The God Who Is

God, by definition, is “Almighty.” In our desire to “humanize” God and relate to the softer and gentler side of Deity we often lose sight of the fact that the God who actually exists is a God who possesses all authority, all power, and all dominion. He is a Being who is unchallenged in his rank, sovereignty, and supremacy. He speaks things into existence, and at will chooses things to come to an end.

There are times in life when we sense the profundity of this core truth with fresh insight—usually in some circumstance when we’ve reached the end of our own strength. Hannah, for instance, facing her own inability and experiencing God’s sovereign power over her reproductive life exhorts her generation: “Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth… The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts” (1 Samuel 2:3, 6-7).

Don’t wait for some crisis or trial to sharpen your focus on the God who is. As the psalmist wrote, “Let the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm… Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you” (Psalm 33:8-9, Psalm 20-22).