God is Indescribable - Master of All

 

[The Lord said to Job] “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth? Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass? Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven? The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.” (Job 38:22–30 ESV).

 

The picture I have included in today’s devotional is one of the first homes I grew up living in. The picture was taken over fifty years later than those childhood days, and a lot of remodeling has taken place. It is in Galveston, Texas. The first floor was entirely occupied by our family-owned grocery store. In those days the big supermarkets had not made their way into our culture and the corner grocery/meat market was an integral part of the community. We lived on the second floor of the structure. It was a two-bedroom, one bath home. I remember well the three twin beds where my brothers and I slept in one of those bedrooms. It seemed plenty big to me as I was growing up. Now, I wonder how we managed!

 

That seems to be a common theme as we get older and look back. The things that looked really big when we were a child don’t seem so big when you are older. But it’s not just the size of things that seems different; our perception of time changes too. When I was a boy, a summer night seemed to last and last, and a school year seemed to go on forever. Life changes as we age. Congested calendars and stacked schedules abbreviate our lives. Deadlines, commitments, and requests beg, steal, and borrow our attention from the beauty of life and the creation God has given us to care for and enjoy.

 

Maybe even more tragic is that we can lose our sense of God’s grandeur as we grow older. As children, we tend to view God as huge and magnificent, someone with incredible power and ability, able to do even more than any superhero! As we age and live longer, though, we can tend to question God’s actions, critique his plans, and challenge his authority. We might even believe we know what’s best for us, thinking we know our situation better than God does.

 

This is something of the context of our reading today. Job has come to question God in his pain and suffering. God’s answer is very clear: “Where were you when I created and ruled over all that is?” God is not being condescending or cruel. Job’s suffering was enormous; however, God’s power and promise was much greater. Job comes to understand that after this revelation. He turns to God in submission and recognizes God’s greatness.

 

There’s the message for us today. We need to turn to our Creator and ask for his mercy, for he holds us in his hands and truly loves and cares for us always. Trust Him. He alone is the Master of All!

 

God is Indescribable - Trusted Friend

 

[Jesus said] “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” (John 15:11-17 ESV).

 

Our reading today may be familiar to you. We have been in this passage recently. As I was read from Proverbs recently, I came to a verse declaring the importance of a “friend.” Solomon writes: A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. (Proverbs 17:17 ESV). One of God’s greatest gifts to humanity is relationships. We are created for relationships; we are designed by God to be in community with others.

 

We will meet many people over our lifetime. With some, we will have no more than brief interactions in passing by, and with others we will have friendly acquaintances. Still others will become friends, even close friends, and others will become companions for life. With some friends our relationships can feel as close as family, like a brother or sister, and we may love them just like family members. These are friends who will be there in both good times and bad, triumphs and tragedies, times of joy and times of sorrow.

 

Did you know that, in Jesus, God is actually our closest friend? He isn’t a passerby who merely sizes us up, or an acquaintance who enters our life from time to time. Jesus is our brother, our closest friend, who gave up his own life so that we can become the adopted children of God, members of God’s everlasting family, and coheirs in his eternal inheritance (cf. Romans 8:14-17).

 

What an incredible truth to ponder today! He is our trusted friend! This is the nature of our God!

 

God is Indescribable - Healer of Broken Hearts

 

The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:15-18 ESV).

 

Today we come to one of the most common needs of humanity. If you’ve lived any time at all you have experienced the feelings of a “broken heart.” It may have been the emptiness after the breakup of a significant relationship or your marriage; it could have been a betrayal by a trusted friend; or, the sudden loss of someone that you have deeply loved. Often people come to me when they have experienced such deep and troubling experiences. In almost every circumstance they have asked themselves “What went wrong?”

 

Thankfully God’s Word provides some guidelines to help us answer our questions and give us peace of mind when heartache and heartbreak happen. When we hurt, Scripture can provide comfort. It also gives us a way to express how we feel, especially when we don’t know what to say or how to say it. Much of that language can be found in the Psalms, and many psalms were written by people who shared their feelings candidly and honestly.

 

David, the writer of Psalm 34, didn’t have to search long for peace, and neither do we. God is near to those who hurt, and we can trust today that the One who gave the sun its ability to shine, who told the waters how far they could go, and who constantly watches over the universe is also near to us—and he’s saying, “I’ve got this, and I’ve got you.” This is the nature of our Heavenly Father. He is always near us, even when we may feel like our world is broken beyond any redemption. His grace and power mends our hearts and restores our wholeness. Trust in His good will to bring every circumstance to a victory for our good!

 

God is Indescribable - Friend

 

[Jesus said] “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” (John 15:12–17 ESV).

 

One of the most beloved of hymns is "What a Friend We Have in Jesus". It was originally written as a poem in 1855 by the Irish-born Canadian Joseph M. Scriven to comfort his mother during an illness. The words were later set to music in 1868 by the American composer Charles Crozat Converse, at which point it became the beloved hymn known today. Joseph Scriven's life was marked by significant personal tragedies, which imbued the words of his poem with a deep, personal resonance. On the eve of his first wedding in Ireland, his fiancée accidentally drowned in the River Bann. He moved to Canada in his mid-20s, seeking a new start. He fell in love again and planned to marry a woman named Eliza Catherine Roche, but she died of pneumonia shortly before their wedding in 1860. Around 1855, after receiving news that his mother was seriously ill in Ireland and unable to travel to her, Scriven wrote the poem to send to her as a source of private solace. The original title of the poem was "Pray Without Ceasing".

 

So many people have such an incomplete understanding of this part of the indescribable nature of God. They often picture God sitting on an ornate throne made of rare metals, adorned with priceless jewels, and upholstered in the finest fabric. From this lofty perch they imagine God as an uninvolved spectator to our loves. That’s simply not the picture of our God in the Scripture. Imagine for a moment that He isn’t sitting in lavishness associated with royalty but instead is sitting at the corner booth in a local coffee shop, or on the couch in your family room, eagerly waiting for you. Then as you enter, God, who is so excited to see you, leaps from his seated position and embraces you like a friend who longs to hear how you are doing and what you have been up to. The beauty of God is that he is not only the King of all creation but also the attentive friend who is always near.

 

God is Indescribable - Father

 

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:12–17 ESV).

 

Belonging to something bigger or greater than ourselves is something that nearly everyone wants. We experience moments of belonging at concerts, or sporting events, or community gatherings. In those moments we can feel like a member of our favorite musical group or like a player for our favorite sports team. We feel connected as we share stories with our neighbors and friends. We feel seen. We feel heard. We feel accepted. We may even feel loved.

 

God has a similar desire for us—he wants us to feel that we belong to him. God longs for us to feel connected to him, to be satisfied in knowing that he sees, hears, and accepts us. The difference, though, in belonging to God begins with his unconditional love and care for us. That kind of love happens when we accept and embrace that God’s love for us is so great and grand that he wants to satisfy our greatest desire of belonging by adopting us into his family and calling us his own. As a part of God’s eternal family, we are seen, we are heard, we are accepted, and we are loved by the unconditional love of our heavenly Father.

 

The title "Father" emphasizes a close, personal relationship rather than a distant or tyrannical one. It's a privilege earned through adoption into God's family via Jesus Christ. This role also includes providing for needs, guiding followers to do right, and correcting them through discipline for their good. A fatherly God is portrayed as loving, compassionate, and deeply invested in the well-being of his children. This love is often described as unconditional and provides a sense of safety.

 

 

Describing the Indescribable

 

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. O God, insolent men have risen up against me; a band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them. But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. (Psalm 86:8–15 ESV).

 

Somehow November has snuck up on me this year more than most. Perhaps it is the level of activity that makes the days seem to have passed so much more quickly than usual; or it could just be a reflection of my aging memory. However, here we are with the first week of November already relegated to the past. Before I know it, it will be time to get the Christmas decorations down from the attic and begin putting them in all the “just right spots” as we prepare for Christmas celebrations.

 

One of the other tasks is deciding where to go with Morning Devotionals. Often it is an easy decision. This was one of those times. I was privileged to accompany my son, Kyle, and a wonderful friend, Mark Turner, on a wild hog hunt recently. It is a rather interesting story, though I won’t detail that today. What struck me was the sunset as the end of the hunt drew near. Sitting in the quiet of the pasture I was struck with the indescribable beauty of God’s creation. That made it possible to follow a trail in my mind that details all the other times God simply shows up with something that can only be described as indescribable. That’s because He is just that… indescribable.

 

So, for the next few days, maybe weeks, I’m going to ramble a bit about the indescribable nature of God. It may sound a bit strange at first since we are finite and God is infinite; it may even stretch us a bit in a very positive way before we get to Christmas. After all, that was the most indescribable of all things in history. God becoming man to redeem us cannot be adequately described. It is simply too grand for us to fully take in.

 

Let me encourage you to take a trip through your memories and make some notes of your own about the indescribable nature of God and how He has shown Himself to you. As you do that, perhaps we will have some overlap that will encourage you with the hope His nature reveals to us. After all… “there is none like Him among all the gods” (v. 1).

 

Virtues over Vices - Goodness

 

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. (2 Peter 1:1–10 ESV).

 

Today the virtue I want us to explore is that of “goodness.” Have you ever stopped to think about what “goodness” actually is? It was probably one of the earliest concepts we learned. Something was good if we felt positively about it. And later, as we grew, we learned to add descriptions such as beautiful, healthy, pleasant, and more. The kind of goodness that Peter describes in our reading today was prized in the Greek culture. It pointed to a kind of excellence that could overcome a great difficulty. For example, this would describe a Greek athlete who gained a victory despite an injury that would have kept most others from competing.

 

Christ challenges us to make our best efforts in striving with excellence to live like him. By his Spirit, he has given us the power—and even the victory. And in line with our being made in God’s image, I believe, we can find great satisfaction in our productive efforts to live as we are called. The level of goodness described in this passage is about doing our very best to live for Christ, and at the end of the day we can look back with satisfaction on the spiritual challenges we have faced and thank God for helping us.