God of My Life (El Chaiyai)

"At night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.

By day the Lord directs his love." (Psalm 42:8, NIV)

If you’ve had a loved one die, whether in human or furry form, you know the pain of grief, and you’ve also brushed up against the great mystery of life. What is this immaterial essence or spirit that animates us? Where did it come from? And where does it go when we’re gone?

The Bible tells us. God, in creating humanity, did much more than bringing together assorted body parts, tissues, and organs. He did do that, but Genesis 2:7 says that He took that lifeless creature and "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” From the opening pages of Scripture, we see that God is the source and giver of life.

And God doesn’t just animate us physically; He also desires to see us come alive spiritually. He wants, by His grace and through our faith, to give us eternal life (i.e., a life that consists of knowing Him through Jesus Christ, see John 17:3). Jesus insisted He came to offer His followers "life abundantly" (John 10:10). The idea should evoke imagery of a life impossibly full, incredibly rich, and sloshing over with blessing.

This is not to say that a life in God or a life with God is easy and trouble-free—far from it. We live in a broken world full of broken people. We face hardships and endure suffering. Many of the psalms—not just Psalm 42—suggest this. One day God will make everything right, but in the meanwhile, we will experience trouble and tears. And so we must make the choice to live in God’s presence and to rely on His promises.

The New Testament expands on this idea. We serve a God—more importantly, we are loved by a Savior—who not only sustains our lives, but, as the apostle Paul asserted, “is our life . . . ” (Colossians 3:4).

This is the life of faith. Clinging to Christ as if He is our oxygen—our invisible, but indispensable source of life. Seeing Christ as our life is recognizing our need for Him every moment and depending on Him at every turn. And it is not a life of fear-filled desperation but a life of loving devotion.

This faith focus on Jesus won’t make our problems disappear, but it will put them in perspective. Our God is the source and sustainer of life . . . and not just a “get by” life, but the life we really want.

The life God offers us is—in quantity and quality—beyond our wildest dreams.

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The above article is adapted from 100 Names of God, which will be released in the winter of 2015. Pre order your signed copy.

The Holy One (El Hakkodesh)

“For this is what the high and exalted One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy, ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’” (Isaiah 57:15, NIV)

Government agencies are lenient regarding impurities in our food supply. For example, in peanut butter there may be thirty or more insect fragments and one or more rodent hairs per 100 grams. Shocking, isn’t it?

It’s even more shocking to realize that God has no leniency whatsoever for moral impurity. That’s the idea behind the divine name “the holy one.” The Hebrew word holy means sinless and free from imperfection. God is without error or fault. He is absolute purity and light. This attribute of holiness sets God apart, and makes Him distinct from everything else in a fallen world. Try as we might, we sinful creatures have a hard time comprehending God's blinding holiness, which is referred to in Scripture as “terrible” or “dreadful” (see Nehemiah 1:5, Psalm 68:35).

In the same way that an epidemiologist seeks to isolate those infected with a deadly disease, or a surgeon insists on a germ-free operating room, God demands that extreme, even harsh measures be taken to quarantine and eradicate sin.

Consider the consequences of sin in contrast with a holy God.

• The payment for offending a holy God? Death. (Romans 6:23)

• The punishment for following another god? Death. (Leviticus 20:3)

• The consequence of getting too close to God's presence? Death. (Exodus 19:12)

Such dire consequences for sin reveal the extent of God's holiness. Like the north and south ends of a magnet, holiness and sin cannot coexist; in fact, they violently repulse each other.

Thankfully, Isaiah 57:17 expands the holiness of God to mean there’s not only an aversion to sin, but also a desire to seek out, save, and revive the lost. God’s holiness drives Him to seek and find us. In His perfection, God seeks to restore the world to its original holy and perfect state.

It is God's purity that will not allow Him to discard us, though He has reason to. His holiness, rooted in love, compels Him to save. He sent His one and only Son to turn sinners into saints.

God's holiness means that God hates sin enough to deliver sinners from it.

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The above article is adapted from 100 Names of God, which will be released in the winter of 2015. Pre order your signed copy.

The Great God (El Haggadol)

“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.” (Deuteronomy 10:17, NIV)

Certain names have been associated with greatness. There was Alexander the Great. The Great Gatsby. Boxer Muhammad Ali was known as “the Greatest,” and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky as “the Great One.”

We typically reserve this word to describe a unique accomplishment or status. To call someone “great” is to say there is only one—there has never been, nor will there ever be, another like him or her.

The Hebrew People who heard Moses speak the words of Deuteronomy 10:17 had heard often of Yahweh, the God of their forefather Abraham. But by that time, they had also lived for four hundred years in Egypt, where multiple gods were worshiped. And now God was leading them to a land where they would be surrounded by other polytheistic peoples. What made Israel’s God unique from the rest? What, if anything, caused Him to stand out from all the others?

Moses argued that God deserved the Hebrews’ full devotion because He is “the great God.” The Hebrew word “great” is gadol. It means distinguished, important, large, grand, magnificent. And why is God uniquely deserving of this title? Because, Moses says, He’s mighty. He’s powerful and awesome. There’s nothing too hard for Him. Not only this, but unlike the petty gods of the surrounding cultures, the God of Israel is just—He is fair and gracious. That’s another reason He’s great: He doesn’t play favorites or accept bribes, like a crooked earthly judge.

God is great, Moses says elsewhere in this same chapter, because He owns the universe (14). He’s great because He graciously set His affection on the Hebrew people (15). He’s great because He cares about the helpless (18). He’s great because He alone does awesome wonders (21). He’s great because He blesses undeserving people (22).

What other god does such things? Only Yahweh, Israel’s God, the one true God is able to hold the title of “great.”

It is blasphemous and tragic to treat anything as being greater than God. Do people give their hearts to other gods? Of course. But there is no god like “the great God” of Israel.

After identifying their God as “great,” notice the response Moses urged from the people: "Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him." Because of God's unique position, He is worthy of reverential fear and faithful service.

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The above article is adapted from 100 Names of God, which will be released in the winter of 2015. Pre order your signed copy.