Attributes of God--Z

Well, we have come to the end of this series. Although this is certainly not the last attribute of God, it will be the last post on this subject!

God is ZEALOUS--He works with ardent fervor to accomplish His purposes. This is the opposite of lazy, complacent and detached. God is devoted, diligent and intense.

Isaiah 26:11
LORD, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.

Isaiah 37:32
For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Ezekiel 39:25
Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will now restore the fortunes of Jacob and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name.

***To get to the beginning of the series, you can click HERE. ***

Attributes of God--X and Y

***(For the beginning of this series, starting with the letter A, please click here.) ***

As far as I can tell, there are no good English words beginning with the letters X or Y that describe the character or nature of God.

This is not an area where one wants to cheat. So I am not cheating. I am punting, and there is a difference.

For X, I'm just going to be a little bit corny and use "excellent." X is the second letter, and the first sound is undeniably the sound of "x." So that is where I am going to leave it, and I hope you will let me know if there really is a legitimate x word that I should have remembered.

God is EXCELLENT

Psalm 8
(KJV)

O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Y is a surprisingly unusual letter. I actually got out the dictionary and looked through the Y entries, assuming that there must be an appropriate Y word. I came up with nothing. Again, please let me know if there is something I am missing.

In the meantime, the best I can do is this...

God YEARNS to gather people to Himself--Scripture only speaks of us yearning for God, not of Him yearning for us. But Jesus did say:

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing."
Luke 13:34

Longing for something is similar to yearning for it, isn't it? It is comforting to know that God longs to gather even those who are unwilling to come to Him. He says over and over again in Ezekiel, "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked." It is proof of the goodness and lovingkindness of the Lord that He does not rejoice in pouring out His judgment on anyone.

Next up, Z.

Attributes of God--W

God is WONDERFUL

Exodus 15:11
Who among the gods is like you, LORD? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

Job 9:10
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.

Psalm 17:7
Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes.

Psalm 65:8
The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.

Psalm 107:15
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind,

Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

God is WORTHY-- The meaning of the word "worthy" is tied to the meaning of the word "worth." God's merit and character are so great, He is worth our praise and devotion. He deserves highest honors.

1 Chronicles 16:25
For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.

Revelation 4:11
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

Revelation 5:12
In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

God is WISE  -- He knows everything and is absolutely perfect in how He implements His knowledge.  This attribute combines the qualities of His omniscience, perfection, and righteousness.

Romans 11:33
"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God.  How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out!"

Romans 16:27
"All glory to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, forever.  Amen."

1 Corinthians 1:25
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength."





Next up, X and Y.

Attributes of God--V

God is VICTORIOUS-- God always wins. He has always won in the past, He always wins, and He always will win.

Sometimes we Christians get to feeling as though we are in a war and we are not doing so well. Sometimes the evil of this world gets us down. My son works in retail, and every day he sees people lying, cheating and stealing to try to get things that they do not deserve. Due to the policies of his store, these con artists are usually successful. On other fronts, marriages fall apart, drunk people hit parked cars and leave the scene, and when you read the news, the number of little children who have been murdered recently is alarming. It doesn't always seem as though God is winning.

But He is.

The day Jesus was crucified was the worst day any of His followers had ever experienced. Their miracle working leader was arrested, beaten and then nailed to a cross. They must have been very doubtful of the victory of God. Indeed, their actions showed their doubt... most of them ran away and hid. But on that very dark and dreadful day, God was not losing. He was implementing the plan He had designed from before the foundations of the earth. He was taking our sins on His own sinless shoulders, all our sins, past, present and future. He was doing this so that He could claim His right of ownership over us and "buy us back" from the devil. That is what redemption is, and that is what He has accomplished, successfully... victoriously. Satan no longer has any power over those who put their faith in the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 15:54-57
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

John 16:33
"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

1 John 5:4-5
For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Psalm 60:12
With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.

Psalm 20:6
Now this I know: The LORD gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand.

Next up, W.

Attributes of God--U

God is UNFATHOMABLE-- A fathom is a unit of measure, and to be unfathomable is to be beyond measure, immeasurable. Here we are, considering the alphabetical attributes of God, and this attribute itself says that God is immeasurable and incomprehensible. He is beyond the scope of our imaginations, beyond what we can possibly hope to wrap our minds around. No matter how many of His attributes we study, there will always be deeper truths to plumb and more attributes to discover. This is one of the reasons why we are not going to be bored in heaven.

Romans 11:33
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

Ephesians 3:8
To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.

Job 36:26
How great is God—beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out.

Job 37:5
God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.

Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Next up, V.

Attributes of God--T

God is trustworthy and triumphant, but we dealt with His trustworthiness when we discussed His faithfulness, and we will deal with His triumph when we talk about how He is victorious (a few letters down the line...)

Today, we will talk about the truth of God.

Not many people understand about truth anymore. The powers of evil have very successfully challenged the idea that there could, in fact, exist something objective called "truth." They say that each one of us has the right and ability to design our own idea of what is true, and when something is "true for me" it is irrelevant whether it is true for you or not.

You can insist that a foot is 11 inches instead of 12. I can say, "That's OK. That can be true for you. If you want your foot measure to be 11 inches instead of 12, who am I to argue?" But if this is what you believe, I don't expect that the house you build will come out right. And I would never hire you to build a house for me, or even a bookshelf. Just saying.

If your house burns down, no matter how "truly" your friends decide to believe that it didn't happen, you still have no house.

There is objective truth, whether people want to admit it or not.

There is also one true God. All religions are not equal, and this is because there is one living God who exists, who created the heavens and the earth, who hears and answers prayer, who is sovereign. And there are a whole lot of other "gods" who exist mainly in the minds of the humans who imagine them, who did not create the heavens and the earth, and who are unable to hear or answer prayers. There is one God who will judge the world at the end of time, and there are a bunch of false gods who, if they exist at all, will be judged by Him and sent to the pit of destruction.

You can say that this is not true. To do so reminds me of something one of my kids used to do when she was in trouble when she was very small. I would come to confront her about her misbehavior, and she would close her eyes and squeeze them really tightly. She was trying to wish me away, thinking that she could make me disappear if she did not see me. This is what people are like when they refuse to accept the truth that God exists. It's rather pitiful, really.

You can insist to yourself that there is no heaven and no hell. You can tell this to yourself 100,000 times. You can decide that maybe there is a heaven, but surely there isn't a hell, and if there is a loving God, "obviously" he would never send anyone to hell. You can take a vote, and 99 out of 100 people can vote that there is no God, no absolute right and wrong, and no eternal destiny. However, at the end of time, it doesn't matter how many times you repeated something to yourself or how a vote went. It matters whether God does, in truth, exist, and this truth is not up to us to decide. It is outside of us, yet it affects us, and whether we like it or not, it's the way it is.

You can disagree with me. The problem is, if I am right and you are wrong, it will not go well for you, sort of the way if your house burns down, you no longer have a house regardless of what you decide to believe about the matter.

God is TRUE

Psalm 33:4
For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.

Jeremiah 10:10
But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.

John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 7:28-29
Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”

John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

John 17:3
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Next up, U.

Attributes of God--S

Well, in the last two months we have been forced to invest nearly $2000 into a van that is not worth more that $1300.

We also have to move Shannon into her "permanent" apartment (as opposed to her "summer sub-let" apartment). All information stated that her new lease would begin on August 1. I made a reservation at a hotel for the evening of July 31. You get a slightly cheaper rate if you do a pre-pay deal, so I talked to Shawn, and we thought it through, and he said, "Well, we have to go, and that is the date her lease begins, so we might as well go for it." We got the pre-paid rate which is, and I quote: "non-refundable, non-cancelable and non-changeable."

Shannon's landlady rented the apartment to a new tenant who plans to move in on July 31.

Shannon was able to get in contact with the office that handles her new unit. The good news: she can get the key on Friday the 29th. The bad news: we can't change our hotel reservation. We will just have to hope that we can get the hotel room for the previous night as well, and we will simply have to pay for both nights whether we stay both nights or not. Oh well, it's only money. Right?

My family practice doctor did blood tests on me and sent me to a rheumatologist. The rheumatologist did further blood tests on me and sent me to an endocrinologist. The endocrinologist told me, "Just because you have symptoms, and just because you have the antibody in your blood that attacks your thyroid, it doesn't mean your thyroid is failing. You can't just blame your symptoms on your thyroid." With that, she sent me away without scheduling any follow up appointments. So I continue to ache. I've had a lingering headache for as long as I can remember. I am tired all the time. My eyes burn and sting and water spontaneously at completely unpredictable times. My hair is falling out. And I have a pile of medical bills to pay, but no answers. I am looking at that endocrinologist's bill right now, and I do not want to pay it.

It is at times like this that I need to be reminded of the sovereignty of God.

God is SOVEREIGN--The simplest way to explain this, and the way I explain it when I teach children, is that God is the Boss. He is in charge of everything, in control of everything, and perfectly able to handle everything.

He knows my hairs are falling out (Luke 12:7). Although I don't enjoy going bald, it is a comfort to know that God knows about it; He planned it for a purpose, in fact.

He knows how much money we just spent on our van. The other night, before the last bill, I leaned up on my elbow in bed and told Shawn, "I am praying that God will heal our van overnight, that the mechanics will arrive at the shop in the morning, and it will just work, and they will call us and we will only have to pay for the repairs they already finished today." Then I sank back onto my pillows and sighed, "But God doesn't usually like my ideas." Indeed, I was right on that last count. The formerly $500 bill increased to $830 before the next day was over.

God knows all about Shannon's move and our involvement in it and how it will go. He already knows everything that is going to happen that weekend, and He doesn't just know, He has orchestrated the details to accomplish His purposes.

This is what it means when we say that God is sovereign, and it is quite a comfort to ponder His sovereignty when things do not seem to be flowing smoothly. I pray that someday I will have ideas that God will like, ideas inspired by Him and not by my selfish fleshly nature. He is sovereign, and those who love Him and follow Him do not change Him. He changes us. And it is for our good and His glory.

Psalm 71:5
For you have been my hope, Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth.

Psalm 71:16
I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign LORD; I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.

Psalm 141:8
But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.

Isaiah 25:8
He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.

Isaiah 40:10
See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.

Isaiah 50:7
Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

Ezekiel 14:11
Then the people of Israel will no longer stray from me, nor will they defile themselves anymore with all their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Sovereign LORD.

Daniel 4:17
The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people.

Acts 4:24
When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them..."

Next up, T.