The Attributes of God - God is Faithful - Part II

In 1Peter 4:19 it says that "God tests our faith so that we may trust His faithfulness."  I never thought of it in that way before.  But this morning as I awoke in my beautiful new home I was reflecting on God's faithfulness.  This is part of the way His faithfulness has played out in my life:

• My horrific childhood - the physical and emotional abuse only laid a firm foundation of faith in God.
• My travesty of a marriage - the utter shame led me to lean solely upon God for support and validation - my faith grew even stronger.
• My singleness - the reality that God walks beside me every day and He has promised that He will never leave me or forsake me, even when I sometimes wander away from Him - my faith matures on a daily basis.
• My loneliness - God has promised me that He has a plan for my life, waiting for that plan develops perseverance and hope - further growth in my faith.

God's faithfulness is His complete and total dependability.  If He makes a promise to us, we can count on it.  God is 100% reliable 100% of the time.  He does not fail, forget, falter, change or disappoint us, because God is truth.  Not only does God keep His promises, He also keeps His threats.  We pay the consequences we deserve for not taking Him seriously. 

I woke this morning listening to the sound of doves.  Off in the distance dogs are barking, greeting the new day.  I heard my landlady returning form work (she's 83 years old and still works nights at the post office).  There are a couple of ponds behind the house and I hear ducks and other birds in conversation out there.  What a magnificent reminder of God's love and provision for me.  God is faithful!

The Attributes of God - God is Faithful

I can usually write better about something when I have personal experience of what I am writing about.  I have a lot of experience with God's faithfulness.  When God makes a promise to us we can count on Him keeping that promise.  It may not always be the in the manner we want it kept or even in the timing we want it kept but He is faithful and keeps His promises.

I have many examples but I am going to use today.  Until today I have been living with my 25 year old son.  Now, my son is a decent guy.  He has his good points and his bad points, like everyone else.  He also has his really nasty points, and those usually only come out when he's dealing with me.  Not long ago I knew that I would need to move out of my son's apartment.  When I moved in with him the Lord was providing me with a sanctuary from the previous year and a half.  It had been a difficult time for me and I was in need of a place to live where I could rest and recover.  God provided that with my son.  But after a I had recovered from my bad experiences I needed to get out on my own again.  My son and I started to disagree and our relationship was beginning to fray. 

God promised me that He would move me when it was time.  I began looking for a place to rent, I wanted a roommate situation that would not stress me out.  I needed someone I felt I could be compatible with and who would not try to be my controller or parent.  I am challenged when I try to live with other women, they usually try to mother me, even when, maybe even especially when, I am older than them.    I get along well with male roommates but as a Christian woman that can be really tricky.  I also was looking for a quiet place, another type of sanctuary than the one I had with my son.  The search was proving difficult.  It was taking longer than I wanted, much longer. 

Then in May I fell off my bike and broke my wrist.  I stayed with my parents out of town while I was recovering.  But when I had recovered well enough to return to work I came home.  My son had grown used to my being gone (it had been 2 months) and was unhappy I had returned home.  I met a guy, started dating him and thought we were destined to marry.  My office announced that they were changing locations about 8 miles north of its current location.  All very good and valid reasons to move, I just couldn't find the right place.  God had promised me the right place, where was it?

The day my boyfriend and I split up I was out looking at possible places to rent.  I answered an ad whose headline read, "A great place for a new start" and made an appointment to visit it.  Set in a rural area, on 5 acres and down a long driveway I found a gem of a house.  An older lady owns this house and rents out rooms.  God started whispering to me as soon as I started down the driveway.  The beauty of this place soothed my soul.  It is peaceful and quiet.  I am one of 6 people living here, it's a co-ed mix.  I have the master suite so I don't have to share the bathroom and I even have a private entrance.  Pretty much exactly what I was looking for.  But wait, there's more.  The owner is a painter, like me.  The owner is also a Christian.  Sounds perfect, looks perfect, I am going to trust God and say it is perfect for me.  God delivered as promised.

But wait, there's more...  I had scheduled this morning for moving day.  I had friends who were supposed to come by at 10 to help me move the major furniture.  Just prior to ten a couple of my friends called me to tell me they would be late.  Another friend hadn't confirmed whether or not he'd actually be there and my daughter who was helping me had gone AWOL.  I was beginning to wonder if I was moving this morning.  But before 11 o'clock I had 4 helpers and 2 trucks.  We got all the furniture and some of the smaller boxes moved.  All this just ahead of the rain.  Yes, the heavens opened up and it poured yesterday, after all  my furniture had been moved inside.  We got my bed set up and I was good to go.  God came through for me once again.  He is faithful, he keeps His promises. 

I am now sitting and relaxing in my new home.  A home God had promised me.  A home where I do not feel harrassed and picked on.  A home where I can rest and renew in God's arms and then go out into the world and be bold in my faith.  I look forward to my next adventure with Him.

The Attributes of God - God is Eternal - Part II

I can’t remember where I read this definition of being eternal, “the quality of existing endlessly in regards to time without interruption or limitation in the past, present or future.”  That’s God, He just is, He will never not be.  Just think, once we go to spend eternity with Him time will no longer have meaning for us either.  We get to spend eternity with Him.

God is Eternal.  That statement wraps itself around me and holds me in its embrace.  It feels very secure.  God will always be there for me.  He is never going away, never ever ever.  If you know my history you understand how important that is for me.  To say I have abandonment issues is probably an understatement.  God will never leave me or forsake me because He is eternal, and because He said so. 

I believe all of God’s other attributes are built upon and even hinge upon His eternality.  What is Faithfulness without eternity?  What is Omnipresence without eternity?  Omnipotence?  Omniscience?  Patience?   The Lord’s eternality is a strong foundation for not only all of God’s other attributes, but also for us as His children.

Eternality

I have a stack of notes on my desk that discuss God's eternality.  I was putting together a blog for this evening but left the notes on my desk when I left the office tonight.  I had a number of things to do this evening, I paid my first month's rent for my new apartment (I am moving this coming weekend) and then I needed to come home, do laundry and pack.  I need to pack not only for my move but also for my mission trip next week.

God had other plans for me.  He is good with that.

I took the rent check to my new landlord and we ended up talking for a while.  I'm renting the master suite in her house and I'm thinking I am really going to like her.  She is a Christian and she is also a painter.  For those of you who don't know me, I am a watercolor artist.  Anyways, I think God chose a wonderful new home for me.  I believe I will find peace at this new place.

When I got home I started doing laundry and packing.  In the middle of all that my son (who I currently live with) and his girlfriend came home.  We ended up talking about many things, talking about my new living situation and clearing the air about some misunderstandings.  It was a good talk, I'm feeling like I will be leaving on much better terms with my son than I previously thought. 

The point of this?  Once I am finished with God is Eternal I want to talk about God is Faithful.  He sure demonstrated that to me this evening. 

The Attributes of God - God is Eternal

Okay, I will admit, the idea of going through the Bible one or two verses at a time is a daunting one.  There are several Bible scholars who have done just that and I am in awe of the work they have put into it.  But I am nowhere near a Bible scholar.  I just love the Lord and want to get closer to him.  I don’t know all this stuff.  I have several different Bible study tools I use, books and websites I read and discussions in my small group that I use to formulate my thoughts.  I take all that together and come up with this, the thoughts I blog.  The leader of my small group says that I’m very knowledgeable, especially when it comes to the New Testament.  God must be using me to speak to him because I don’t feel very knowledgeable at all.  That’s why I have this thirst to learn. 

Wow!  I wrote a full page of thoughts about Genesis 1:6-31 and then God spoke to me.  I had to delete all that work and start over because He showed me something I never caught before in this passage.  Something I believe I really should have.  But this really starts with the first verse and goes through the end of the chapter.  Well, maybe I did catch a glimmer before.  Let me explain what I mean…

Genesis 1 is the creation story.  From the very first verse God uses this passage to reveal to us His attributes.   I already wrote about some of this.  It looks like it may be time to dig even deeper…


First of all, God is Eternal.  Verse 1 says it all, "In the beginning..."  God was there in the beginning, He existed before anything else.  God created everything, including time.  God told Moses, "I am who I am."  (Exodus 3:14) "I am" expresses His continuous and unchanging presence.  As C H Spurgeon comments, "God was, when nothing else was.  He was God when the earth was not a world but chaos.  If God Himself were of yesterday, He would not be a suitable refuge for mortals.  The eternal existence of God is mentioned here to set forth, by contrast, the brevity of human life."  (from his Treasury of David, commenting on Psalm 90:1-2)


This is important because this removes God from time.  He is not subject to time, as a matter of fact, time dwells within God, God causes time and time has no effect on God.  Therefore, God never changes.  That's another of His attributes, to be explored later.


This makes my brain hurt.  As a human I cannot comprehend eternality.  But because of God's pleasure I get to experience it.  I am so grateful God is eternal, His eternality lays the foundation for several of His other attributes.  Attributes which I depend upon.  Atttributes which I use as building blocks for my faith in Him.

Genesis 1:3-5 NASB

(3) Then God said, "Let there be light "; and there was light. (4) God saw that the light was good ; and God separated the light from the darkness. (5) God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

"Then God said..."  God spoke everything into existence.  In those few words are exhibited God's power and authority.  God said it, so it happened.  With His words God willed all of creation.  

"...'Let there be light.'; and there was light."  God commanded light into existence and immediately it was there.  God has the power to not only create light, He also has the power to compel immediate obedience. 

"God saw that the light was good;"   What light is there in your life?  Is it good?  Is it useful and beneficial?  Light serves a great purpose in our lives.  In addition to illumination, it gives us depth and color.  Light generates energy which in turn generates warmth.  The energy light produces also helps our plants to grow.  Jesus, as the light of our world, exposes the sin in our lives.  This gives us the opportunity to repent and grow in our Christian lives.  He gives our lives depth and color.  His gives us the energy to grow more Christ-like.  He fuels our lamps so that we may shine His message to the world.  Without Jesus my world would be a very dark place indeed.

I'm rather curious about this.  The next part of the verse says, "and God separated the light from the darkness."  Light by its very nature dispels darkness.  It illuminates the dark corners where we want to hide our dirty laundry.  How is it that it needed to be separated from the darkness?  I've been meditating on this for a while.  The image that comes to my mind when I think of this part of verse 4 is of an astronaut as he walks in space.  According to Hollywood, it is dark in space, there is no source of light.  However, you can see because of the reflection of light from the sun and stars.  Hmm, I believe this one needs more meditation.

"God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day."  I read a devotional recently, it spoke on the subject of the Jewish night and day.  Most of the modern world patterns their day after the Roman tradition of midnight to midnight, forcing us to begin our days with rising in the morning.  The Jews, among other cultures, started their days at sundown the night before.  The thought in this devotional is that we should start our days resting in the Lord's embrace, resting and refueling, letting God energize us for the day ahead.  That is an appealing thought to me. 

Well, I will be musing on these thoughts over the next few days.  Maybe I'll be writing more...

Genesis 1:1-2 NASB continued

I've been meditating on this verse the last few days.  I guess you could say I am experiencing a Genesis of a sorts in my own life.  It seemed appropriate to start over from the very beginning.

Before existence there was nothing except God.  God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  I've heard people say that before creation there was a vacuum (apart from God).  But I don't feel this is true.  God is omnipresent, He is everywhere.  There was God and God was everything.  That means when God spoke our world into creation He is part of creation.  Nothing exists without Him, nothing is without Him.  That means God is in everyone, EVERYONE!  God is not just in the hearts of Christians.  He is also in the hearts of atheists and agnostics.  He is in the hearts of sinners (including all Christians).  He is in the hearts of all our friends and family, our loved ones and our mere acquaintences.  That also means He is in the hearts of our enemies, the bullies, the frenemies, the ones we love to hate and those we hate to love.  He is in the hearts of Muslim extremists and Buddhists.  He is in the hearts of every member of every religion and/or non-religion.  He is in the hearts of robbers and thieves and murderers.  He is in the hearts of the people who use and abuse us.  The people who beat and rape and molest and irrevocably harm us.  The people we trust and the people we don't.  Now I understand why we are called to love our enemies.

Genesis 1:1-2 NASB

(1) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (2) The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 

My Ryrie Study Bible says that this beginning was not the beginning of eternity, just a break in eternity, the creation of the world.  Prior to this beginning there was nothing and no one except God.  God in all His power and majesty.  Have you ever wondered why God created the heavens and the earth?  Why God created man?  Especially since He knew man was destined to disobey and disappoint Him.  Was He bored, did He need some entertainment? 

We may never know what prompted God to create the heavens and the earth.  His ways are higher than our ways and I'm sure it's not our place to understand.  I cannot even imagine nothing existing.  It hurts my mind trying to imagine it.  As I said, it's not my place to understand.  It is however, my place to be grateful for His love for out of that love came this creation.  I am eternally grateful that God did create the heavens and the earth.  I am eternally grateful He populated this earth.  I am eternally grateful that I will be spending eternity with Him and with Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

Lord, thank you for creation.  It is a wonderful gift to us, your children.  Thank you for this, my new beginning.  I want my life to reflect Your radiance and Your beauty.  Show me the path You would have me take from here on out.

In the name of Your son, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to redeem me from my sins.   AMEN