A.W. Tozer has said, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." It is a pretty great quote and I have heard it quoted often. Mostly because it is so true.
What is inside you comes out. Whatever teaching or knowledge or experience. They shape us through our thoughts and how we process things, and thus they shape our actions. Whether consciously or unconsciously, what we believe slips into the way we do things.
Take an example from teaching. Before I got into the classroom, the professors always warned us about how we discussed the students. It is normal at the end of the year, as they are finishing all the grades for the teacher to leave a bit of a review on the student for the next year's teacher. This can be really helpful, especially if the student has special needs or may need more attention in the classroom behavior wise or excels in something and needs to be challenged more. It is a way for all the teachers to work together. However it can become a bit dangerous if it turns into a self-fulfilling prophesy. If you think a student is incapable, the way you interact with them can be detrimental to their growth and development, because if you truly believe they are incapable, you will treat them as such and just compound any problems or challenges the student may have.
That is a very specific example. Here is another larger scaled example that we can see played out on the day to day. How do you view someone different than you? Is that person alien and un-understandable? Is the different dangerous? How you answer that question can determine how you treat the people around you. Are you wary, expecting danger; distrustful, expecting to be lied to; curious, asking questions; joyful, expecting friendships?
But to get back to Tozer's quote, the most important question we can ask ourselves is as follows:
Who is God?
It is the question that everyone asks. Everyone has a longing for divine. But even more so, it should be the quest of every believer because that is our greatest desire. If our goal is to glorify Him, we have to know who He is in order to accurately represent him. In every trial and every triumph we discover a bit more about his character and his nature and we can fall deeper in love with who He is and how He saves us. Then in turn we are able to worship and glorify him more.
If you talk to an older believer and you ask them, "Oh, what have you been learning about God recently?", there are so many different answers they could give you. And I sometimes feels foolish when I answer by saying that I have been learning about who he is. Isn't that something I should know by now? The inner critic quips. But in a way it is honest and as accurate as I am able to be. Because while there are things that I know about him and grasp about him--at the surface level I know who God is, but every step along the way I have learned better and a little bit more or a little bit deeper about who he is.
At every different phase in my life there has been a different aspect of God that becomes especially important to me: for that time, in that season. Maybe He is the Sustainer when I am in a time of having little to know energy or when the world seems to be spinning out of control. Maybe it's the time when I remember He is Father, when I have done something that I feel ashamed for and feel unlovable. Maybe it's Him as Friend, the one who has gone before me and has faced every trial and temptation, when I am facing a challenge that seems insurmountable. Maybe when I am ill, He stands out most as Healer and when I am in a dark place, I am praying and worshipping that He is the Eternal Light. And when I am celebrating, He is my Everlasting Joy.
It is not that He is not all the other things, but in those moments, that is who God is even more to me.
Recently I have been doing a study going through different names of God. It is really fun, partially because I am really nerdy and I like studying the Word and looking at different words and seeing how the Hebrew, Greek ,or Aramaic compares to the English and different English word choices. Sometimes I think English falls short a little bit because some words have so much more depth in different languages. That's why it is fun to compare different versions to see which words they chose.
But I also really enjoyed this study because it was such a good reminder of who He is through looking at all the different ways that He has named himself or others, believers, saints before us, have named him and related to him. Through the Word we get to see how the faithful have thought about God and how it shaped their actions. We also get to see how God describes himself and his expected response from His people.
We are told to count the cost of following him. We are not to be like the foolish builder who doesn't realize how much he needs and starts the project but cannot finish. The cost of following Him is heavy but when compared to Him, so very worth it.
Daily I am awed by who He is. I am caught off-guard by His majesty and am baffled anew at how I could try to put Him into a small box of what I think I need from Him or the plans I have. I know for a fact I will never, this side of glory, have an accurate picture of who He is. My understanding is just too small. But I strive to know Him and to love Him more and more.
Throughout the study, because I like music, I compiled a list of different songs based around the names from the study. The list spans decades and styles, and it is not a comprehensive list, but I thought I would share so others can enjoy as well:
Jireh- Maverick City
Signature of Divine-Needtobreathe
Adonai-Chris Renzema
El-Shaddai-Amy Grant
Agnus Dei-Michael W. Smith
Abba-John Mark Pantana
Yahweh-Rend Collective
Yahweh-Maverick City
Elohim-Hillsong
Immanuel's land-Audrey Assad
Such an Awesome God-Maverick City
Emmanuel-Amy Grant
Emmanuel-Bryan and Katie Torwalt
Emmanuel God with Us-Chris Tomlin
Amadeo-Ryan Stevenson
Provider-Cade Thompson
Nothing to Fear-Porter's Gate
Sufficient for Me-Jonathan Ogden
Holy, Holy, Holy-Shane and shane
Isaiah 6-Todd Agnew
The Wonderful Cross-The Worship Initiative
Your Love is Better than Life-Newsboys
Wonderful, Merciful Savior-Selah
How Great thou art-Shane and Shane
There is Power in the Blood-Alan Jackson
Our God-Chris Tomlin
The More I seek You-Klaus, Kari Jobe
All hail the Power of Jesus' Name-Shane and Shane
Awesome God- Rich Mullins
Is He Worthy?-Andrew Peterson
King of Kings-The Worship Initiative
El Roi-Adrienne Coggins
Psalms 33-Jon Thurlow
How Great thou art-Pentatonix
Don't Forget his Love-Ellie Holcomb
Love's Coming Down-Melanie Penn
Hallelujah, You are Good-Steven Curtis Chapman, Matt Maher
To you be the Glory-Matt Maher, Kari Jobe
Steadfast-Sandra McCracken
Simplicity-Rend Collective
Sovereign over Us-The Worship Initiative
Prince of Peace-Celtic Worship
My Heart is Steadfast-Ellie Holcomb
God who Sees Me-The Hedgerow folk
Old 100th- Celtic Worship
Rock of Ages-The Worship Initiative
Well Done, Good and Faithful-Andrew Peterson
Jealous-Joshua Leventhal