Day 13: In All We Are and Are Not

Have you heard the song Way Maker that Leeland and a dozen other Christian artists have been doing lately? It is such a powerful song and I cannot get tired of it no matter how much it plays. It talks about Who God is and is just super chill-bump worthy. But as I was listening to it tonight God reminded me of how this powerful song, just like so many others, barely scratches the surfaces of Who He is. Our human attempts to convey the character of Creator, our struggle to continually try to wrap our heads around His glory... well, that’s just what they are, attempts. Crazy, right? The Word, the Bible, tells us Who He is, His character but only to the extent that we can comprehend, only in our mother tongue we strive to describe Him. Even when we translate His many names in Hebrew, it doesn't compare, it doesn't give anywhere near the extent of the goodness and greatness that He truly is.

Sometimes my head hurts trying to understand. Trying to understand how He was here before time began, how He chose to forgive us, how He created EVERYTHING yet chose humanity as His Beloved... knowing full and well that we wouldn't always choose Him.

Often we don't like to think about all God is aside from us. What I mean by this is that we love to think of God as forgiving, as a Miracle Worker, as the Healer... as all the things we need, yet we often forget how we need all the other things He is... He is just, Almighty, All-powerful, All-sufficient, worthy of ALL our praise. Yet even when we don't recognize these traits, these characteristics of God... He still acts in Who He is... in kindness and mercy.

In all we are... in all we have been and are becoming, in the ways we have acted outside of our normal character, and in ways we have been true to the core of our being... in all our roaming and running, our searching and idol-making of the people and things around us, in every season and stage of life... despite it all-- He remains the same. In all we are and all we are not the Creator, King, God of all stays God, in every sense of the word God that we understand and do not understand.

People will come and go. We will change and even disappoint ourselves in the ways we live out different circumstances and situations in our lives. Relationships will change with seasons and time... but there is One that will stay consistent. He was God before He created us and He will remain God long after we have left this earth and every knee will bow and mouth confesses Him as Who He has always been-- Lord. In all we are and all we are not-- He is still God.

In an ever-changing world with unknowns beyond what we can see, rest in the consistency of this Father Who is forever greater than we could ever muster up in our imaginations. And know you are so loved by Him, friend.

"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." Ephesians 3:20-21

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom." Isaiah 40:28

"He created the horizon when he separated the waters; He set the boundary between day and night.The foundations of heaven tremble; they shudder at His rebuke. By his power the sea grew calm. By His skill He crushed the great sea monster. His Spirit made the heavens beautiful, and His power pierced the gliding serpent. These are just the beginning of all that He does, merely a whisper of His power. Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of His power?” Job 26:10-14

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?" Psalm 8:3-4

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CG