Not Enough Canvas

“The Bible assumes as a self-evident fact that men can know God with at least the same degree of immediacy as they know any other person or thing.” – A.W. Tozer

God existed before anything else in the entire universe. He’s always been and will always be. He’s eternal. In Him all power is made evident. He is the evidence of everything good and pure. He is the King of Kings, all kings. He is loving to His children. He is everywhere and in all places at all times. He is pure wisdom and reasoning. He is the essence of all knowledge.

We on the other hand are considerably less qualified. We are here for a relatively short time. Our ability to reason is about as long as the end of our nose. Our being is very fragile. An atheist I once met asked me why God didn’t explain creation in scientific terms. Excuse me….who could understand all that stuff? No one on this planet! He thought maybe he could understand it but not a chance. Our brains are so limited in what we can understand and reason out on our own.

In reality we are all pretty ignorant in comparison to the wisdom and knowledge of God. Can you grow a tree from nothing? Yea neither can anyone else.

When we try to paint a picture of God on our heart we see that we really don’t have enough canvas or paint. He is virtually unexplainable.

If He were explainable, he would not be worthy of our praise and worship. He would not be God.

Theologians have tried to categorize some of the attributes of God to help us understand. Him and his character. This is certainly not an exhaustive list but helps us understand why we see him the way we do. Even at that we need to understand that God wants us to know him in a very intimate way not just in a head knowledge kind of way.

The following are traits about God and considered non-transferable. Otherwise He would not be God.

God is self-sustaining. God needs nothing. Although God loves us he does not need us to exist. “from everlasting to everlasting you are God” Psalm 90:2

God is all-powerful. There is nothing He cannot do. He spoke the world into existence. He made us from the dust of the ground. He conquered death. He conquered satan. He has the authority to save or condemn.

God is present everywhere. God is everywhere all the time. Loving, caring, leading and available all the time, everywhere you are past, present or future. “Where can I go from you Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” Psalm 139:7

God knows it all. His knowledge spans from infinity to infinity. As my grandmother used to say “God has more smarts in his big toe than man will ever have from the beginning of time till the end of time”

God is in control. Our Lord is a sovereign Lord. He is the supreme ruler of the universe. He is in control.

There are transferable attributes that God wants to share with us. Either they are part of that God-image relationship in us or developed in us through the work of the Holy Spirit. Here are a few of them.

God is gracious. Grace is not a blue-eyed blonde. Grace can be seen as this: God’s riches at Christ’s expense.

God is holy. God is the essence of purity. He dwells in unapproachable light. His character is the opposite of sin and failure.

God is love. Love is the heart of God. His invention and the joy of his being. Every good gift comes from your loving heavenly father.

God is majestic. Look around you at the beauty of all that He has made. The greatness of His creation is all around us. From the protoplasm to the expanse of the universe.

The greatest of all His character traits is He never changes! He is always the same. Take that to the bank! You can always count on Him for being exactly who He is.

Which of the attributes of God are most fascinating to you?

Read Psalm 29