The Attributes of God

How well would you say you know God? Who is He, what is He like, what are His characteristics? I can say I know Him as my Lord, yet I often times live my life as though I am in charge. I know Jesus as my Savior, yet I don’t live according to Galations 2:20 as Paul instructs us to; “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

My relationship with God always has room to grow. I believe my attitude and relationship with God is lacking because I don’t know Him as well as I should. As I continue to grow spiritually, I have a greater desire to learn more about Him, to get a better understanding of His attributes. 

Jeremiah 9:23-24 explains how knowing God is profitable. He writes, “This is what the Lord says: The wise person should not boast in his wisdom; the strong should not boast in his strength; the wealthy should not boast in his wealth. But the one who boasts should boast in this: that he understands and knows me—that I am the Lord. A spiritual and saving knowledge of God is the greatest need of every human being.

Fully comprehending who God is would be an impossible task for us as limited beings, but God makes himself known in a variety of ways. He reveals His divine character in his Word and in His creation. Man’s attempt to describe or understand God’s divine character without the Holy Spirit would be impossible and fall short. Scripture not only gives us accurate information about who God is, His character is also demonstrated through the many examples of biblical accounts throughout the history of mankind. 

I have been studying and want to share what Scripture says about the attributes of God. Hopefully this will give us a better understanding of the awe-inspiring and worship provoking greatness of who God is.

It’s important to understand that the attributes of God are not the same characteristics that we attribute to human beings. These are reserved for God alone and are perfect in every way. His wisdom, power, love, mercy, faithfulness along with the others we will study far surpass our understanding of these characteristics. “Lord, who is like you among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?” Exodus 15:11.

Here is a list of the attributes of God that we will be looking at over the next few weeks:

The Solitariness of God, the Decrees of God, the Knowledge of God, the Foreknowledge of God, the Supremacy of God, the Sovereignty of God, the Immutability of God, the Holiness of God, the Power of God, the Faithfulness of God, the Goodness of God, the Patience of God, the Grace of God, the Mercy of God, the Love of God, the Wrath of God, and the Contemplation or Incomprehensibility of God.

I believe getting a clearer understanding of who God is puts us in a better position for understanding His will for us and becoming more obedient to His Word.

That is my hope for myself and for the rest of the body here at Westhill Church.

Pastor Bryan