5 Things I Know About God
I read a story the other day about a little girl who was sitting at her kitchen table, drawing a picture with her crayons. Curious, her mother asked her, “Honey, what are you drawing?”
“I’m drawing a picture of God!”
“But darling, you can’t do that! Nobody knows what God looks like.”
After a brief pause the girl looked up. “They will when I get finished!”
We may not know exactly what God looks like, but we can catch glimpses of Who He is in His word. Like fragmants of a mosaic, we can piece them together and discover a God who is unlike any you’ve heard of before. Below are five things that I know about God.
We may not know exactly what God looks like, but we can catch glimpses of Who He is in His word.
1. God is our creator
What does this tell me about God? A lot, actually. You see, if I create something, that means that I’m invested in it. I’ve recently started trying to learn to code. Well, recently as in the last couple of years. Don’t let that fool you though. I still haven’t mastered it enough to do anything with it. But still, after I’ve spent only a few hours working on a project, typing out lines of Swift, I get possessive of what I’ve created.
Now, I realize that’s a terrible comparison — me telling a computer to create some sort of imaginary world on my screen and the God of the Universe bending over a patch of mud, forming the first man and woman with His fingers. But I guess that’s really my point. If I feel that way about the silly things I create, how must God feel about the beings that He created?
If I feel that way about the silly things I create, how must God feel about the beings that He created?
What God created could actually breathe, move, live. They could love each other and Him in return. They could actually have a relationship with their Creator. And God loved His creation. In the Garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve sinned and threw away the perfect world they had been given, God told Satan:
“I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” ~ Genesis 3:15
In this cryptic way, God actually fortold the coming of Jesus to not only live among us, but to actually die at the hand of Satan. God was the Creator and Satan had messed with His creation. And God would rather die than lose us.
God is our creator!
2. God is forever
This one is actually crazy if you think about it. I remember when I was a kid making my brain nearly fry trying to figure out how it was possible that God could have always existed. Like, how? But somehow He has and He always will!
In the Bible we read this story about Moses who was taking care of a bunch of sheep in the dessert. Suddenly he sees a bush that’s burning, but it never burns up. That’s not possible! So Moses went to investigate. When he did, he discovered that God was actually in the bush and He had come specifically to talk to Moses.
After a lengthy conversation where God asks Moses to go back to Egypt and rescue his people, Moses asks a question. “If the people ask me who sent me, what should I say? What’s your name?”
God replied to Moses, “I am who I am. Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.” ~ Exodus 3:14
In the English version we actually miss a lot. The way the Hebrew grammar is, the translators could have translated that phrase three different ways: I am who I am, I was who I was, I will be who I will be. God was saying that He is forever.
This is exciting to me because it means that God is in my present, He’s in my past, and He’s already there in my future. No matter how alone I may feel, I’m never really alone.
God is in my present, He’s in my past, and He’s already there in my future.
God is forever!
3. God is love
In a world so filled with hate, love almost feels like a foreign idea. But then we catch a glimpse of a headline or read a story someone shares on Facebook that reminds us that love is not completely dead. The other night while my wife and I were watching the Olympics, a commercial came on that did a good job of that.
I realize that in the Bible we read the following statement.
No one is righteous — not even one. ~ Romans 3:10
But in this same letter, Paul reveals something else.
Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. ~ Romans 2:14, 15
Without getting overly complicated here, Paul is saying that even those who may not have read God’s law still know the difference between right and wrong because God writes His law in everyones’ hearts. This means that people, no matter who they are or where they come from, innately know what is right.
People, no matter who they are or where they come from, innately know what is right.
I’m not saying that people are good on their own, however. What I am saying is that any love and kindness we find in our world is evidence of the loving character of God and of a heart yielding, however unconsciously, to His drawing.
God is love!
4. God is perfect
I’m a perfectionist. I would say I’m a recovering perfectionist, but I don’t think I’ve made it yet to that part of my journey. I’m still wallowing in the mistaken belief that I and the world around me can be perfect. At least I can admit I have a problem!
The thing that drives me crazy, though, is not necessarily that I’m not perfect. What drives me crazy is that the people and objects around me aren’t. Sure, I’m frustrated when I don’t get things exactly right, but I can usually find someone or something else to blame it on.
God, however, is perfect. The Bible even says so in so many words.
God’s way is perfect. ~ Psalm 18:30
Here’s the crazy thing. He’s not a perfectionist like I am! When we mess up or do crazy things, He doesn’t get mad at us or blame us for messing up His plan. Instead, He helps us. I love what David said about the character of God and how He deals with us when we mess up.
He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. ~ Psalm 103:10–14
Here’s the good news. Since God is perfect, He not only knows what to do in every situation, He executes it perfectly. Which means that when we mess up, He knows exactly how to help us. He can empower us without crushing us, forgive us without invalidating us, and save us without hurting us.
God can empower us without crushing us, forgive us without invalidating us, and save us without hurting us.
God knows who you are and loves you unconditionally. And because He is a perfect God, He knows exactly how to help you.
God is perfect!
5. God is our friend
In the beginning, when God created the world, it was meant to be a home to His new best friends. God created Adam and Eve, placed them in the Garden of Eden, and then visited with them every day.
When they disobeyed, sin was brought into the world, and with it, a separation from God.
It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore. ~ Isaiah 59:2
This hurt God more than it hurt even Adam and Eve. He longed to spend time with the ones that He loved! Eventually, as Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt and into Canaan, God spoke to him.
“Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them.” ~ Exodus 25:8
In this way, God could at least have His tent there among the tents of the Israelites! But this still wasn’t enough. Hundreds of years later, God did something even more drastic.
In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. ~ John 1:1, 14
God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, came to live among humans as a human! This is what’s so crazy. No longer was God stuck living in a tent, forcing people to come visit Him if they wanted. No, God was a human, walking around earth as a human, visiting in the homes of His friends as a human, laughing and talking and crying as a human, and finally dying as a human.
God was a human, walking around earth as a human, visiting in the homes of His friends as a human, laughing and talking and crying as a human, and finally dying as a human.
But the leaders of the world rejected Him, eventually nailing Him to a cross. But since this human was also still God, He rose from the dead and returned to heaven, sending in His place the Holy Spirit, who now lives inside each one of us.
But even this is not enough. God has one more plan, a final restoration of the relationship He had with humans in the beginning.
I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.” ~ Revelation 21:3
This is God’s final plan, the ending of the entire story written in the Bible. God will finally live with us and we will live with God. The entire Bible is really the story of a friendship broken and ultimately restored.
God is our friend!
I realize that we may not know exactly what God looks like, but we can catch glimpses of Who He is in His word. Like fragmants of a mosaic, we can piece them together and discover a God who is unlike any you’ve heard of before. He is our creator, He is forever, He is love, He is perfect, and He is our friend. Won’t you spend time getting to know Him better?
