You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you"

- Saint Augustine, Confessions

Augustine had tried everything under the sun to satisfy his longings for something more:

The Romantic solution

The Creative solution

The Religious solution

How do you view God?

The “artist” has painted a picture of God that may actually reflect the artist’s own wounds and prejudices rather than who God truly is.

The picture of God we have in our minds is not one we particularly want to get close to.

Unless God chooses to reveal Himself to us, we cannot know what He is truly like!

"As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”"

- Romans 10:15b (NIV)

The unique doctrine of the Trinity tells us that God is first and foremost relational.

God already possessed perfect love and communion within the Trinity. Creation was therefore an overflow of God’s fullness, not an attempt to fill a void.

The gospel reveals that God is personal and relational and is meant to be experienced.

Four words that are used to describe God:

I. Sovereignty: He is over all!

"He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like the ox; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes."

- Daniel 5:21 (NIV)

Sovereignty can seem tyrannical when life takes a tragic turn.

II. Holiness

“God’s Holiness goes way beyond goodness into a tremendous Mystery.”

- Rudolf Otto, paraphrased

Neither the writer nor the reader of these words is qualified to appreciate the holiness of God. Quite literally a new channel must be cut through the desert of our minds to allow the sweet waters of truth that will heal our great sickness to flow in. We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking someone or something very pure and then raising the concept to the highest degree we are capable of. God’s holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He may fear God’s power and admire His wisdom, but His holiness he cannot even imagine.

A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy

If Sovereignty seems tyrannical,

Holiness seems terrifying.

"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

Hebrews 10:31 (ESV)

III. Omniscience

He has perfect knowledge and has no need to learn.

"Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor?"

Isaiah 40:13 (NIV)

"Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you."

- Psalm 139:7-12 (NIV)

If Sovereignty seems tyrannical,

Holiness seems terrifying,

Omniscience is taunting!

IV. Immutability

He is not going to change!

"For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our heart, to give to us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus our Lord."

- 2 Corinthians 4:6 (NKJV)

Every understanding you think you have about God, the nature of God, the way God relates to you, has to come under the objective truth of Jesus.

His purpose was twofold: Redemption and Revelation

"Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”"

- Matthew 26:36-42 (NIV)

No other religious faith calls God, “Father.”

The Father’s love is the only place where the fire never goes out in the fireplace.

The Father’s goodness means I can trust His heart even when I don’t understand His hand.

1. Sovereignty is only tyrannical if it is unbounded by goodness.

"It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to how it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.

But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something... That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for."

- The Two Towers

2. Holiness is not terrifying if it’s tempered with grace.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand."

- Romans 5:1-2 (NIV)

3. Omniscience is not taunting when it is accompanied by mercy.

"Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

- Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV)

"Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

- Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)

God is your Father and knows what you need and wants to give all good things to you.

God hears your prayers and gives good gifts as He cares for the vulnerable, forgives, and seeks all that is lost.

God is generous and compassionate. He sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous. He feeds the birds, clothes the lilies, and knows human needs before they are voiced. He forgives, is patient, and always welcomes those who return to Him.

God is truthful, merciful, faithful, forgiving and has a special heart for the weak, poor, and abused.

God loves healing, forgiving, restoring, and setting things right. His concern for sinners, outsiders, the poor, the sick, the socially rejected and spiritually lost is beyond our human comprehension.

God is infinitely higher than humanity, yet astonishingly near; morally uncompromising, yet eager to forgive; the Judge of the world, yet the Seeker of the lost; a King whose power is expressed not only in authority, but in mercy, restoration, and concern for the least.

Proof? The Cross!

"The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children."

- Romans 8:15-16 (NIV)

"If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

- Luke 11:13 (NIV)

The ultimate home for which your heart is searching is the Fatherhood of God.

Make a Decision