The Great I Am

Ask anyone on the street today ‘Who is God?’ and you receive many different answers. Some don’t believe in God at all, some believe there is something out there, some believe God is inside of you, etc. Today even those who call themselves Christians may know of God but do they really know Him. I find this an interesting question and I think that we must all stop and really think about our relationship with God. On January 7th, 1855 C.H. Spurgeon gave a sermon at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark. Here is a quote from part of his sermon:

“It has been said by someone that ‘the proper study of mankind is man’. I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.

There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, ‘Behold I am wise’. But when we come to this master-science, finding that our plumb-line cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but his is like a wild ass’s colt; and with solemn exclamation, ‘I am but of yesterday, and know nothing’. No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God…

But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe… The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.”
Today we want to put God in a box, with limitations, so that we can understand Him. There is no way though that we could ever fully understand the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is Omnipotent – there are no limits to His power. This gives us our security. “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” (Psa. 90:1-2). He is Omniscient – all knowing. “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” (1John 3:20). He is Omnipresent – He is everywhere. “And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.”(Ex. 33:14). “…and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”(Matt. 28:20). In a time when the world is constantly changing we have our comfort in knowing that God’s character is unchangeable. “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”(Mal. 3:6). Everything in the world is in a state of decay but our God is the same today as He was in the beginning.

The study of God and who He is and our relationship to Him is a life altering experience. It becomes the rudder that steers our life in a new direction. The study of God and His word starts us on a journey of discovery that we cannot find anywhere else. Our God is amazing. One of God’s greatest desires is that we want to know Him. “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” (Hos.6:6).

We will never fully know Him but Jesus Christ came to earth as man that we may know Him and He left us with the Holy Spirit to guide us and direct us so that we may have a relationship with Him. Our desire should be to continue to grow in our knowledge of Him.

“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in m, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosover liveth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”(Rev. 22:13).