ATTRIBUTES

Hi, my name is Lynnette and I am a piano teacher. I am 32 years old. I’ve been married for just over a year. I love music, movies, crafts, tea, chocolate, and my family. Now that I’ve given a brief summary, could you trust me to make a plan for your life? Do you trust me to choose your education, your spouse, your friends, or decisions about your health? I hope you answered with a very strong, “NO!” You shouldn’t trust me with such monumental decisions.

Ok, let’s flip the conversation, do you trust God that He has a plan for your life? Do you trust Him to guide you? Do you live every moment knowing that God is sovereign and faithful and, if you’re a true believer, that He also has your best in mind? Do you struggle to submit to the will of God through the pain and difficulties of life because you doubt God has you in the right place at the right time? Now answer honestly: how well do you know God? Maybe our doubt and wrestling with God’s direction is because we forgot who He is or don’t know Him well enough in the first place.

An attribute is something that is essential to a person’s being. It’s more than just a characteristic or a description. We cannot have the person without that attribute. The cool thing about God is He is immutable (Malachi 3:6). That means He never changes. He will always be what He has always been which is exactly who He reveals to us in His Word.

You might be thinking, “that’s nice, now let me carry on with my life.” Stop! Studying the attributes of God is life changing. Hop on a time machine with me for a few minutes. When I was 10 or 12 my lovely Sunday school teacher asked the class to come up with as many names of God as we could. That was definitely my favorite day in Sunday school. There were so many words to describe God! I truly don’t mean this to be boastful, but I definitely contributed the most names and I was writing them down as we went. I didn’t want to forget. My teacher must have noticed the joy I was getting out of the experience because she typed out and laminated a bookmark of many of the names of God. I still have that bookmark today. Neither my teacher nor I knew that this would lead me on a lifelong journey not just to collect as many attributes of God as possible, but to seek God in a personal way. I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was younger, but this was a major step in my spiritual growth. I really wanted to find out who He is. And you know what? Getting to know God and proclaim His attributes makes me even happier now than when I was a kid. He is my exceeding joy (Ps. 43:4). If a little kid can understand that God is super cool and awesome, imagine what amazing riches you as an adult could uncover by studying His attributes!

God’s character is unfathomably rich and deep. You can spend your whole lifetime learning about God and you should. Because the more we know about God and the closer we draw to Him, the more we can trust Him with His plan for us. We can have peace and satisfaction because our faith is not blind but grounded in the truth of who God is.

RESOURCE: The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom
and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments
and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known
the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him
and to him are all things.
To him be glory forever.
Amen.
Romans 11:33-36