[5 min read—client resource]
Sooner or later, we all must wrestle with two fundamental questions:
Who is God?
and
Who am I?
Now, a person who does not believe in the existence of God or the Lordship of Christ will answer these questions in certain ways that will lead down certain, tangential paths with entirely different mile markers and pit stops and eternally different destinations (bringing to mind Matthew 7:13-14: “…Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it”).
However, in the interest of brevity, let’s focus on how a Christian might consider these questions and live in light of the answers, keeping in mind this food for thought throughout:
Functional belief trumps stated belief every time, and our thoughts, words, and actions spring from our functional beliefs about who God is and who we are.
In Part 1 of this series, we’ll focus on who God is. In Part 2, we’ll ponder who we are as humans in light of that. In Part 3, we’ll look at some recommendations for applicable practices that can help alleviate anxiety as we seek to align with God’s good design.
Who is God?
What we believe about God’s character will impact the decisions we make and our responses to other people, our own emotions, and the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
What do I mean by that?
Take, for example, the struggle with anxiety/fear/worry that we all encounter at some point or other in our lives that begs the question: Do we truly (actually, fully, functionally) trust God?
Do we truly believe that he is sovereign—in control of all things? Do we actually believe that he can do all things and no plan of his can be thwarted (Job 42:2)? Do we really believe that we don’t have to worry about physical sustenance or material provisions for any of our tomorrows (Matt. 6:25-34)?
On top of that, do we believe he is wise enough, in his omniscience, to know what is best in any given situation, because he has both past, present, and future information and perfect wisdom which we do not possess? Or do we, instead, lean on our own understanding, thinking we know best and therefore forging our own paths (Proverbs 3:5-6)?
Do we truly believe God is perfectly and wholly good, that there is not even a shade of darkness in him (1 John 1:5) nor does he change like shifting shadows (James 1:17). Do we believe he loves us enough to take a proverbial bullet (and, in fact, a cross) for us, and that he works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28)?
If we truly, functionally believed these things, would they transform our tendency toward fretting into a peace that surpasses understanding (Phil. 4:4-9)?
Or maybe your challenge isn’t so much anxiety as a struggle to trust God’s character based on hurts inflicted by other people (perhaps especially by those who were supposed to represent him). Maybe you struggle to believe he is good when there is just too much badness in the world—too many bad people, particularly those who have hurt you or someone you love. If there is someone in your life who has abused their authority, how do you know that God won’t? If there is someone who has broken your trust, who’s to say that God won’t do the same? If there’s someone who has demanded your trust when it bucked against your understanding or intuition, how can you trust a God whose ways and thoughts are consistently beyond our understanding (Isaiah 55:8-9)? If a person has manipulated or victimized you for their own selfish and sadistic pleasure or obsession with power and control, what if God might also do that?
For these and endless other scenarios of healing from hurt, a thorough study of all of God’s attributes together (as a way to more intimately, relationally know God) is essential.
After all, especially for someone who, for instance, has been burned by authority figures or structures, the authority/governance/dominion/sovereignty of God would be terrifying apart from a belief in his complete and unblemished goodness and love. Mark Jones speaks to this in his book, God Is: A Devotional Guide of the Attributes of God when he says, “As he exercises his dominion, his other attributes (e.g., wisdom, righteousness, and goodness) are all present, which means that his dominion cannot be tyrannical, oppressive, or unmerciful but is perfectly good, just, and wise” (Jones 112).
While it may feel easy to (even subconsciously) conflate God with the person who inflicted harm, we must take up our spiritual armor (Eph. 6:10-18) and battle against such assumptions, which would—ultimately, if left unchecked—lead us away from God. We must remind ourselves that it is not wise or fair to base our trust in someone on the characteristics, attitudes, or actions of someone else. God is not the same as the person who hurt you.
A study of his character can assist in parsing out the differences between sinful, broken, limited, mistake-making humans and a God who is perfectly and wholly and infinitely good, loving, wise, sovereign, merciful, holy, and just—just to name a few!
Now, I hope it goes without saying that a few finite paragraphs touching on the attributes of an infinite God merely skim the surface of the unfathomable depths of who God is. As Jones says,
Affirming God’s infinity implies his incomprehensibility. We can never know God as he knows himself, for the finite cannot comprehend the infinite. We possess a bounded understanding, because we are creatures. God has a boundless understanding as the infinite, eternal God. We could sooner fit the oceans of the world in a teacup than understand God. Our grasp of God compared with God’s actual being is like a dim light compared with the vast radiance of the sun. We can say with certainty that what we know about God can never be full but only adequate (i.e., saving) knowledge, which can only increase (Jones 45).
These questions must be asked as the first steps in knowing who God is and who we are in relation to him and others, and it is this question of identity to which we will turn in Part 2.
Works Cited
Jones, Mark. God Is: A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God, 2020.