The cold in my stomach is how I can describe the fear I felt when I thought about writing about God’s attributes.
I remember clearly the first time I read, in the book of Exodus, that God would keep Moses out of his hand:
- And the Lord said.
- Here is a place with me; And you will be on the rock; When my glory passes.
- I will put you in a crevice of the rock and with my hand I will cover you until I have passed.
- ‘Exodus 33: 21-22.
This text made me tremble at God’s greatness, I thought, God is so great that he can cover Moses whole with only his hand!Now I realize it was a simple vision of God’s greatness, but that day the cold in the womb has already manifested itself.
I tried to know God with all my might, after all, I had been deceived by a false doctrine, I could not admit that I would lose more of my life by believing the lie.
Then I started the journey to find out who my life should dedicate my life to.
I must say that I am grateful to God for putting in my heart a burning desire to seek Him [i] and also to be available to me in His Word. Blessed grace!
Where to find God was one of the first questions I asked myself when I wanted to meet Him and, without much thought, I went to find an answer to this question in the Word of God.
As I read the scriptures, I learned that God lives in heaven, but surprisingly, He also lives in the contrite and afflicted spirit [ii]. Scandal! God is with the wretched. God also lives with His people, he is an accessible God [iii]. Are we going to give one? O / O /
In a dreadful way, I became small, very small as God gradually revealed himself to me through the scriptures, in the proclaimed and mocked Word, in the display of each service. God has become a great lord, He has ceased. be my private butler, to whom I have courageously given orders, and has become wonderful, friend, older brother (if you have an older brother, you know I speak of someone who opens his way, who protects and teaches him, an example you admire and want to follow).
God, God, only God, could be so kind in showing me who he is. Blessed Lord!
Between Sundays and Sundays, I delve into the sacred texts, looking for small details of God’s character that escape our attention. Second, seeking, knowing, and experiencing the communion of the Almighty Lord becomes a captivating, indispensable, and familiar routine.
My intention is to motivate them to move forward further in the search for God’s knowledge. Professor John MacArthur said that knowledge of God is the very essence of what it means to be Christian [iv].
In the next few texts, we will talk a little bit about who he is and I hope that this knowledge will make you prosper as we move forward, dig, seek, and know our Lord personally.
You can look at God’s spectacular creation and imagine that there must be a great and powerful being, with supernatural intelligence, who has achieved all the wonders of the earth, even if you do not believe, if you have no faith in God, even if your mind is obscured, you can have the intuition that there is a greater being who has made all creation [vi].
Perhaps you can know God just by listening to Him, it is a knowledge that requires no effort on your part, it is information that you receive randomly in the places you usually go, places where God can be, but not exactly where he lives, because after all, God is also omnipresent, attribute that we will see in another text.
However, you may know God because you hear a lot about him in the places where he lives, for example, among his chosen people, with the Saints who gather in the temple, and for this kind of knowledge of God, it was necessary to have a prior disposition in order to approach the place of worship and stay there with his attention focused on listening to him.
In all this God was revealed to us in a common way; However, we can make a more intentional movement to seek the knowledge of God, then we can deepen the scriptures and initiate a knowledge that will surprisingly develop in our minds and This experience is God’s personal knowledge, when we relate to God ordinarily, as we are, with our miseries exposed and abandoned at the feet of the Almighty, without artifice. This rich experience perfects us in knowledge ceases to be merely cognitive to become an ingrained knowledge, involving all the dimensions of our being; it is there, in this place of our soul, that God reaches us and reveals himself, when we call ourselves desperately in need of the salvation he offers us for free in Christ. Without the knowledge of God, we have no standard or reference to perceive ourselves as miserable in spirit and in need of being saved.
When I AM revealed to us, light bathes our understanding; our little spirit is renewed [vii], it enlarges; the renewed spirit flourishes, opens wide passages in the dryness of our sinful hearts and transforms it into a grateful heart, which loves, worships and praises the Creator for all eternity.
On the day Christ is revealed in glory, the whole earth will know God [viii]. On this day, sheep, our knees will bend before the throne in worship so we will know of it perpetually [ix].
So, face to face, we’ll see how perfect [x] is
Be prepared, this day will not be long [xi], but until the day comes, continue to know the Lord [xii].
Go ahead, sheep!
Therefore, we too, from the day we listen to you, have not stopped praying for you and asking you to overflow with full knowledge of your will, with all wisdom and spiritual understanding; to live in a way worthy of the Lord, for his full pleasure, bearing fruit in all good deeds and growing in the full knowledge of God. Colosssenses 1. 9-10
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[i] Philippians 2. 3 because it is God who works in you to will and do according to his good will. [ii] Isaiah 57. 15 For thus says the High One, the Sublime, who dwells in eternity, who bears the name of the Holy One: I live in the high and holy place, but I also live with a contrite and fallen spirit, to animate the spirit the slaughtered and vivify the hearts of the contrite. [iii] Jeremiah 29. 13 You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. [iv] John MacArthur, God: face to face with His Majesty. Editora Fiel, 2013, p. 10 [v] Knowable: This one learns to know; who can be recognized; knowable. [vi] Romans 1. 20 Because the invisible attributes of God, as well as his eternal power, as well as his own divinity, are clearly recognized, from the beginning of the world, being seen through the things that have been created. Therefore such men are unforgivable; [vii] Romans 12. 2 And do not conform to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you can experience what is the good, pleasant and perfect will of God. [viii] Habakkuk 2. 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. [ix] John 17. 3 And this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. [x] 1 Corinthians 13. 12 For now we see as in a mirror, darkly; then we’ll see him face to face. Now I know in part; then I will know how well known I am. [xi] Hebrews 10. 37 For even in a little while he that is coming will come and will not tarry; [xii] Hosea 6. 3 Make us known and continue to know the Lord; as in the morning, his coming is certain; and it will fall on us like the rain, like the latter rain that waters the earth.