I’m a little giddy as I begin writing about Wisdom. In some way that seems paradoxical because I imagine wisdom as stately, grounded, serious. And, well, giddy doesn’t seem to belong in that group of images. Maybe it’s a daughter-like awe of her Father in me: knowing that in all his holiness and sovereignty, God loves to be with me. In Knowing God, J.I. Packer suggests that God’s wisdom does not abandon his first purpose…to bring us to a place where he is our all in all.
The scripture that keeps coming to mind is Psalm 35:27, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!” The Hebrew word for “welfare” in this verse is shalom. That’s right, the same shalom that means “peace.” Our welfare is connected to peace. He delights in our peace. Yes, he is sovereign over Satan, and he created the expanding universe, but he is also sovereign over the freckles on my face. Maybe freckles seem too elementary, but I believe that is exactly the point. He is Lord over the big, giganticness of life, and he is also Lord of the small, tininess of life.
For some, the sovereign nature of God is or can be the confusing and disillusioning. I don’t want to ignore my brothers and sisters in this place; and I want to keep learning more about God’s sovereignty. So, I asked a friend to help me out and they sent these four focused, important truths about God’s sovereignty*. Let’s call them the Four S’s of Sovereignty — Salvation, Sin, Satan, and Suffering.
Throughout scripture we see God’s lordship revealed through his servants. He reveals himself as God, I Am, LORD (Yahweh, Jehovah), but there is a necessary acknowledgement from us, his creation, to reveal him as our Lord (Adonai). We reveal God as master when we say, “LORD (Jehovah), you are Lord (Adonai) in my life.” That’s the beginning of the relationship.
As a disciple that daily walks and talks with God, I understand the questions that God’s lordship raises. I understand why the subject is overgrown with arguments. They are valid inquiries into his nature. If God is all-knowing, all-present, all-seeing, why doesn’t he do _____?; why did he do ______?; what’s the point in even trying? I’ve asked God all those questions—sometimes nicely and at other times quite demanding if I’m honest. But for the next few weeks will you join me in setting aside the questions, the fears, the debates, and the unknowing? I believe that as we look to him, he will not only hear us but will address our concerens.
In this devotion we are looking at different natures, qualities of God. Although we are separating these qualities to study and explore them, it is crucial to remember that God is complete and undivided. Each aspect of God is always present and always at work. They cannot be separated from each other as he breathes, moves, and speaks.
This week is purposefully set aside to let the last 12 weeks digest, while considering how these three characteristics of God—Creator, Holy, and Love—work, interlock together. To help get you started, consider these questions: How does Creator God reveal his holy and loving nature? In what ways is love the driving force in creation? Why is holiness a crucial part of our redemption and discipleship?
But he had an encounter with Love Himself, and everything changed! The new man, Paul, was a walking advertisement for just how deep and wide Love is. When Paul writes, love keeps no record of wrong (NIV), he isn’t preaching from a lofty, disconnected pulpit. It’s his testimony.
The ram God provided for Abraham to sacrifice on Mt. Moriah foretold love’s greatest moment. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Generations passed between this shadow of love to come and its fruition—Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Meanwhile, since God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), he demonstrated through the ages its—his—expansive nature.
In keeping with the premise of this study, I decided to look at how love was first revealed in scripture. I was reminded of something truly wonderful. The first mention of love in the Bible occurs between God, Abraham, and Isaac. In this terrible yet beautiful, if I may, account of worship and faith, we see a foreshadowing of love’s pinnacle moment in history.
Let’s think about holiness as if it were a treasure map. God draws a boundary line, a separation, around all his character, the depths of his riches. The line separates all of who he is from everything that he is not. The border of this land is accessible to everyone. It attracts many visitors. However, to cross over the border you must be washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Although his blood, his very life, is given to us without price, it does requires us to give up our old self and become new creations in him. There is no other way.
This week, I want to go one step further with what separation means. God is not only separate and distinct, there is nothing like him.
Our daily lives are filled with separations and distinctions. We keep apples separate from bananas, high school students separate from middle school students, and north-bound traffic separate from south-bound traffic….
The idea of holy can be a little intimidating. If we misunderstand it, we will give it a bad reputation. As I began to study how God revealed himself as holy in the Bible, I was struck at the order in which it unfolded. He displayed what holy meant long before he said, I, the Lord your God, am holy. (Leviticus 19:2)
Brave Sparrow 