A look at 4 Characteristics of God
If I asked you to tell me about your spouse, or best friend, you would easily be able to list some character traits. You may list things like funny, caring, honest and trusting. There would be no hesitation for you to start telling me all about the individual. When you love and care about someone, you spend time with them, you know their qualities.
Could you say the same things about God? If I asked you to tell me about God, would you be able to give me a list of his character traits? Many of us would say, well God is love, he loves us. Yes, that is true, but it is one part of who He is. I hope by the end of today that you will learn more about who God is and be able to easily list some of God's character traits.
Character Trait #1: All Powerful
The first character trait of God is All-Powerful. We are first told about God being all-powerful in Genesis during creation. God created this world out of nothing. We are shown his power throughout the Old Testament. In Genesis we have creation and the flood, in Exodus, we see the pillar of fire, the cloud, the parting of the red sea, and plagues on the Egyptians. Continuing in the Old Testament, we read the stories of God's power in the lives of Daniel, Samson, David, Joshua, and Elijah.
"By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.Psalm 33:6
God is Good
When we think of all powerful, we typically think of someone who can do anything and everything they want. Yes, God is All Powerful but there is one thing that God can not do, and that is anything evil. Evil is only rightly understood as it is known as that which is in opposition to God. God is good. He is the perfect truth (hence deceit and lying are contrary to his Character). God being all powerful can be summed up with saying that he has control over everything. God is sovereign. Just as a nation has boarders which mark where their jurisdiction, sovereignty, and control extends, God is sovereign over the universe. All that is comes underneath the province and power of God.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
James 4:13-27
Character Trait #2: All Knowing
Many of our human concerns, anxiety and fears have to do with the unknown. We do not know what the future holds, and therefore tend to live in fear of what could happen in our future. We spend time planning for our future job, house, retirement and more. As humans, we tend to make treasures for ourselves here on earth mistakenly thinking we've secured a future that we are not guaranteed. The future is not uncertain for God. God already knows the future, the past and the present. He is All Knowing. Before the beginning of time, God knew Adam and Eve would sin and knew of the savior he would send to this world.
23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
Acts 2:23 and Acts 4:27-28
God's All Knowing and All Powerfulness Work Together
God's All knowing and all powerfulness work together for His good. His knowledge is not just in Himself and creation, but he knows us personally. God knows how many hairs are on our heads, he knows our heart, he knows our struggles and our fears. As his creation, we need not worry about what tomorrow holds, or how we will feed ourselves when we are old. We are called to trust in our God. Trust in his all knowing, all powerful being. How awesome is our God in all his knowledge and power that he would take the time to know his creation.
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
Psalm 139:1-5
Character Trait #3 All Present
God is all Powerful, All Knowledgeable and All Present. This means that God is with us all the time. No, it does not mean that his presence is in the table, trees or animals. As we have learned God is all powerful and all knowledgeable which means his hand is in everything. He is always with us. God is not absent in your daily life, but is with you through the mundane tasks. When we believe God is far from us, it is because we have walked away from nearness to him, not because he is no longer present or active in our lives. There is nowhere which is beyond God's knowing. There is no true hiding place where God cannot be found.
Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.
Genesis 26:3
Character Trait #4 Unchanging
As humans, we are constantly in a state of change. We do not end our life in the same physical or mental condition as when we were born. We physically change on a daily basis. Throughout our life, we endure many other changes such as deaths, births, moving, new friends, different weather, sickness, our favorite show going off air and more. In our lives of continual change, God reveals that he is the one thing that is constant.
For many, the constant thing in their life is a family member or close friend. But even that individual changes. The only true constant unchangeable in our life is God. God never changes. He is the same now as he was in the beginning. This is a tremendously delightful reality. God's love for his people was before all time, God's plan for his people was before all time, God's sovereignty over his people was before all time. What a weight removed from our minds and hearts as we come to know that God is not fickle, or deceitful. What a great and everlasting God this is!
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8
God is All Powerful, All Knowing, All Present and Unchanging. Each of these topics in themselves have many books written on them. The above is just a short explanation of some of the character traits of God. If you would like to know more, check out this seminar by Steve Lawson or for a more extended series of discussions check out this playlist of sermons on God's attributes by Paul Washer.