Anselm of Canterbury gave this definition of God: “Now we believe that You [God] are something than which nothing greater can be thought.” I’ve always liked that definition. It says however grand our thoughts of God might be, He’s much more.
He is personal because a personal God is greater than an impersonal one. He is all powerful, all knowing, ever present, unchanging, all good, infinite in His nature, eternal past and present all because those attributes are greater than their alternatives.
Interesting enough, the Bible supports these ideas: He is all-knowing (1 John 3:20), He is all powerful and greater than the universe itself – infinite (Gen. 1:1), He is omnipresent (Ps. 139:7-10), He is unchanging (Jam. 1:17), He is personal (Ex. 3:14), He is all good (Luke 18:19), He is eternal past and future (Ps. 90:2).
If God is infinite in nature, then His attributes should be infinite as well. We serve a God who is more merciful than we can ever imagine, more gracious, more forgiving, more just, more loving, our God, the God of the Bible, is greater in all ways than could ever be imagined.
A few weeks ago Pastor Tim talked about Namaan the leper (2 Kings 5:1-14). Namaan came to Elisha’s home with gifts and all sorts of expectations of what Elisha should do to heal him of leprosy. Instead, Elisha didn’t even come to the door but sent his servant. The servant told Namaan Elisha’s instructions were to dip seven times in the Jordan river.
Thinking about this later, I realized Namaan didn’t understand whose door he was knocking on. It was the door of the personal representative of the perfect and infinite God. Namaan expected rituals and sacrifice. What he got was a commonplace request: “go bathe.”
To the God we love Who is greater than we can ever imagine, healing leprosy requires no effort at all. In fact, Genesis 1:1 required no effort at all for an infinitely powerful God. How can we doubt Him as Namaan did. Is there truly anything this God cannot do in our lives?
1 John 3:20 (NKJV)
20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
Genesis 1:1 (NKJV)
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Psalm 139:7-10 (NKJV)
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.
James 1:17 (NKJV)
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Exodus 3:14 (NKJV)
14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
Luke 18:19 (NKJV)
19 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.
Psalm 90:2 (NKJV)
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
2 Kings 5:1-14 (NKJV)
1 Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.
2 And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife.
3 Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.”
4 And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel.”
5 Then the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
6 Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.
7 And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me.”
8 So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
9 Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house.
10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.”
11 But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’
12 Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”
14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 