I wanted to encourage you all to spend some time meditating on the attributes of God this week. Nothing is more comforting to the soul than to spend time dwelling on the sheer awesomeness of our God! One thing that always amazes me about God’s attributes is how dwelling on them shapes our thoughts and actions. For example, the more time you spend meditating on the Love of God the easier you will find it to love others etc.. God is eternal, immutable, omnipresent, holy, love, omnipotent, omniscient, sovereign, wise, just, etc.. There are attributes of God that we are not even capable of understanding. As finite creatures we cannot fully understand the infinite. However, God has revealed himself in his Word—all that he desires us to know of himself can be found in the Bible.
When thinking about the attributes of God in scripture, I always go back to Exodus 34 when the Lord revealed himself to Moses. Notice how the Lord chose to describe himself in that passage: "The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.’” This is precisely the way God revealed himself to us over 2,000 years ago on the cross. God is so infinitely complex and yet he has revealed himself with such simplicity. The famous theologian Karl Barth was once asked by a student, “what is the most profound thing you have ever learned about God?” The long-tenured theological scholar responded, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” The students began to laugh only to quickly realize that Barth wasn’t joking.
Nothing transforms us like meditating on the mercy, graciousness, long-suffering, love, and faithfulness of God revealed to us on the cross. In the words of R.C. Sproul, “in this simplest Christian truth there is enough profundity to occupy the most brilliant human minds for a lifetime.” If we are to grow in our love and devotion to Jesus Christ, it begins with meditating deeply on who God is. If you want to grow in your knowledge of God, spend some time dwelling upon the gospel of Christ as it is presented in the Word. Nowhere do we get a clearer picture of who God is than Jesus suffering on the cross for the sake of sinners.