trust in a God that I don’t know to be reliable and unchangable? How can I fully love my neighbors if I’ve yet to understand God as love incarnate?

I don’t want to waste my time worshiping a pseudo-image of God that can’t love me back when I can be loving the real thing instead.

A Case of Mistaken Identity
At Books-a-Million I saw my husband in the back of the store scanning the magazines. I snuck up behind him, threw my arms around his waist, and whispered in his ear, “Hey, Baby.”

But a split second later, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my REAL husband a few yards to my left, watching me with a smirk.

I had snagged the wrong man.

I quickly turned loose and stuttered out a humble apology as the startled gentleman turned around to see who had accosted him. He was gracious and replied that this had never happened to him before. We all laughed, and my husband and I very hastily left the store. (I haven’t returned.)

But even though at first glance I thought that was my husband, I was wrong. If I had looked closer before I pounced, I would have seen that it was not him.

Everything that I was projecting onto this man was wrong. Would this stranger make me jello when I’m sick? Would he rub my feet just because I had a bad day? Would he eat at Red Lobster instead of Dreamland just because I liked Red Lobster better? No. He didn’t care anything about me. He didn’t know me.

The real God knows me. He cares; he loves. There’s nothing he won’t do for me. So he is the one I want to know. More and more.

Why Michelangelo Didn’t Want to Paint
Studying the attributes of God can be the most faith-enhancing learning we undertake. We all want a stronger faith; we know we have sinful weaknesses that need overhauling; we want to be better spouses, parents, friends.

But the only way to be truly repaired is to contact our Manufacturer. As we seek to know him better, he changes who we are in the process.

Michelangelo’s mural “The Creation of Adam”, painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, is one of the most widely recognized portraits of God. Yet he almost didn’t do it. Why not? And are those the same reasons we don’t seek God more? Read more about it...

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD series