Lately I have been troubled concerning how our world, even our Christian world, seems to have either forgotten, or chosen to ignore who God is.

In Revelation 2:4 Jesus reprimands the church at Ephesus for having forgotten their first love. As the scripture reads, they were doing all the “right things” but, apparently, not from the right motive. In his commentary, Adam Clarke writes – “They did not retain that strong and ardent affection for God and sacred things which they had when first brought to the knowledge of the truth, and justified by faith in Christ.

I believe we are experiencing this same problem both in our churches and in our personal lives.

For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. (Psalm 95:3-7)

We learn so much about God from these few verses.

We learn that the LORD is Jehovah God – The Self Existent, Eternal One. God is not a created being. He is our Alpha and Omega, He was always and will be always. In this we can be certain, God is not going anywhere.

We learn that He is EL God – a God of strength, power and might. Because He is EL, we can have great confidence for the trials of this life. Romans 8:31 reminds us, “What then shall we say, if God is for us, who can be against us?”  We have His word that whatever forces may come against us, no matter how strong, He is stronger.

We learn that He is Maker God – Creator of all things. The apostle John clearly affirms it when he writes “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  (John 1:3). There are two Hebrew words for Maker,  Asah and Bara. Both words mean to create, to choose, keep, maintain, commit. God is the absolute Master of universal nature. He is our absolute Master. Having created us, He has committed to keep us and has chosen to have a covenant relationship with us through His son Jesus.

We learn that He is El-Ohiym God – Supreme God who alone is worthy of our praise and worship.

There is something more to be learned from Psalm 95, we learn who we are to Christ. The Psalmist leaves us with a sweet reminder that this God, this Great and Mighty God, is also our gentle Shepherd. He will pasture us, lead us, feed us, shear us, protect us, and even die for us.

As we have learned, God’s names are His attributes. His essence, His strength, His creativity and His loving care should propel our hearts to worship Him. What we have learned about God should lead us, as the Psalmist says, to come and bow down, to kneel before the LORD for He alone if worthy.

Grace and Peace,

Sandra