My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
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| GRACIOUS GOD |
| Jonah 4:2 And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. |
| Our God is a Gracious God. He is the same God Jonah knew, but for one experience. Jonah did not quite know the depth of grace we as believers may experience by living after the appearance of Jesus. But the human heart hasn’t changed, for as Jonah confessed the truth of the very character of our Gracious God, we also teach, sing and confess of the graciousness of our God. As Jonah knew of the Graciousness of God and feared the results, we too know of His Graciousness and fear the potential result. How often have I halted, hesitated or avoided speaking to my neighbor or an acquaintance due to the same reason Jonah expressed here. Fear of persecution? Is it fear of persecution? I dare say this is not Jonah’s complaint, for he doesn’t address the recipients reaction to the message. Upset of Normality Is it a desire to maintain a status quo? I think that may be some of the concern Jonah has, since he was a part of the inner group, and he was sent to a group that was outside. Many the infusion of acceptance of the outer group would dilute the specialness of the inner group? Evan as I write that, it seems to be foolish, but how often have I witnessed this? As my wife and I attended a well established church years ago we had a few friends come visit the service. They were energetic, unconventional and to say the least unorthodox due to the newness of their association with church. The church was small, and as I mentioned, well established. If I remember right, they actually sat in someone’s pew seat! (Don’t they understand Jesus died for that saint to sit in that pew seat?). To say the least, the friends, after a few visits, decided not to return. And status quo was maintained! Injustice Is it a sense of injustice? Ta-daaa! That is the ringer folks, for as we glory in the forgiveness we have been freely granted, we tend to want to see justice fall on others. We sometimes dress this thinking up with terms like righteousness and holiness, with our desire to express the need for justice to be inflicted on “our enemies”, but somehow that defeats the very word of the Master when He challenged us to live as He did. Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. For grace to be realized in life, a sense of injustice has to first be accepted in our own lives, but then we also have to allow this to be offered and experienced in the lives of others. As an aside, as I have considered the idea of universal salvation (through Jesus alone, for He is the only Savior), I have had many in the church rebut me with the very argument of injustice. That would be unfair they say. I have heard believers state that “they deserve” to burn in hell. So loving! Why do we as believers in our Gracious God hesitate to consider the Graciousness of God from beyond our own understanding? As a thought experiment, consider the days prior to the Lord’s appearance. Many, if not all in Israel never anticipated such an explosion of faith when He appeared, or the rapid spread of the the church outside the boundaries of the land of Israel, beyond the bloodline of Abraham. Many sought to restrict the growth, keep it within the inner group, and maintain a status quo. But the real stumbling block was the open, graciously free invitation to all. That was simply unacceptable. The graciousness of God was too much! He is the same Gracious God, who surprised the Jews of Jesus day. May He surprise us in our daily lives, and may we be open to the work of God, rejecting our self centered desire for justice, and reveling in the Gracious God we love and honor! |
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
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