Sunday, October 31, 2010

Knowing God by the Names of His Character by Emily Carter

Recently, a group of ladies have embarked on the incredible journey of Knowing God by Name. We are working through Mary Kassian’s Bible Study by the same title. So far, God has used it to draw us closer to Him. Week Two is focused in on His names of Character.

El Hakkadosh: Holy God

Rav-Chesed: Abounding in Love

Rachum Ve-Chanun: Merciful and Gracious

Emet Elohim Emet: Faithful and True

Higdil Tushiyyah: Excellent in Wisdom

God's characteristics are immeasurable. Just when we think we know something about Him, we learn something new. The other night, my family had just reading all about baby bears. When grizzlies are first born, they are blind, hairless, and about the size of a banana. They are completely dependent on their moms not only care for them, but also to teach them everything they need to know.

My daughter, in her five year old wisdom, proclaimed, “I know everything I need to know!”

I responded, “Really? Right now I can think of three things that you are still learning how to do.” Of course she was intrigued. I explained, “You are still learning to read large words, you are learning how to play basketball, and you are learning to spell things correctly.”

My husband then followed up with, “And we are always learning more about God.”

To which my son replied, “You already know everything you need to know about God.”

What a beautiful opportunity to explain God’s vastness. I then told Coleman and Grace, “You could read your Bible every day for the rest of your life, and on the day you died, you would still not know everything that it had to say about God. He is that big.” They looked at me in utter disbelief, but they understood the importance of studying God’s word. The next day, they did not complain once about learning their verses for Wednesday night’s Awana classes.

As I did the lesson for week two/day one from Knowing God by Name, once again I learned something new. Did you know that the only characteristic of God that is mentioned three times is His holiness? Isaiah 6:3 and Rev. 4:8 state that, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty." God's holiness permeates every other characteristic. The three fold repeat means that this is very, very, very important information. The thing that I had not known before was that one of the definitions of the word holy means illustrious, to radiate, or shine brightly. I knew that holy meant to be perfect and separate, but I had always thought of it being God's glory that shines brightly. Doesn't it make sense that both His holiness and His glory would radiate?

On day two, we talked about God's love for us. God's love for us is both committed and passionate. You cannot separate His love from who He is and it is only by His love that we can truly experience and give love.

God is also merciful and gracious and faithful and true. These four characteristics are described in Exodus 34:6-7 in a very powerful way. "And He (Yahweh) passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, 'The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Yet, He does not leave the guilty unpunished He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." Make no mistake, dear one, the Lord is merciful and gracious. He spares us from what we deserve and He gifts us with good we could never earn. His faithfulness is wrapped up in His truth. You can depend on Him. No matter what dark time you are walking through, God can light your path and He will be your friend as you go on your way.

He can do all of this because He is Excellent in Wisdom. He has perfect knowledge over everything. He has knowledge over time: past, present, and future. He has knowledge over creation. He knows every detail about your life. You matter to Him. If you need some encouragement today, read Psalm 139:1-18 to know how special you are to Him.

God is so very in love with you! He is Holy, Holy, Holy! He is merciful, gracious, faithful, and true! He is Excellent in Wisdom and Knowledge. You can trust God because He is trustworthy!

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