Lifetime Daily DevotionsSample

Let's Play God

Attribute: (n) A property intrinsic to its subject and by which the subject is distinguished or identified.

These five attributes of God are those we generally name:

Omnipotent
Omnipresent
Omniscient
Immutable
Sovereign

I've mentioned before that I thought I was just as eligible for the job of running my life as God was. I was quite capable of doing things, which takes care of being omnipotent. I was always around when something was needed; that's omnipresent, isn't it? I knew what I needed better than anyone else, so I put that under omniscient. I'd operated this way for a long time so I considered myself pretty stable-immutable. The sovereign thing didn't bother me too much. I was strong, able to make decisions-good ones, and I could control my corner of the world pretty well, thank you. That took care of His sovereignty.

Have you ever really though about what these attributes mean? What intrinsic value they each have?

For instance Omnipresent:

Jeremiah 23:23: "Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him" says the Lord. Do I not fill Heaven and earth? says the Lord."

Or Psalm 139: 7-12: "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, 'Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,'Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You."

When I consider that omnipresent, it makes me and my interpretation look pretty sick.

Omnipotent:

Jeremiah 10:12-13: "It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses."

Proverbs 30: 3-4 (TLB): "Who else but God goes back and forth to Heaven? Who else holds the wind in His fists, and wraps up the ocean in His cloak? Who but God created the world? If there is any other-what is his name-and his son's name-if you know it."

Now, let me see. How did I figure that I was omnipotent? How embarrassing! Well, since I'm being humiliated, let's continue.

There's Immutable:

Hebrews 13:8: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

James 1:17: "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

I'm afraid I don't measure up there, either. I have changed so much physically that some folks will have trouble recognizing me. And I change hourly as the mood goes. I really bit off more than I can chew, didn't I?

I'm afraid to look at Sovereign:

Isaiah 46:9(b)-10: "For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure."

Isaiah 45:5-7: "I am the Lord, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these."

I guess that was the crowning blow. Put my credentials next to those and I see myself as super audacious. Do you know what audacious means? Bold; daring; too bold; brazen; insolent.

I didn't really adopt that role deliberately and I would not have faced God as His equal by any stretch of the imagination. It was just the way I had learned to survive in my corner of the world. Are you doing the same thing? It's so easy to crawl from the back seat to the front seat and take over the wheel. Easy and disastrous.

Meditation:

Lord, I apologize for my audacious behavior. I wasn't taught any different, but that's really no excuse, is it? But now I know. That does make a big difference. And, You know what, God? I still catch myself putting on Your hat! Silly, silly me!