CONDENSING GOD

Psalm 62:5-12
5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. 7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge. 8 Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge. Selah 9 Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath. 10 Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. 11 One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that You, O God, are strong, 12 and that You, O Lord, are loving. Surely You will reward each person according to what he has done.

When I worked as a youth director, I attempted to write a training course that covered the essentials of salvation, forgiveness, prayer, Bible study, and the rest. I thought it was important to begin with God--who He is and what He's like. So I set out to write a chapter on the great I AM.

I failed.

Each attempt to condense God seemed to treat Him incompletely. I started with concepts like God's omnipotence (His all-encompassing power), omniscience (His ability to know everything), omnipresence (His ability to be everywhere at once), and immutability (His perfect, unchanging nature). These were important, but what about His character--His loving and forgiving nature, yet His awesome holiness and His judgment? Then what about the Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? My single chapter turned into two, then three . . .

I wish I'd stumbled across Psalm 62 then. "If there are two things I know about God," King David said in this song, "it's that He's strong and loving."

Strong and loving.

God is strong: Just look at this world. With a few words He created the universe with an explosion perfectly monitored in force. With too little velocity, the universe would have collapsed back on itself shortly after the explosion. With too much velocity, matter would have streaked away so fast that galaxies and solar systems wouldn't have been able to form.

God is loving: He's a God who filled this earth with color, fragrance, and puppies (a very loving addition, I say); a God who is concerned about the widow and the fatherless (Psalm 68:5-6); a God who created an elaborate plan of redemption to save you and me from the penalty system He Himself put in place (Romans 3:21-26; 10:4).

God is strong and loving--the two constants I most need to remember, whether life is easy or difficult. Maybe I'll try writing that first chapter again. --Sheridan Voysey

destination
points

* How does God's strength and love make sense of life's "high" moments?
* How can these two aspects of God help me through pain?

LINKS:
How Has God Loved Us?
http://www.discoveryseries.org/q0102

bottom line: You can't condense God's strength and love.

soul journey