We know many things we can to do to please our God! But do we have the real understanding of who He is? Do we know His characteristics? Do we know why God deserves our praise and devotion?
We are often taught what we should do and what we should stop doing. But God brought to my memory that we need to remember who He is!
Having an understanding of who God is is extremely important and necessary! Shall we talk a little about this?
Why should we talk about who God is?
I find it very difficult to delight in the Lord. Wait on Him and understand that He defines who I am and not my attitudes or thoughts. This shows that the knowledge of who He is is not yet 100% rooted in my mind and in my heart.
From the moment we understand who God is, we understand who we are talking to and, especially, who we are serving! If we don’t understand who He is, all of our service and devotion will be directed to someone we don’t know. And it wouldn’t make sense to give up our lives and serve someone we don’t know, right?
The knowledge about who God is, takes us to a place of recognition. Recognition that we are flawed, sinners and transgressors of God’s law, but still redeemed, loved and saved by the grace and mercy that is in God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ!
Almighty
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.””
Revelation 1: 8
The Lord is the one “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty”. He is the beginning of all things (the Creator) and also the purpose for which all things were made, the whole story moves in the direction of glorifying him.
“Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.”
1 Chronicles 29:11
In this passage, King David praises God for recognizing that He is the source of all wealth and strength. David recognizes that the people of Israel depended entirely on God for their safety and well-being, because even in the Promised Land the Israelites were pilgrims. He understood that everyone was small and weak before Him.
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;”
Psalms 24:1
All things belong to Him. He has power over everything and everyone, there is not a single thought that is not within His reach. He knows each heart and also knows all our intentions. He has power over life: both to take it out and to create it.
Love
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
1 John 4: 7-8
Not only does God show His love in His attitudes, but He is Love Himself! His acts of love are only a consequence and an answer of who He is. He gave His son to die in our place because He loves us and because He is Love himself.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.”
Psalm 136: 1
His love also reveals His eternity. Our God is Holy, Perfect, Eternal and Immutable. His love for us does not cease, he is always loving us and showing mercy for us, because what we deserved was eternal punishment, for all our iniquity.
“If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.”God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
1 John 4: 15-16
Those who love God and obey His commandments will be rewarded. For our God is also just.
Fair and Just
“He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity.”
Psalm 9: 8
The justice of the Lord is linked to his goodness and mercy. He is just because he always does the right thing. He judges people in the right way because He is the bearer of all Truth, He is the Truth.
He could never choose to do wrong because evil is not part of who He is. He is upright and just, chooses to love us and rewards those who love Him back.
God’s Word reveals many other attributes of the Lord. Nourish in the Bible to learn even more about Its author.
Grace and peace.
