The Faces of God

Do you my friends know that we get glimpses of God and what His being looks like? Maybe not a physical picture of His "body" but of who he is. That blows my mind. God lets us see Him. It's an honor to serve Him and He tell us so in Hebrews 9:14b saying, "so that we MAY serve the living God." So we know this, He is living, (alive and active) and we may serve Him. Something else I learned of was His great powerful righteous anger. This was an attribute or characteristic of God that I never wanted to spend much time on, mostly because in my past I knew that I was doing things that did in fact anger the Lord. But didn't care enough to change. Now, I care, and I also find myself marveling at His power. Listen to this..

"The earth trembled and quaked and the foundations of the mountains shook, they trembled because He was angry, smoke rose from His nostrils, consuming fire came from His mouth..." Psalm 18: 18:7,8

That verse there is a description of God's anger at the time of Jesus's death. I would not have wanted to be on the receiving end of such anger, but one must marvel at the power behind those words..I know I am..

You also hear in stark contrast and beautiful perfection the perfect of love God. Listen to what David says here.."I will praise you O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples, For great is your love, reaching to the heavens, your faithfulness reaches to the skies." Psalm 57:9,10

Isn't that a beautiful depiction of the love of God? Reaches to the heavens? When was the last time anything human reached to the heavens? No. never.

He is our sustainer as well...
"Cast your cares on the Lord, and He will sustain you, He will never let the righteous fall.." Psalm 56:22

And then, more on His love and that He is also our strength...(it's beginning to paint a beautiful, strong and faithful picture of the God we serve is it not?)

"I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of you love. For you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble, O my strength, I sing praise to you, you O God are my fortress, my loving God."

Psalm 59:16,17

Also, I recognize after studying Jesus in the gospels this year, I have been painted a picture of most loving God, but also of a God who is trustworthy. A God who sent us His best, for our worst. Isn't that a picture? To the point of using Jesus (through His complete obedience and yet still being completely part of the God trinity) to die for us, His love was shown on the deepest of levels, because now all He sees of those who have repented and follow Him, is blamelessness. He sees His perfect son. And to me, that equates to a just and fair God as well. Someone had to pay the price for our sins, and He of course accepted Christ as the perfect sacrifice and the rest is history, but we know we are following a just God.

We are also following a God who knows all. All of the story of the death and life of Jesus was written by the fingers of God. Right down to the way they divided up His clothes at the foot of the cross while Jesus was hanging there for us, that was a detail God wrote into the plan to fulfill prophesy...why? To show us, (not that He had to) that He was in control. So He is also in complete control.

"Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, I will help you speak and will teach you what to day." Exodus 4:11

That is what the Lord told Moses when he was so afraid to go and speak to Pharaoh. God is in control...so much so that He even is the one who gives us our words.

And I doubt Him? How is this possible my friends? But I have, and I do. Every time I fear the unknown, or tremble at my thoughts of doubt...I tell the Lord, He is not who He claims to be. God. All knowing. All powerful. Loving. Above all else. Trustworthy. Creator. King. Perfect.

Those are the things we know about God, and today, let us all ask Him to give us the faith to believe it. To really really believe it. Because what was true of God at the cross, is true of God today.

"The Lord is my strength and my song, He has become my salvation, He is my God! And I will praise Him. My Fathers God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is His name."

Exodus 15:2,3

May this knowledge of God encourage you, inspire you to trust Him more, and find more and more reason to praise Him. He is so worthy of our praise, and bring glory to God is our privilege. Lets do that today, because He has never failed me or you friend, nor will He ever.