LIFE & BREATHਨਮੂਨਾ

DAY FIVE: THE INEXHAUSTIBLE BREATH OF GOD

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. Rather, He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” Acts 17:24-25

When we study the breath of God in scripture, something very interesting emerges. Time after time, we’re told of the ‘breathing out’ of God –

But you will struggle to find mention of God ‘inhaling’ and ‘breathing in’. And if you think about it, that would make perfect sense. For what exactly would He be breathing in? He is the self-sufficient Maker of all – the Uncreated One – who is not dependent on anyone or anything for His existence. In John 5:26, Jesus reminds us, “…the Father has life in Himself…” He does not need to breathe in – at least not in the way that we breathe in – because He has absolutely no need of anything outside of Himself. He has, in and of Himself, an inexhaustible source of breath that can never be depleted. Act 17:24-25 explains:

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. Rather, He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.” Acts 17:24-25

In other words - He has need of nothing. We, on the other hand - as we studied earlier this week - are fully dependent on our next few breaths. Without them, and the oxygen they usher in to our bodies, we have no strength to live. Through the taking in of a breath, we send oxygen through our lungs, into the bloodstream – where it binds to red blood cells and is pumped, by the heart, all around the body. We need it for every single activity, and without it we perish. For us, breath is literally a case of life and death.

But this is not true of God. He is not dependent upon an inhaled breath for well-being or His prolonged existence. He is entirely self-sufficient - needing no fuel to sustain Him or oxygen to energise Him.

One more example of this self-sufficiency is in the area of sleep. Scripture tells us of a God who never sleeps:

“He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep." (Psalm 121:3,4)

Perhaps you have always seen this verse through the lens of God as our defender and protector - the One who never takes His eyes off us for even a moment. And that is, for sure, a beautiful truth. But there is more to it than that. Perhaps the primary reason God doesn’t sleep is because He has no need of it. For us, sleep is a restorative process. Scientists are still trying to wrap their minds around the full mystery of it - but one thing is clear - sleep plays a major role in the rejuvenation of our bodies and of our brains. Without sleep, even just for a couple of nights, we will lose our propensity to function. If we go without sleep for much longer than that, we may not actually be able to stay alive. Just as with breath, we are fully dependent on the gift of sleep.

God is self-existent, but we were created. God is independent, but we are fully dependent. God is self-sufficient, but we have so many needs. We worship the One who has no need of anything outside of Himself – but who delights to do life with us anyway. What astounding grace.

Today, let us take the blessing of living and breathing - and use it all for the glory of God. In the words from the chorus of my new song, "Life & Breath":

“To the One true living, breathing God

Be all the praise, amen.”