Who are You, LORD?

One of the most vital questions a person can ever ask is: "Who are You, LORD?"

“The whole fate of humanity hangs on the answer to this question.”
     – Hannah Whitall Smith

Our peace depends on it.

Our contentment and our hope depends on it.

Our everyday trust through the nitty, gritty ins and out of life depend on it.
Our lives depend on it.

If we’re going to trust the Lord and survive on a planet like ours, we need to know who God is.

Not just an idea of who He is.
Not our own definition.

But a BIG, Biblical view of our God.

Too often our lives and our cares loom large, and we reduce our God to a locket-size theology.

An itty, bitty picture of God we keep in a beautiful place close to our hearts.

Photo courtesy of Kayleen Spafford

Then life gets hard.

So we open up the picture and remind ourselves of who He is.

But we keep Him small.

If our needs and our heartaches and our fears and our hurts are bigger than our view of God, then we need to know Him better.

Because all that we need Him for is not itty, bitty.

It isn’t to Him.

And it certainly isn’t to us.

The nature of our lives demands that we have a God who doesn’t fit in a locket-size theology.

In comparison to who He is, our problems and our lives are nothing.

Nations are like a drop in a bucket to Him.

They are like dust on a scale. (Isaiah 40:15)

But in spite of that, God doesn’t hold us in itty, bitty pictures close to His heart.
And He doesn’t carry our problems in a closed-up, out-of-the-way place either.

He is very personal, relational God.

              A very BIG God.

How do we know that?

Because He has told us who He is: “I am the LORD (Jehovah); that is my name.”(Isaiah 42:8)

He used that name 6,823 times in the Old Testament.
         He wants us to know who He is.

                He wants us to know Him by the name “Jehovah.”

“Jehovah” means “I AM THAT I AM" (Exod. 3:14):

·         He IS.   

·         On His own.

·         Like no other being.

·         Not dependent on anything or anyone else.

·         The source of His own being.

“Jehovah” means He is the Covenant-keeping God (Exod. 6:2-8).

·         When He makes a promise, He keeps it.

“Jehovah” means He is the God of Redemption (Exod. 6:2-8).

·         Misery calls down His mercy.

·         And out of mercy, He redeems.

"Jehovah" means He is  . . . (Exod. 34:6,7):

·         Merciful

·         Gracious

·         Long-suffering

·         Abundant in goodness and truth

·         Keeping mercy for thousands

·         Forgiving iniquity and sin and transgressions

This is only a glimpse of the greatness of our God.

But even this glimpse is not locket-sized.

Our picture of God can never be too big.
             But it can be too small.

Our trust in Him will grow when we have a big, Biblical view of who He is.

That’s why it’s important to ask the question, “Who are you, LORD?”

He is Jehovah.

The LORD.

He is not locket-sized.

(Listen to the lessons on the Names of Jehovah)