“…Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God.” Isaiah 43:10-12
God is infinite without beginning or end. He is all-knowing, all-preset, and all-powerful. He is patient, kind, faithful, and loving. He doesn’t change. God is self-sufficient and wise. He is merciful, gracious, and good. He is holy, and he is just. Trying to figure out just who God is takes a life-time relationship, a voyage of study and vulnerability and wonder. Encountering God in our lives is possible, and it’s transformational, but no one will ever truly grasp the fullness of God this side of heaven, because he is too holy, too powerful, too perfect to be comprehended.
Remember when God told Elijah approach the mountain of God’s presence because he was about to pass by? There was wind the ripped rocks apart and an earthquake. Remember when Moses and the Israelites would hear God on the mountain. They were terrified as his voice was like thunder and cracks of lightning. God is too powerful for humans to fully encounter.
In 1988, Rich Mullins sang a song called Awesome God, and without fail when I start to ponder the amazing attributes and character of God this song comes back to me. It says:
“When He rolls up His sleeves He ain’t just putting on the Ritz (our God is an awesome God). There’s thunder in His footsteps and lightning in His fists (our God is an awesome God). And the Lord wasn’t joking when He kicked ‘em out of Eden. It wasn’t for no reason that He shed His blood. His return is very close and so you better be believing that our God is an awesome God…
And when the sky was starless in the void of the night (our God is an awesome God). He spoke into the darkness and created the light (our God is an awesome God). With judgement and wrath He poured out on Sodom mercy and grace He gave us at the cross. I hope that we have not too quickly forgotten that our God is an awesome God…Our God, He reigns with wisdom, power, and love. Our God is an awesome God.”
Our God is jealous for us, and it’s no wonder. He is the only one deserving of our love, devotion, praise, and admiration. God was the one who created this massive earth that we abide in and the galaxies beyond. He is the one who planned and executed the gift of salvation. He is the one who desired a relationship with us so much that be breathed life into us and does that daily. He is the only one who could inspire prophets over so many years to write down and share their visions so that we could know the true Messiah when he came. He is the only one who could sustain Jesus in perfection in order to pave the way to himself where we can approach free of accusation, guilt, or penalty.
The same God who built the mountains, painted the sky, crafted animals and insects also purposefully created the complexity that is man. When we see the grand wonders of the world,
why do we doubt he wants to do the same with us? He wants to use us to reach new heights, travel farther, speak more tenderly, empathize more genuinely, and instill hope more humbly.
To know the power, wisdom, greatness, and creativity of God and to realize that he could bring anyone to himself by himself, yet he chooses us. That’s powerful, and that’s amazing.
“He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the LORD God Almighty is his name.” Amos 4:13