Last summer I needed something new to study and picked up a Bible study that had been sitting on my book shelf for at least a couple years. This study was based on a classic by the late Dr. Bill Bright (Founder of Campus Crusade for Christ), Discover God, in which he explores 12 of God's attributes and how we can experience them in our own lives. In my last post I shared my journey of discovering God and His attributes in a deeper way, covering the first 6 attributes in this 'Discovering GOD' study. And now for the next 6 attributes...
BECAUSE GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING,
I will go to Him with all my questions and concerns.
"Unlike man's knowledge, God's knowledge is never supersceded or made obsolete by new discoveries" (Bill Bright, in Discover God). Wow. God knows all - He knows all of past, present and future in all places, of all people and all times. And yet He also intimately knows every feeling, every fear, every desire, every joy, and more! He knows every one of my sins and struggles, yet loves me completely. And He knows my future, as I follow Him, trust Him and rest in Him. I need not fret over the past failures, the present challenges or the unknown (to me) future.
My response to God's All-Knowing Nature: Come to Him in prayer for the challenges I'm facing rather than runnin to others to vent or verbalize or gossip my frustrations. Recognize that He knows all completely, and I don't!
BECAUSE GOD IS RIGHTEOUS,
I will live by His standards.
Do you know what a 'plumb line' is? If you've ever worked in construction or built a building you do. And whether we know it or not, we have all experienced the benefits of a plumb line! A plumb line is used to test if something is straight, such as a wall on a building. God's Word is the 'plumb line' used to test our lives, yet so often the world creates it's own 'plumb lines' which are not according to God's standards. Let merooked line claiming it to be perfectly straight, then chances are, you are standing crooked as well!
My response to God's Righteousness: Ask God daily to show me where my life is out of line from His 'plumb line' and ask Him to help me come back into alignment with His Word, His commands and His standards through His Spirit.
BECAUSE GOD IS FAITHFUL,
I will trust Him to always keep His promises.
Do I believe this? I know I say that I do - I sing of His faithfulness, I speak of His faithfulness, I recall His faithfulness displayed throughout His Word. But when it comes to my experience, my life, my future - do I truly believe this? Do I ACT like I believe this? I know that I sometimes struggle to believe in His faithfulness when it comes to my singleness and desires for marriage and a family. How I desire to experience rest and contentment in Him, knowing that He is sovereign and knows what He's doing and how to take care of me and provide for me in all ways. Furthermore, He's always right (because He's RIGHTEOUS) in how and when He keeps His promises.
My response to God's Faithfulness: Meditate on His faithfulness (in general and personally to me). And seek to be more faithful to Him in rising early in the morning to spend time with Him each day, in prayer and in His Word.
BECAUSE GOD IS SOVEREIGN,
I will joyfully submit to His will.
It's hard to accept God's sovereignty and to joyfully submit to His will when things are not going the way I want! I am a planner, so I don't like when things don't go the way I've planned (or think I've planned). Yet, when I demand (in attitude, thoughts, words and/or actions) to be sovereign over my own life, I'm essentially saying that God is not sovereign OR that He is not being good or just in His sovereignty...and I could do better!. Oh my...this is a hard pill to swallow. But I can rest assured that He is in control and He knows what He's doing, even when I don't like it.
My response to God's Sovereign Power: Thank Him for the way He displays His sovereignty and will in my life. Commit my plans and my agendas each day and each week to Him. And commit my future to Him...
BECAUSE GOD IS JUST,
He will always treat me fairly.
You may or may not agree with this statement. In fact, at first I struggled with this one. But I began to realize the reason I struggled with it was due to whose viewpoint I defined 'fair'. I naturally view fairness from my point of view - what I think is fair.' There are things that I watch happen to those I love or to myself in which I would say "that's just not fair"! But this is fairness from God's point of view. Whether or not it feels fair to me at the time, God is Just. And I must remember that I do not see the whole picture like He does - He is outside of this world and time and space to which I am confined. And when I see injustice on this earth, I should desire fair treatment! That's a Godly response!
My response to God's Justice: I'm challenged to consider if and where and how if I'm lending my voice to a struggle for justice. I continue to ask God to show me what I can do or how I can respond or help victims of injustice around me.
BECAUSE GOD NEVER CHANGES,
My future is secure and eternal.
This might be the most encouraging attribute to me personally of the 12 attributes I studied. I am fickle - I've come to accept that about myself. I desire to be that 'Steady Eddie' type of personality, not really phased by much, but I'm not! My emotions run deep, and wide. I'm a verbal processor, and not always committed to everything that comes out of my mouth, unfortunately. And while I know that aspects of these things are a part of the way God wired me and that He too is deep with emotion, I take comfort in knowing that He never changes. He is full of emotion, and yet constant in His character. He is always present, I can trust and depend on Him at all times and in all ways. And what's more, this means His attributes never change!
My response to God's Unchanging Character: Thank Him that His character is unchanging, and for the security I experience through faith in Jesus. Blog about these unchanging attributes I've been studying as a way of praise and sharing with others.
Thanks for joinging my journey through these 12 attributes of God. To learn more about the Discover God book by Bill Bright, the Discover God Bible Study, or other related resources, go to DiscoverGod.com. And please feel free to share your responses to a deeper understanding of God's attributes in your life too!
