Pastor Kyle Smith
Ellendale
Today, many people want to decide for themselves who God is. It is easy, and even preferable in our culture, to pick and choose what to believe about who God is or isn’t. This approach to understanding who God is ultimately doesn’t lead people to who God truly is, rather, it leads us to fashion a god or gods of our own invention and our own liking. And yet, there is no excuse for making our own god or gods, as we see in Romans 1:20, “For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” This is referred to as “natural revelation.” This leads us to ask, “How can we learn more about who God is beyond natural revelation?” What has been revealed to us by the way of natural revelation should ultimately point us to God’s special revelation, His Word.
Thankfully, God does tell us much more about who He is in His Word. In Isaiah 40:28-29 we read, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.” There’s quite a bit to unpack in these verses about who God is, but perhaps a good place to start would be the three “omni’s” of God: omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, or His being all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere-present.
Last November, my family and I went to Sea Life at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. At Sea Life, there are literally thousands of animals to see in over 1 million gallons of water! As you walk through the exhibit, you’ll be amazed not only at the number of animals but also at the variety of animals and how God has made so many animals so different from each other. As we consider sea creatures, or any of creation all around us, God’s omnipotence, His being all-powerful, is truly breathtaking.
God is also, omniscient, as in, all-knowing. Not only has God created the world and everything in it, but He also knows everything there is to know about His creation. I can’t imagine trying to know the names and facts about every sea creature I learned about at Sea Life, let alone add in all the land animals, birds, and plants. God doesn’t only know about those parts of His creation, He also knows about us. Jesus says in Matthew 10:30 that even the hairs of our heads are all numbered.
But God knows much more about us than our physical features, He truly knows us, our thoughts, our intentions, our hopes, and our dreams, even better than we know them. He knows when we’re happy, when we’re excited, when we’re frustrated, and when we’re in despair. No matter what emotion we’re feeling, nomatter what we’re going through in life, God knows. God knows and He is with us, and He will never leave us nor forsake us.
This leads us to consider God’s omnipresence, His being everywhere-present. We read in Psalm 139:7-8, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there!” As King David wrote this Psalm, there was no question in his mind that the LORD knows him and is with him. What a comfort to know that God is present everywhere we go!
Of course, God is also present with us in a special way as we gather together as the body of Christ every week. God promises to be present as we hear the pronouncement that our sins are forgiven in the absolution, as we partake in the body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins in Holy Communion, as we witness and celebrate the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism, and most of all, as God’s Word is preached, He is there and His Holy Spirit is working in us.
What a blessing it is that God has revealed who He is to us! When we want to know who God is, we look to Scripture and see His attributes, among which we see His being all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere-present. We can thank and praise God that He is the creator of all things, that He knows His creation, and that He is present with His creation and desires for His creation, namely us, to be present with Him for all of eternity.