Week 1 Day 2

Welcome to a new adventure in discovering God. No matter what we think we know about God, there is some area of our life that fails to embrace the truth. How do I know that? Because everything we do, think and feel stems, ultimately, from our belief about God. If you struggle with anger, you probably struggle with seeing God as merciful. If you struggle with shame, most likely you struggle with the possibility that God values you enough to forgive you. We’re all human, and to wrap our minds around God is, well impossible.

Now that’s encouraging, isn’t it?! I start our study by telling you that knowing God is impossible. The truth of it is, God is too huge for any of us to know completely. But God has revealed himself to us as much as he needs us to know him. He’s shown us who he is, so we can accept his forgiveness and his love. God gives us an assurance of ability to know him in Romans 1:19. It says this, “For the truth about God is know to them [us] instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts.”

We have the capacity to know God, and are predisposed to understand Him. Another word for instinct is “impregnated.” We are filled and infused with an understanding of God. How amazing is that, we know just because we know.

So in answering the question Who is God? We come with an open mind and heart accepting that He IS. We just want to know him more intimately, we want to embrace Him and the truth of who He is in our life. We want to explore him, challenge what we think and move into a relationship with Him that we’ve never imagined experiencing.

As we enter into this study, there are a few things we must accept before we can move forward. First of all, the Bible is the authoritative word of God. It is inerrant and infallible. We accept the Bible as complete truth and do not dispute it. We may question and compare, but the Bible is truth. Secondly, we proceed with faith. Where we can’t make sense of things in our finite minds, we will trust God to illuminate our hearts. Through these two commitments, we will be able to accept that there is one true God who has revealed Himself.

A.W. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

God is constant, but his characteristics are endless. He reveals who he is, often, by his role in our life at any particular moment. He may be Teacher, Listener, Faithful when we are in an area of our life when we are really seeking Him. He may be distant or judgmental when we are in the valley of our life, waiting for God to answer, or feeling like we’ve been “punished” for something we’ve done.

There may be particular truths about God that we embrace, but we embrace them at the wrong time, without God’s true motivation. For example, when we are dealing with consequences of our actions, we may think- God is a punishing God…We see that as a negative thing…when in fact God IS a disciplinarian, but you are merely dealing with the ramifications of your own choices…choices that God did not force you to make. God is not a punisher—but he is a disciplinarian. So your thinking about God is based on your emotion. It could even be somewhat true, but not applicable or appropriate.

The names of God reveal who God is. In the old testament, names weren't picked out of a baby name book, they were chosen because they had meaning. When a particular name of God is used, it was purposeful. The names of God show us the very person of God. There are three Primary Names of God and all other names of Him stem from these three.

Here are the three PRIMARY NAMES OF GOD used in the Word.

Elohim meaning God used when talking of God’s strength, faithfulness and omnipotence. This form is most often used in connection with the unsaved.

Jehovah or Yahweh meaning LORD used when talking of God’s relationship to man. Jewish leaders gave great reverence for this particular name of God, so much so that this name wasn’t spoken when reading the Scriptures. When scribes would come to this word they would stop, bathe and put on clean clothes before continuing. LORD literally means self-existent one, “I am which I am.” “the covenant name of God” [ My personal Favorite name of god is I Am]

Adonai meaning Lord used when talking of God’s authority, sovereignty, giving God a human characteristic as Master. If we can recognize God as Lord, then obeying him would not be such an issue for us.

STUDY BUDDY AND RESPONSE
Here are some questions to challenge your thinking…talk about them with your Buddy this week… Write your responses, ask your questions.

How do each of these reveal God’s Character? Take those characters that God is to you and Identify which Primary Name of God it would fall under. Do you see God as One more than another on a regular basis… I find it’s hard for us to accept him as Lord—or master. We live in a society that struggles with anyone having dominion over us. We fail to understand submission, so we do not understand God as Adonai.

Anyone have any thoughts about that? Or anything else?

I also challenge you to make a chart…. On the left, Title it: Who my parent(s) was to me, and on the Right: How I see God.

An example:

My Parent God

Angry Difficult to Please
Controlling
Judgmental


Think of the people who God allowed to be a part of your life that DID show you the characters of God. For me, it was my grandmother. She was forever patient and forgiving. Never judging me, but did correct me when I was wrong. I knew that no matter what I did, or how I felt, I could crawl up to her rocking chair, and put my head in her lap and she would comfort me. How about you?


TUESDAY:: Bible Study, including more names of God
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY:: Meet with your STUDY BUDDY and post ideas, thoughts and questions.