Who Is God?

“Many people have a watered-down version of who God is, shaped by their own desires, molding Him into who they would like Him to be.”

It seems like just yesterday that our three children were toddlers. Even at a young age, I remember them asking Dee and me some deep theological questions: How big is God? What does He look like? Because we wanted to raise them in the knowledge of the Lord, we did our best to explain who God is. We would read from the Bible where Isaiah says God is so big, He holds the oceans in the palm of His hand (Isa. 40:12). I would tell them that God is bigger and more powerful than anything they could imagine. I wanted them to know God so they would grow to love Him, respect Him, and worship Him.

At the start of his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul says that God has clearly revealed Himself to us through Creation and His Word. Paul writes, “What may be known about God is plain to [us], because God has made it plain to [us]” (Rom. 1:19). That’s why, Paul says, we are all “without excuse” (v. 20).

But according to Pew Research Center studies, many people are not clear on the subject. Nine out of ten Americans believe in a “higher power,” but only 56 percent in the God of the Bible. Many people have a watered-down version of who God is, shaped by their own desires, molding Him into who they would like Him to be. “They exchanged the glory of an immortal God for a lie” (Rom. 1:21).

Scripture stretches our limited understanding. We learn that God is eternal. “‘I am the Alpha and Omega,’ says the Lord God” (Rev. 1:8). There was never a time when God did not exist. God is immutable, He can never change. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). God is omniscient. He knows the past, present, and future. Nothing is beyond His understanding (Isa. 40:28). God is sovereign. God controls the entire universe (Col. 1:17). He is the storyteller of the past, the engineer of the present, and the architect of the future.

In his classic book, Knowing God, J. I. Packer says: “Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life’s problems fall into place of their own accord.” Knowing God will challenge, comfort, correct, and change us. It is not a once-and-done task, but a lifelong pursuit.