|
The purpose of this article is to better acquaint us with God. Just as we are better able to understand our friends as we become more acquainted with them, so we can better understand God when we become more acquainted with Him. This will allow us to get rid of the "wood, hay and stubble" in our lives and be more pleasing to Him. First of all, we will not try to prove the existence of God. The Bible says the fool hath said in his heart, "there is no god". Ps. 14:1. I have written a book called The Attributes of God, back when I pastored at Hornbeck Baptist Church in Hornbeck, Louisiana. I wrote this book an attribute at a time; each attribute was one insertion in a weekly church bulletin. The titles of the chapters are: Infinity of God, Trinity of God, Omnipresence of God, Independence of God, Immutability of God, Omniscience of God, Foreknowledge of God, Power of God, Grace of God, Mercy of God, Faithfulness of God, Wisdom of God, Love of God, Wrath of God, Will of God, Sovereignty of God, Patience of God, Holiness of God, and the Silence of God. Even after all this writing and all this information, the person of God is still more than we can ever understand.. John 4:24 - "God is a spirit". This means that God does not exist in a body like ours. He is entirely invisible and is able to be in every part of every place at all times. Men bring their gods down to their level by making images of them, but this is not so with our God. We could never make an image that fully describes God. He is pure spirit and cannot be described in material things. Exodus 20:4,5 gives the commandment that there shall be no image made of anything which we worship while Isaiah 44 describes a god that men make. Anytime a man makes his own god, it will be like that god produced in Isaiah 44. Isaiah 55:8,9 - "...so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." God lives in a realm very much above the realm in which we live. His life is entirely unburdened by any care or worry or any such things. He is completely satisfied with everything in heaven and earth. From His high vantage point, He is able to see the beginning from the end (and all the middle). Since He can see the end of all things, He is completely at peace about all things. There are two general names given to God. (1) Genesis 1:1, "Elohim", meaning the "God of creation", and (2), "Jehovah", which means the "everlasting, or eternally existing one". Every person, including lost people, can recognize "Elohim", the God of creation, and worship Him as such. But the saved can go one step further by worshipping Jehovah, the everlasting One. In this lesson, we would like to notice seven ways the saved can worship Jehovah. 1. Genesis 22:14, Jehovah-Jireh - "God sees." When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Abraham was willing, but God intervened and provided a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So it is with us today. God will ask us to give our most precious possession to Him. He may not want that possession, but He wants us to be willing to give it to Him. "Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity." 2. Exodus 15:26, Jehovah-Raw-faw - And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD ( Jehovah) thy God, (Elohim) and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD (Jehovah) that healeth (raw-faw) thee. "The Lord Heals". God promised Israel that He would keep diseases from them if they followed His commands. It is very interesting to note the placement of this promise. God has just blessed Israel with leaving Egypt. Not only have they left Egypt, God has just defeated Egypt at the Red Sea when he drowned all those that chased Israel. Israel has experienced a great victory, then God led them three days father into the wilderness, where they was no water. Then they came to water, but the water was bitter. Israel named this place Marah because of the bitter water. The whole point to this is that God could have kept Israel from trouble in Egypt, and could have kept Egypt from pursuing Israel into the wilderness, just as he could have given them water without their having to drink. God could have given them pure water without them having to come to the bitter waters of Marah. But God did not do any of this – why? Because God wants them to know he will provide for them, even when they cannot see how he will provide. You see, serving God doesn’t mean we will never be sick if we worship God. But we will avoid many of the sicknesses associated with worldly living. Your "chances" of getting lung cancer is less if you don’t smoke, mouth cancer if you don’t dip or chew tobacco, skin cancer if you cover your body from the sun, (avoiding nakedness, forgetting the "tan") cirrhosis of the liver if you don’t drink. Most of all, Jesus heals us from our sinfulness, giving us a home in heaven.3. Exodus 17:15, Jehovah-Nissa - "The Lord is my banner", or "The battle is the Lord’s". When Israel defeated the Amalekites, Moses gave the glory to the Lord. When God gives us the victory over our enemies, we can also give Him the glory. It is not what we have done, but what God has done. 4. Judges 6:24, Jehovah-Shalom - "God is peace". God had given Gideon a job he didn’t want. He was to lead Israel against the Midians who held them captive. Before the battle ever started, God gave Gideon peace that everything would turn out all right. This is an example of living by faith, totally trusting an all-wise God to make everything right. Isn’t this the true peace the world is searching for today? 5. Jeremiah 23:6, Jehovah-Tsidkenu - "God is our righteousness". We, like Israel, do not stand on our own righteousness, but on the righteousness of God. Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We must be cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. 6. Ezekiel 48:35, Jehovah-Shammah - "God is there, or God is ever present". Today we may erroneously "feel" that God is somewhere else and that He doesn’t watch over us like we think He ought to. But there is coming a day when our feeling will be the same as the facts. We will know that God is present with us. 7. Psalms 23:1, Jehovah-Roeshee - "God is the one who shepherds me". We were as sheep going astray, but Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He found us headed for eternal destruction, picked us up in His arms, and brought us back to the fold. He continually watches over our lives, guiding us toward the green pastures and keeping Satan from devouring us. We don’t have to worry, for our Shepherd watches over us all the day long. It is very interesting to think of God in the above-mentioned ways. He is everything to us. We are able to say with Moses in Deuteronomy 32:4,31, "...there is no God like our God". |