Who Is God?
Thousands of years ago, Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, posed a question people are still asking today:
"Who is the Lord that I should listen to him?" It is difficult for our limited mind to grasp the limitless,
eternal Cod. It has been said, "If God were small enough for your mind, he wouldn't be big enough
for your needs."For that reason, we shouldn't be exasperated if we cannot fully understand who God
is or why he does certain things. One day, just as the apostle Paul assured the Corinthian church,
everything about God and his character will be made perfectly clear to us. But until then, we will find
everything we need to know about him in his Word.
God Is Our Creator
PSALM 139:1-24
For the choir director A psalm of David.
'O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my every thought when far away. You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and
rest Every moment you know where I am. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD, You
both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me, too great for me to know!
I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are
there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by
the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the
darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night – but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are both alike to you.
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for
making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous, and how well I know it. You watch me
as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before
I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day
had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable! I can’t even count them; they
outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!
O God, if only you would destroy the wicked! Get out of my life, you murderers! They blaspheme you; your
enemies take your name in vain. O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those that hate you? Shouldn’t I despise those who
resist you? Yes, I hate them with complete hatred, for your enemies are my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends
you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Scripture teaches us about many of God’s characteristics. This psalm highlights a few of them. God is our Creator,
and he knows every detail about what is going on in his amazing and complex creation—including our life. But God
does not simply know about our life; he is intimately involved in it and always present with us. As the psalmist says,
there is no place we can go to escape the presence of God. This brings comfort to those who know that they need
God's help but discomfort to those who wish to hide from God. God's presence should motivate us to live a life
pleasing to him.
God Is Powerful and Personal
Acts 17:22-30
22 So Paul, standing before the Council, addressed them as follows: "Men of Athens, I notice that you are very
religious, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many altars. And one of them had this inscription on it—To
an Unknown God.' You have been worshiping him without knowing who he is, and now I wish to tell you about him.
24"He is the God who made the world and everything in it Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in
man-made temples, 25 and human hands can't serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and
breath to everything, and he satisfies every need there is. From one man he created all the nations throughout
the whole earth. He decided beforehand which should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.
27 “His purpose in all of this was that the nations should seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him
and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As one of your
own poets says, ‘We are his offspring.' 28 And since this is true, we shouldn't think of God as an idol designed by
craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. 30 “God overlooked people's former ignorance about these things, but now
he commands every-Man everywhere to turn away from idols and turn to him."
Paul's audience in this passage included people of two different beliefs. There were those who did not believe in
life after death and who lived only for pleasure (the Epicureans). There were also those who believed that God
existed in every material object and who sought to be at peace with the world around them (the Stoics). In speaking
to these two groups, Paul showed them how their philosophies fell short of grasping the true nature of God. He did
this by explaining first that God is the all-powerful Creator. Then he showed that God is not just an impersonal force
but a being deeply concerned about maintaining intimate relationships with the people he created. We can be
thankful that the true God not only created us but also sustains us, loves us, and desires an intimate relationship
with us.
God Is Loving and Just
ROMANS 3:22-28
22 We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved
in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.
23 For all have sinned; all fell short of God's glorious standard. 24 Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares
us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. 25 For God sent
Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made right with God when
we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not
punish those who sinned in former times. 26 And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares
sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.
27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based
on our good deeds. It is based on our faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the
law.
This passage shows two important and seemingly contradictory aspects of God's character: love and justice. The
Bible tells us that God is loving. Despite God's knowledge of our sin, he reached out to offer us forgiveness through
the death of his Son on the cross. But God's love is often misunderstood. Many think that because he loves us, he
will overlook our sins. But the fact that God is loving does not negate the fact that he is also just. Scripture repeatedly
makes the point that only the godly will see God's face. We can be certain that our sins must be dealt with, either by
accepting God's gift of salvation through faith or by suffering God's ultimate judgment. The choice is ours to make,
and God desires that all would receive his forgiveness.