MY GOD, HOW WONDERFUL THOU ART!

Stuart Olyott

This book must begin by declaring that God is. This is not something that can be proved, nor does it need to be. Every man and woman knows it to be true. Man has a sense of God built into him. It is something that he knows in his heart–something left over from the time when mankind was in touch with God, and obeyed His law. Man still has a sense of this law, which is seen in his sense of right and wrong. There cannot be a sense of law unless there is a Lawgiver. Added to this, there is the sky above, and the creation around, both of which speak of God's everlasting power and deity. When a person says, 'There is no God,' he is being deliberately ignorant of a fact which he knows to be true.

But we can know much more about God than this, if we turn to the Bible. Here God has revealed to the human race all that we need to know about Him, and all that He requires of us. All the books of the Bible owe their origin to Him. The human writers were 'borne along' by the Holy Spirit in such a way that they produced exactly what God planned. The words they wrote are the words He intended. And yet this happened without any interference with their natural talents, and without any stereotyping of their personalities. The Bible is not the word of men, but the Word of God. This means that we do not have to sit and wonder what God is like. We do not have to guess. He has told us Himself.

He tells us that He is a Spirit (John 4:24). He does not have a body, as we do. He is invisible –no one has ever seen Him, or can see Him (1 Timothy 6:15,16). He cannot be felt with the senses, or weighed, or measured. It is true that we sometimes read of His eyes, His ears, His mouth, and so on. But this is just a way of making clear to our poor minds that God sees all things, hears His people's prayers and makes Himself known. God cannot be pictured or represented in any way, and He forbids us to try to depict Him (Exodus 20:4).

However, we must be careful to remember that God is a personal Spirit. In other words, we must not think of Him as a Something which we cannot describe, but as a Someone. He has names, the best known of which is 'Jehovah'. This is simply an English version of the Hebrew name 'Yahweh', and in our Bibles this is usually translated 'the LORD'. He has communication with men and women, and more than one has become known as His 'friend' (Exodus 33:11; James 2:23). On the very first page of our Bible we read of Him speaking, and this continues all the way to the last page. We learn again and again that it is possible to know God. This would not be possible if He were just a force or an influence which we could never describe.

Because God is a Spirit, He is not limited in any way, and there is no person or thing which may be likened or compared to Him (Isaiah 40:18).

So far as space is concerned, He is everywhere (1 Kings 8:27; Psalm 139:7-10). ' "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" saith the Lord' (Jeremiah 23:24). He is in all places at all times, and there is no place from which He is absent. We must not think that only part of God is to be found in any particular place in the universe. The whole of God is present there. He is there in all His majesty and glory and the totality of His being. And this is true of all places, all the time. How can this be? Our mortal minds cannot take it in. The finite cannot understand the infinite! All we can do is believe what God has declared concerning Himself, and bow in adoring wonder.

So far as time is concerned, He is eternal (Isaiah 40:28; Habakkuk 1:12). 'From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God' (Psalm 90:2). He alone has immortality in and of Himself ( 1 Timothy 6:16). He inhabits eternity, and His years have no end (Isaiah 57:15; Hebrews 1:11-12). This, too, is beyond our comprehension. Everything owes its beginning to Him, but He Himself had no beginning. He is; He always has been; He always will be. This is what is meant by the quaint expression 'world without end', which is often used in some church services. There is no change in Him: there never has been, and there never will be, for He is always the same (Malachi 3:6; James h l 7). All things depend on Him, but His own existence does not depend on anything or anyone other than Himself. He is the Fountain of His own being. This is why one of His names is 'the living God' (Revelation 7:2). This is also why He announced His name to Moses as 'I AM THAT I AM' (Exodus 3:14).

So far as knowledge is concerned, He knows everything (Psalm 139:2-5; 1 John 3:20). 'His understanding is infinite' (Psalm 147:5). For ourselves, we have to learn one thing at a time, and our knowledge is always small. There is no such thing as learning so far as God is concerned. He knows all things as they really are, all at once. There is no limit to His understanding. It is a mystery to us how this can be so. But nothing is a mystery to God. There is nothing which He does not fully understand. There is nothing of which He is ignorant or uncertain and, of course, this means that He cannot be deceived.

So far as power is concerned, He does whatever He chooses (Psalm 135:6; Daniel 4:35). 'He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased' (Psalm 115:3). What He pleases to do is decided by His own nature. Because He is holy, He cannot ever choose to depart from what is pure and right. Because He is perfect in every way, He cannot ever choose to change. A change would be either for better or for worse. If for better, it would show that He was not already perfect; if for worse, He would become less than perfect. It is true that He sometimes chooses to change the way in which He deals with a man or a woman, but this is because there has been a change in the person concerned, and not because there is ever any change in Him. Nothing that He chooses to do ever fails to happen (Isaiah 46:10). Because He is God alone, and all other beings are His creatures, His will can never be resisted (Romans 9:19; Daniel 4:35). Everything in the universe, however small, serves His purposes. It brings to pass what He has planned and decided (Ephesians 1:11).

What we have read so far tells us what God is in Himself. But it is not enough to say that He is a personal Spirit, who is everywhere, eternal, all-knowing and all-powerful. What is this God like? What sort of God is He?

He is holy. 'God is light, and in him is no darkness at all' (1 John 1:5). His character is perfect. He is pure and entirely free from wicked and dishonest motives, thoughts, words and actions. But it is hard to explain precisely what holiness is. The heavenly creatures which surround God's throne are totally free from all impurity, and yet they cannot look on the majesty of God, and call to one another in perpetual amazement, 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts...' (Isaiah 6:3). No wonder that God is described as 'glorious in holiness'! (Exodus 15:11.) It is this characteristic which cuts Him off, and marks Him out as quite different from all His creatures (Psalm 99:3; Isaiah 40:25). How can a man approach such a God? (Psalm 24:3.) He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wrong (Habakkuk 1:13).

He is righteous. 'The Lord is righteous in all his ways' (Psalm 145:17), and this never alters (Zephaniah 3:5). His rule of His creation is firmly founded on the twin pillars of righteousness and justice (Psalm 97:2). He always does what is right. Every sentence He gives is justified, and He can never be blamed for any judgement that He makes, for He is inflexibly just (Genesis 18:25; Psalm 51:4). How comforting that it is He, and He alone, who will judge the world! The last judgement will be fair. No mistakes will be made. Nobody will receive from God either more or less than he deserved (Psalm 96:13).

He is loving. 'God is love' (1 John 4:8, 16). He is 'the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth' (Exodus 34:6); a God of 'lovingkindness' and 'tender mercies' (Psalm 51:1); 'slow to anger, and of great kindness' (Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2); who 'delighteth in mercy' (Micah 7:18). How marvellous! The holy God, who is inflexibly just, is love! His justice demanded my punishment, and it was satisfied when the innocent Substitute died in my place (I Peter 3:18). His love planned my salvation, and that is why He sent the Saviour to die (1 John 4:10). Love and justice are not opposites. Both are found in God, and both are found in His action at the cross.

He is good. 'The Lord is good to all' (Psalm 145:9). 'Thou art good, and doest good' (Psalm 119:68). By nature men and women prefer not to have God in their thoughts, and choose to go their own way. They are opposed to the idea that He should rule their lives, and would rather choose their own objects of worship. Yet every day God is actively good to such people who are, in fact, His enemies. 'He left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness' (Acts 14:17). The ripening of the harvest, the sustenance of the animals, and every other good thing which this universe enjoys, come from Him (Psalm 85:12; 104:24-31; James 1:17). But the greatest evidence of His goodness is seen in His treatment of those of His enemies who forsake their hateful attitude, and turn to Him for pardon. 'For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee' (Psalm 86:5).

He is wise. 'Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his' (Daniel 2:20). When we see the beauty and harmony of His creation, and the intricacy of the design of the smallest creature, we are compelled to say, 'O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches' (Psalm 104:24). The skills which men exercise and develop, the very existence of knowledge and understanding in our race, the way that all that takes place brings God's purposes to pass--all these things are due to the wisdom of God (Isaiah 28:23-29; 31:2; Daniel 2:21). His wisdom and understanding are infinite, and totally beyond our power to investigate and understand. 'O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen' (Romans 11:33-36).

So we see that what God says about Himself is clear enough. But it is all too wonderful for the human mind to grasp. We cannot take it in, for His thoughts and ways are so much higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). We can see u/hat the truth is, but we cannot explain how it can be so. Our minds are too limited. Only God understands God. Can any man or woman explain how it is possible for God to exist as a personal Being, without a body? Can we grasp how all of God can be in all places at all times? Do we really understand the concept that He had no beginning, and is without change of any sort? Is it not true that our minds are baffled when we try to think of what it means to be all-knowing? How can He do all that He pleases without being selfish? How can He be perfectly holy, righteous, loving, good and wise, all at the same time?

No question about God which contains the word 'how' can be answered. Our mortal minds are too poor for that. But questions which contain the word 'what' can be answered plainly and clearly, because God has revealed the answers in the Scriptures. We are able to study, and we are able to state what God has said. We are able to say what the truth is. But we are not able to explain how it can be so. We are overwhelmed by what we learn. The more we consider it, the more we realize that there is no appropriate reaction to what we read, except to become a reverent worshipper.

The truth of the Trinity, which we are about to examine, is a greater mystery than anything else that can be said about God. We will never understand how God, who is one, is three. But we do not come to the subject asking, 'How can these things be?' We come as humble learners, searching the Scriptures, and asking, 'What has God said?' We rejoice that He has told us so much about Himself, and trust His perfect wisdom which has decided to reveal nothing more. We are humbled that we cannot enter anywhere, except where He has permitted. We are not as God. We are creatures. We can never discover what He has not revealed. We can never understand what He has not explained. But,

Where reason fails, with all her powers,
There faith prevails and love adores.