Exploration and Discovery

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever, Amen. 2 Peter 3:18

Near the end of my college career I contemplated continuing my education and working toward my doctorate in Music History. I was fascinated by the lives of such geniuses as Mozart and Bach. I wanted to know about the minds that could create the incredible sounds that we hear from Stravinksy. As part of this journey, I drove, alone, to Boulder, Colorado to interview for a teaching assistantship at Colorado University at Boulder. During the few days that I was in Colorado, I drove around the mountains just blindly taking roads leading “up”. It was exciting and the views I found on the backroads were often breathtakingly beautiful. To drive and never know what might be around the next corner fulfilled some of my natural wanderlust, and I found myself reflecting on the absolute beauty of creation.

In the years since my total surrender to the Lord, I have discovered a new kind of wonder. The depths of the knowledge located in scripture keeps me going back for more and more. This incredible ‘love letter’ from God we have been given is beyond complete understanding by our feeble human minds. In it, we find that God carefully lays out exactly who He is, if we just take the time to understand it. If we rely on our own human experience to tell us who God is, we can often be swayed by our past. Our view of who God is can be clouded by our own relationships with others: with our parents, with people in authority, with those we love. But, this God we serve is far more than the imperfection we find in other people we’ve known. He is perfect and good beyond anything we can comprehend.

For that reason, it is so important for us to spend time seeing who He tells us He is. I am continually fascinated by the names He uses to describe Himself to us. From the first verse, when He identifies Himself as Elohim - the Creator… to Christ’s seven “I am” statements in the gospels and beyond, the names of God are packed with information about God’s power, His love for us, His desire to be close to us, and so very much more.

My personal life experience makes some of them very meaningful to me, while your life experience will make others jump out to you. Because that’s the God He is… He’s a personal God, and He is exactly what you need for your life, and at the same time, exactly what I need for my life. He is the completion of us, and we can’t be whole without Him.

In the coming weeks, I hope to explore some of my favorite names of God, and look into some less familiar ones to me. Join me as we look into the Word to see just WHO we serve. Once you see the endless reaches of the Word, I pray that you are drawn in and given a desire to explore its depths and discover more and more about who He is.

You see, it doesn’t matter where you are on your spiritual journey. Whether you’re in the depths of the valley, looking up at the mountaintops and feeling that they are so very far away and out of reach, or if you’re standing tired and worn on the side of a cliff, feeling that continuing upward may be beyond your capabilities, we have a guide who can help us find the path. His Holy Spirit that endwells us as believers, will lead us. We don’t have to walk blindly hoping that the next turn will lead us to a better view, we just need to sit quietly for a moment and listen for that still small voice.

There is power in understanding who God is. In Daniel, as he describes things to come, we see that He reminds us:

but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. Daniel 11:32b

What a promise! There is power in knowing our God. And the more we know about Him, the more we can understand this power He has given us!

My God, He is El Roi - He sees me exactly where I am. He is El Shaddai - all sufficient; Jehovah Jireh - Our provider; The Bread of Life, Our Shepherd, The Rock on which I stand! We can always get to know Him better… and when we do, His beauty and glory is the most breathtaking view imaginable!

I’m looking forward to the coming weeks, I hope you’ll join me.