"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."
- AW Tozer
Everything about our life is influenced by how we view God. The way we act, how we view ourselves and others, and everything else in our life can be traced back to the question of, "How do you view God?"
For example, even if you view God as a slightly improved version of yourself, it wouldn't be surprising for you to become easily overwhelmed and anxious by the problems of the world because even a slightly better version of you is still far from big enough to handle the problems of this world.
One of the most significant realizations that have happened in my faith journey is understanding how great it is to grow in a proper "fear of the Lord". In his book, When People Are Big & God Is Small, Edward Welch notes the most radical treatment for overcoming the fear of man is to grow in our fear of the Lord. Once we truly recognize how Magnificent and Almighty God is, it is much more challenging to fear others or become overwhelmed by the trials of this world.
Thankfully, God has revealed a great deal about Who He is to help us grow in this understanding. We must not settle for the often minimizing and inaccurate thoughts our finite minds are quick to assume God is limited to being.
Imagine you first meet a stranger named Sarah and all you learn about her is that she is a mom. Sure, you glean a lot by that one descriptor of who Sarah is, but then imagine you go on to learn that she is also a volunteer soccer coach, veteran, former professional athlete, wife, homeowner, Bible study leader, and medical doctor, among many other things. Consider how much better you are likely to know Sarah once you discovered all of those other names or attributes of Sarah.
Even though our finite (limited) minds can never fully comprehend our infinite God, there is much He has revealed to us about Who He is.
I have found the 2 most significant items we must first settle in our heart and minds is God’s Goodness & Grandness. We will always be constrained by how we approach these 2 topics. If we have not truly settled in our hearts that God is good, we will live with a continuous nagging that we are in debt to God.
If we do not settle the issue of His grandness, we will find ourselves continuously overwhelmed by the problems we encounter as we believe them to be larger than our God.
Here are 2 resources that have been of great value in helping me grow in understanding God’s Goodness and God’s Grandness.
God’s Goodness:
“God has a name” by John Mark Comer; This book unpacks the most frequently referenced verse in the entire Bible, Exodus 34:6-7. These verses are the very first time God describes Himself in the Bible, and provide an incredible glimpse into Who He is.
“6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
God’s Grandness:
There are several dozen names of God throughout Scripture. The ministry Navigators highlights 30 of these names in a simple format challenging you to commit 5 minutes daily praying over the accompanying verses and worship God in a fresh way each day.
May we all continue to grow in our awe of God’s goodness & grandness in 2022!