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Consider This: Twenty-three Descriptions of God (Psalm 145)

 


Let’s play a quick game.  Take 10 seconds and list 5 or 6 words to describe God. 

Got your words?  Good!  

Here comes the game part.  I will list twenty-three ways that David describes God in Psalm 145, and we will see how many of his words match yours.  

David says that God is, the king, great, majestic, wonderful, powerful, awesome, abundant in goodness, righteous, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, rich in love, good to all, glorious, mighty, trustworthy, faithful, supporting, generous, providing, near, saving and watching.   

 How did you do?

This is not a useless exercise.  The words we use to describe God not only indicate something about how we see him, but they also influence how we interact with him.  For example, if I know that God is “Gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love” (verse 8), I will not fear him, and I will not assume that he is against me.  When I remember that God is for me and not against me, I see all my circumstances, even trouble, differently.  Hope is never far away if I understand that God is near, knows what I am going through and loves me.

The best part about the list from Psalm 145 is that these are not just David’s words about God.  They are God’s words about himself.  He inspired David to choose those words so that we would have an accurate picture of him.

Therefore, if the words you chose do not match the ones God chose, you need to look again and see God properly.

The only thing holding us back from God’s love, forgiveness, guidance, and help is ourselves!

“Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8).

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