Right Thinking Toward God

Uplook – October 2023 — Grace & Truth Magazine

Right Thinking Toward God

We need to have correct thinking about God, for we are created in His image; He is not created in our image!

In Exodus 3 the LORD, when He appeared to Moses, instructed him to take off his shoes, because the very presence of God was holy. Then the LORD commissioned Moses to return to Egypt and deliver the enslaved Israelites. Moses asked, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” (v.13 NKJV). The Lord did not reply, “I am what you want Me to be” or, “I am what you imagine Me to be.” No! He answered in verse 14, “I AM WHO I AM!”

The world constantly tells us how to think – even about God – but we should think differently. Paul urged, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2).

Let’s consider three reasons confirming that what we think of God and how we think of Him is so important in our Christian lives.

1. Right Thinking About Our God Is The Way We Show Him That We Love Him!
The Lord Jesus said, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Mt. 22:37). This means that our minds should have the right thinking about who God is and what He is like. Such thinking can only come from the Word of God. So, we need to get into the Bible and let it get into us. We need to spend more time in His Book!

2. Right Thinking About God Helps Us To Avoid Idolatry!
Idolatry begins in the mind (consider Ex. 20:1-5) when we envision an image of God that is not consistent with what the Bible says about Him. Romans 1:21 describes those who formulated their own thoughts about God: “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” God has revealed Himself to us in His written Word and through the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. Right Thinking About God Strengthens Us To Walk By Faith!
Hebrews 11 tells us about some who knew and walked with God personally. They had an intimate relationship with Him. God had revealed Himself to them, and they believed God, trusted Him, and walked by faith.

When we know little about our God, we may isolate ourselves from what we know about Him because of our circumstances. For example, we might know and understand that God is love, but when something bad happens because we live in a world broken by sin, we could begin to think that God has abandoned us. We may easily wonder why He allowed the situation, or why He did not stop it from happening.

A person can easily, but wrongly, set aside specific characteristics, or attributes, of God in order to serve his or her purposes. It has been said that an attribute of God is “that which is true of Him which He has revealed in His Word to us.” There are unshared attributes of God, meaning they are His alone, and shared attributes, indicating that He desires these to be seen in us. I believe there are more attributes of God than any of us can count, for God is infinite!

One passage of Scripture has always been very special to me because it contains many precious attributes of God, answering the question, “What is God like?” The concluding verses there say, “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isa. 40:30-31). Truly, it is a precious promise from God’s Word! We learn who our God is by looking at the preceding verses in that chapter.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as His counselor has taught Him? 14 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales; look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing. 16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. 17 All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? 19 The workman molds an image, the goldsmith overspreads it with gold, and the silversmith casts silver chains. 20 Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks for himself a skillful workman to prepare a carved image that will not totter. 21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 23 He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless.24 Scarcely shall they be planted, scarcely shall they be sown, scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, when He will also blow on them, and they will wither, and the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.25 “To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing.27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my just claim is passed over by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.

He is Self-Sufficient (Isa. 40:12-14). He stands alone and does not need anyone to help, direct, counsel or instruct Him.

He is Omnipotent (Isa. 40:12). He is all-powerful.

He is Omniscient (Isa. 40:13-14,28). He is all-knowing (Rom. 4:17, 11:33-36; Isa. 42:9, 46:10; Acts 15:18).

He is Righteous / Just (Isa. 40:14). He always does what is right and just (Gen. 18:25; Ps. 119:137-138, 145:17).

He is Wisdom (Isa. 40:14). Wisdom begins and ends with Him (Rom. 11:33; 1 Tim. 1:17; Ps. 104:24; Prov. 3:19).

He is Sovereign (Isa. 40:15-17). Everything is under His control, and nothing takes Him by surprise (1 Sam. 2:6-8; 1 Chr. 29:11-12; Eph. 1:11).

He is Incomparable (Isa. 40:18). Nothing and no one can compare to Him (Col. 1; Heb. 1; Eph. 1).

He is Transcendent (Isa. 40:22-24). He is far above everything and everyone else, and He exceeds all limits (2 Chr. 6:18).

He is Eternal (Isa. 40:26-28). He always was, and He has always been in control (Isa. 57:15; Ps. 147:3-4).

He is Holy (Isa. 40:25). He is pure (Isa. 6:1-4; Ps. 30:4, 47:8, 111:9).

He is Infinite (Isa. 40:26). He has no limits (Ps. 135:6; Job 5:9, 9:10).

He is Omnipresent (Isa. 40:27). He is everywhere (Ps. 139:7-12; Prov. 15:3; Jer. 23:23-24; Mt. 28:20).

He is Immutable (Isa. 40:28). He is unchanging (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8).

He is Long-suffering (Isa. 40:28). He is a patient God who never tires (Ex. 34:6; Ps. 86:15; 2 Pet. 3:9,15).

He is Faithful (Isa. 40:29). He is always trustworthy, dependable, and can be counted on (Lam. 3:23; 2 Cor. 12:9; 1 Cor. 1:9, 10:13; 1 Th. 5:23-24; 2 Tim. 2:13; 1 Jn. 1:9; Eph. 3:16-18).

There are many more attributes of our God. When we are occupied with who our God is and what He is like as He is revealed on the pages of Scripture, it renews our strength, helps us see things from His perspective, and gives us spiritual energy to walk by faith and not faint along the way!

By Timothy P. Hadley (adapted)