Observations & Meditations of a Church Brat: Painting God (Part 3)

“May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
(Colossians 1:11-20 ESV)

So I know it’s all heady. But this is no disembodied spirit being described. This is not an emotionless Jedi or a distant godfather dishing out candy or threatening to blow out kneecaps. The funny thing about God is how much time he actually spends saying, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t lose heart. Stay strong and courageous, because I’m here and I’m going to do something. I have seen; I have heard; I know; I have come; and I will deliver you.”

The same Spirit that hovered over the deep before creation, that empowered judges, prophets, kings, and mighty men, that spoke visions and oracles to prophets and raised Christ from the dead is now dwelling within every last one of us who is called by his name.

This God who cannot be described in under a thousand words has described himself in Jesus the Christ. We wanted God with skin on, and he came. He painted us a picture. And for whatever reason so many of us keep trying to paint over it. And he wants to be known.

I know that because he broke the fourth wall.

So many people out there have so many questions: And I’m not going to be trite. But in the same way you’re never going to understand a man’s actions until you know the man, so you will not even begin to understand everything that goes on in the world until you first begin to know the One running it.

And he really is here.

“The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’”

Observations & Meditations of a Church Brat: Painting God (Part 2)

Last time I talked about God as he paints himself, and the lengths he goes to to describe himself in language our finite hearts and minds can understand.

And with all that in mind, it's far too much weirdness for me when I hear people splitting God into multiple personalities, when he’s reduced to a math formula or disembodied spirit floating about in the Ionosphere. Even things like “God sent his son Jesus” don’t quite grasp the fullness, because the structure implies that God committed filicide. I mean, yes: The Father, Son, and Spirit are three entities. But they are one entity. They are the Three-in-One. And the minute you separate them you have this person who is no longer God.

But I digress. Most people don’t get lost at the Trinity. They get lost at things like:

“It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save…
For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
And my year of redemption had come.
I looked, but there was none to help;
I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;
So my own arm brought me salvation,
And my wrath upheld me.”
~Isaiah 63.1, 4&5


“For my name’s sake I defer my anger,
For the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
That I may not cut you off.
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
For how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.”
~Isaiah 48.9-11

“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
"I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
For I will not contend forever,
nor will I always be angry;
for the spirit would grow faint before me,
and the breath of life that I made.
Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry,
I struck him; I hid my face and was angry,
but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.”
~Isaiah 57.15-17

So what God paints is this picture where he is completely Other. He is so far removed from us as to be impossible to even know unless he breaks the fourth wall and addresses us; but he’s so close to us that there is nothing about us he doesn’t know and can’t sympathize with. According to the God of the Universe, there is absolutely no contradiction between his Justice and his Mercy, his Sovereignty and his Salvation, his Righteousness and Holiness and his Healing. And with that in mind, he reaches a climax with:

“In a surge of anger
I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
I will have compassion on you,”
says the LORD your Redeemer.
“To me this is like the days of Noah,
when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,
never to rebuke you again.
Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”
~Isaiah 54.8-10

So he’s painted this picture of himself as one who is slow to anger and quick to comfort, one with wrath that lasts the blink of an eye but whose mercy is generational, one who ceaselessly looks for intercessors and who becomes indignant if none is found.

I really believe there are some things we just never fully get our heads around. When God himself can’t describe himself in ten words or less, we’ve reached the limitations of human expression. We’ll never fully understand how the universe came into being, or everything we lost in the Garden, or everything the Cross contained.
Isaiah’s this beautiful book of warnings, of discipline, of God reasoning with a people who will not listen and finally he tells them how it’s going to be, but reminds them also of everything he’s done, and reminds them also of his oath to listen to the screams and wailing of his people.

A broken spirit. A contrite, lowly heart.

And so every curse written in the Mosaic Law comes, and the God of Israel looks around, and not one person has risen in Israel’s defense.

So the God of Israel, the dread champion, stands up and straps on his armor, picks up his weapons, and goes to war.

We. do. not. understand.


And that should get us to part three.

Observations & Meditations of a Church Brat: Painting God (Part 1)

For sanity's sake, this entry is being divided into three parts.

I’ve been reading in Isaiah, a book I haven’t visited in awhile. I’ll tell you, one thing that’s always concerned me is the tendency to remake God in our own image. Now some of that, honestly, is people jumping headfirst into the “God made man in his image; and Man returned the favor” nonsense.

But I think for another good many of us, especially in Christendom, simply forget that God is a person. For whatever reason, in our efforts to know God and understand our own theology, we wind up making a giant list of what he must be like and how and why and why anything else cannot and should not be true.

So God becomes an algebraic equation to be solved, or a bizarre paranormal creature that sounds like a haunting of the X-Files.

I mean, honestly. You can make a list of everything you accurately know about your best friend. I guarantee they’ll still surprise you, or act out of character. Most people really don’t like it when you turn them into a project, a problem to be solved. No one wants to be that person who is always talked about but never talked to, blamed when something goes bad and ignored when it all goes right, made into a drone, or a tool to be used.

So, in all its unprofound glory, I say: God is a person. He has a mind, a will, a body, and a soul. He has emotions, desires, hates, passions, friends, family, and enemies.

God is a person.

I mean, according to Scripture he can grieve, cry, get mad, laugh, and stop talking. His Spirit can be moved, even though his nature does not change. He has arms and legs and a face; he wears a robe and crown. He carries a scepter when he sits on his throne, and when he goes to war he takes up helmet, armor, sword, bow, spear, and javelin. He sits between cherubim or rides on their backs; he can ride a horse—and he’s got a tattoo. He has hair thick as wool and bright eyes. He eats, drinks, sleeps (yes, I know he doesn’t need it; but our Creator rested on the seventh day, and Jesus slept in the boat), walks through walls, and is bound by neither time or space. He can be vulnerable and betrayed, he can show surprise (Gethsemane) and have his feelings hurt (betrayal hurts, guys). He is the Three-in-One who has tried in a thousand ways to describe who he is, what he’s like, and how he relates to us. He is not human, but that makes him no less a person.

In fact, if you read the Gospels, he can even bleed. Jesus could be hurt. He could get lost in a crowd. He could die. He could destroy Death itself.

One of my favorite questions in Scripture is from Isaiah: “Am I only a God nearby, and not a God far off?” A little later he adds, “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the lowly and contrite.”


You’ll never wrap your head completely around God. You can’t do that with your own human best friend, so there is absolutely no reason to think that the magnificent Creator and Sustainer of the universe is ever going to be an exhausted topic where we’ve figured him all out. Your own mother can still surprise you. How much more so your Maker?

I think what boggles me is how frustrating it must be for God to try to describe himself. I know how hard it is for me, and I’m a far simpler person. Ask me about myself, and I’ll probably mumble around a minute and change the subject.
God spends several thousand years just warming up. And not in an arrogant way.
For starters: Creator, sustainer, provider, master, lord, commander, king, overseer of souls. Then, warrior, dread champion, conquering king, lover, bridegroom, king of kings, smoking pot (Genesis 12 or 15), lion of praise (Judah), the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the I AM, the Fear of Isaac, the God of righteousness and strength; the glory of Israel; the redeemer, savior, friend, winepresser, avenger, Lord of justice, truth, faithfulness, everlasting kindness and compassion. He loves justice and prefers mercy and wants us to walk with him.

The whole of the universe can’t contain him, and somehow he squeezed his entire being into a human body alongside a human soul (both fully God, and fully man). He is humble and patient, full of everlasting lovingkindness; he is our great and glorious high priest who intercedes on our behalf (John 17; Hebrews 1-something). He is our counselor, advocate, comforter, confidence, consolation, and healer. He is to us father, groom, king, and brother, and kin.

And it is to this person that the writer of Hebrews points and says, “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the Father.”

Which leaves us in a good place for next time...

January met February...

Well, since it's been awhile, the short version is:

My Proverbial Hats:
-Substitute teaching
-Editing
-Writing
-Various projects

Writing Projects
-Writing Toth Mansion Tales: The Tiger & the Serpent
-Researching for Toth Mansion Tales: Bruising Reeds

Recent readings
-Corus the Champion
-Silver Thaw (NOT a kid's book)
-Books 1-3 of The Dresden Files (NOT kids books)
-The Pirate Devlin (haven't finished)

Currently reading
-Confessions of a Christian Good Girl (nonfic)
-Arson
-Starlighter
-Yancey's book "Prayer"


New Fads
-In the absences of new Leverage episodes, I've started watching Doctor Who, and just finished the 2005 Season 1.
-Other current TV shows I don't watch much but enjoy: new Hawaii 5-0, NCIS (both), Criminal Minds (original), The Mentalist, Human Target

Yeah, you can't see a theme emerging at all.... :P

Anyway. Now I've lost the more important reason for posting.


Next time: Observations of a Church Brat - Painting God