“Since the perfection of blessedness consists in the knowledge of God, He has been pleased, in order than none might be excluded from the means of obtaining felicity, not only to deposit in our minds that seed of religion of which we have already spoken, but so to manifest His perfections in the whole structure of the universe and daily place Himself in our view, that we cannot open our eyes without being compelled to behold Him.” – John Calvin
God has chosen to reveal Himself in order that He may be known. The purpose of us knowing God is so that we may understand, submit, worship and serve Him, resulting in Him being glorified.
We have seen that God has revealed Himself as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. God also makes Himself known in His Word, The Bible. The Scriptures contain a treasure of revelation concerning the person and character of God.
18“For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!): I am the Lord, and there is no other. 19 I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, “Seek me in chaos.” I the Lord speak the truth, I declare what is right.” (Isaiah 45:18-19 ESV)
Another word describing the character of God is the word attribute. An attribute is a quality, trait, feature or characteristic of a person, place or thing. An attribute explains what a person is like and why he/she does what they do.
For the purpose of our journey to knowing God, knowing His attributes will be invaluable. To know what God is like, and what He therefore does on the basis of what He is like, will become our focus.
Some of God’s attributes are familiar to us. Other attributes, not so much. Some of God’s attributes are pleasant to us. Other attributes, not so much. However, we must understand that we cannot pick and choose what attributes of God we will accept while rejecting those we find objectionable. In order to fully know God, we must recognize and accept Him for Who He is, and not what we would like for Him to be.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 says, “Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”
Theologian and author Arthur Pink writes, “The foundation of all true knowledge of God must be a clear mental apprehension of His perfections as revealed in Holy Scripture. An unknown God can neither be trusted, served, not worshiped. Something more than a theoretical knowledge of God is needed by us. God is only truly known in the soul as we yield ourselves to Him, submit to His authority, and regulate all the details of our lives by His holy precepts and commandments.”
Ask God to help you submit to knowing Him for who truly He is, rather than what others would have Him and like Him to be. To do otherwise, is to fashion an idol of our own making. Let us resolve to not commit this sin.
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 