Sweet Sisters,
We have spent the last few weeks in a study of “The Trinity”. We have looked at Bible verses dealing with the Holy Spirit and with Jesus. Today I want to look at Bible verses that talk about God.
You are familiar with Exodus 3 where God appears before Moses in a burning bush. God wants Moses to go to Pharaoh and be His spokesman. Moses is not real excited about this idea. In Exodus 3:13, Moses asked God if the Israelites want to know what His name is, what does Moses tell them.
13 Moses said to God,
“Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them,
‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’
and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’
Then what shall I tell them?”
God replies in verses 14 – 15:
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.
This is what you are to say to the Israelites:
‘I am has sent me to you.’”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites,
‘The Lord, the God of your fathers
—the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob
—has sent me to you.’
“This is my name forever,
the name you shall call me
from generation to generation.
“I AM WHO I AM”. Hebrew scholars call this Tetragrammaton. It is written YHWH. It was considered so sacred by the Israelites that it was forbidden to say it out loud except for the High Priest in the temple.
What does it mean? That’s a question we each need to consider. I will give you a couple of thoughts to think about.
- I am whoever I choose to be.
- Britannia defines it as “He brings into existence whatever exists.”
I love the mystery and the awesome of what God says His Name is.
Let me pause here for a quick grammar lesson. Is, am and are, are simple present forms of the verb “to be”. They are used to describe the site, feeling or condition that something is in. They connect the subject to what is being said about the subject.
The scriptures I have chosen to use today all include the phrase, “God is”. As you read each one make a list of what that verse says about who God is.
Let’s start in the book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 4:31
31 For the Lord your God is a merciful God;
he will not abandon or destroy you
or forget the covenant with your ancestors,
which he confirmed to them by oath.
Deuteronomy 6:4
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Deuteronomy 7:9
9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God;
he is the faithful God,
keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations
of those who love him and keep his commandments.
Note that there are two descriptions in this verse.
Deuteronomy 10:17
17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords,
the great God, mighty and awesome,
who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.
This may be one of the most powerful verses about who God is in the Bible.
Numbers 23:19 – Balaam is speaking to Balak in this verse. He tells him who God is not.
19 God is not human, that he should lie,
not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
I Chronicle 16:34
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
This verse is part of a song written by David in honor of the ark being returned to Jerusalem.
The book of Psalms has several that I have chosen to show you.
Psalm 11:7
For the Lord is righteous,
he loves justice;
the upright will see his face.
Psalm 18:30
As for God, his way is perfect:
The Lord’s word is flawless;
he shields all who take refuge in him.
Psalm 50:6
And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for he is a God of justice.
The Hebrew Masoretic text says, “For God Himself is judge.”
Psalm 84:11
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
How can God be a “sun” and a “shield”?
Moving into the prophets, I want to start with Isaiah 40:28.
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
This is a beautiful description of who God is.
The next verse is my favorite of all the verses we will look at today.
Daniel 6:26 – 27.
26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.
“For he is the living God
and he endures forever;
his kingdom will not be destroyed,
his dominion will never end.
27 He rescues and he saves;
he performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions.”
In these verses we see Darius, the King’s reaction to God saving Daniel from the lions den. Darius can’t seem to find enough words to describe what Daniel’s God is capable of. The God that Darius describes here is the God we serve today. I would like to suggest you copy these verses and put them somewhere you will see every day.
Nahum 1:7
The Lord is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,
Zephaniah 3:17
“The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
Some versions read: “mighty to save” but I love, “The mighty warrior.” Our God who is “Lord of angel armies” delights in us and sings over us!
Our study would not be complete without me including some verses from the New Testament. In chapter four of John, we find Jesus talking to the woman at the well. In verse 24, Jesus explains to her that God is Spirit.
God is spirit,
and his worshipers must worship
in the Spirit and in truth.”
I have to add verses 25 and 26.
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared,
“I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
This is the first time Jesus makes this statement about Himself and He makes it to a Samaritan woman at a well and not to the “religious elite in the temple”.
I Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
God has your back.
I John 4:16
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God,
and God in them.
Revelation 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God,
“who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Sweet Sisters, we began today’s study in Exodus with God telling Moses, “My name is I AM” and we concluded it in Revelation with God telling the apostle John, “I AM”.
We talked about what God might mean by this statement. In this verse, from Revelation, God gives us a little clearer picture.
“I am the Alpha (the beginning)
and the Omega (the end),” says the Lord God,
“who is (now), and who was (past),
and who is to come (future),
the Almighty (El Shaddai).”
My prayer is that our study of “The Trinity” (God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit), has given you a clearer understanding of the God we serve. He is awesome and amazing. He is accessible to each of us. We are His. He loves us and longs for us to love Him in return. As I close my tour of today’s lesson, Psalms 46:1-3 comes to my mind.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
With a God like this, how can I choose to be afraid?
Debbie 