Webbijbel
Gert-Jan Van Zanten
God Almighty!
Written by Joanne Beckley
When you read those two words, did they read like a curse as so many
in the world say so very lightly? Or did the words bring to mind who
God is?
Our faith will depend on how well we understand the very nature of
the God of the universe. By the same token, our understanding, weak
or strong, will affect our children’ understanding and therefore
their developing faith in God Almighty. Once we and they truly
understand who God is, how foolish we would be to deny serving Him.
He is all that we are not. Then again, once we put our trust in God,
that trust will be held in the most secure hands you and I could
ever imagine. Jesus has told us, "And this is eternal life, that
they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have
sent”, John 17:3. We MUST know Him if we desire to find a reason for
living, and then to continue to live after our physical bodies are
buried.
Luke recorded a wonderful sermon by the apostle Paul when he spoke
to unbelievers of Almighty God in the city of Athens, Acts 17:21-31.
Take time to read this passage of Scripture.
God is infinite –unlimited, unbound. God is not created, He is not
physical. He is not bound by time and space as we who are flesh and
blood are bound. Only a God who brought everything into
existence–out of nothing–can be infinite. He is above all that He
creates. But, even as he has no limitations in His power, He has
limited himself by the very universe He created. His own character
also limits Him. God cannot lie, Titus 1:2. It was by his choice
that He created man and woman with the ability to choose right from
wrong. God’s character of righteousness and justice requires that He
punish the wicked, Psalm 35:24; Isa 5:16. Yet we also learn that
God’s love for us in infinite, 1 John 4:9, and oh, how we benefit
from it!
God is uncaused. God is. He is not dependant for existence on
anything else, but our very existence is because God willed it so.
We would therefore be foolish to worship a god created by the mind
of man, whether gods of war (Greek gods), benevolent gods (Budda),
or even our ancestors who could not even parent us in all
righteousness while they lived on earth.
God is immortal. God will not die. “I AM” is, whether yesterday,
today or tomorrow, Exodus 3:14; 1 Timothy 6:16. Time does not
control God. God created time and therefore He can choose the length
of days for his creation. Time does not weary God, Isa 40:28, nor
does it limit His existence, Deut 33:27. Unlike God, man’s spirit is
not eternal. God created our spirits; they have a beginning. He has
chosen that we will exist even after the world is no more. He willed
that we exist.
God does not occupy space. God is not a physical being. He is spirit
and cannot be measured. When King Solomon dedicated the new temple
for God, he asked, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold,
heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less
this temple which I have built!”1 Kings 8:27. Solomon understood,
and worshipped. (I would ask, do we live our lives as if God is only
present with us when we walk into the church building?)
God is everywhere, just as Jonah discovered, and the psalmist echoed
Jonah’s discovery, Psalm 139:7-14. God asked Jeremiah, “‘Can anyone
hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?’ says the
LORD; ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ says the LORD”, Jeremiah
23:24. God does not occupy space, therefore, not in rocks, trees, or
any thing He has created. God is above it all.
Most of all we must understand and accept that God in infinite in
knowledge, Isaiah 40:28. He KNOWS us. He knows all our thoughts and
our actions. He knows if we need to repent. Read again Acts 17:30.
When our hearts and conscience condemn us, God knows! He is greater
than our hearts and He knows all, 1 John 3:20. God’s understanding
in infinite, Psalm 147:5. Let us go back to Psalm 139 and begin with
verse 1. Yes, this is the Almighty God whom we serve.
Again, I ask, are we making sure our sons and daughters come face to
face with their Maker?
