“Oh, the Depths of the Riches!”
Sunshine flooded the sanctuary as the voices of the congregation rang out in harmony and praise to God. The songs ended, we took our seats, and the preaching began. A flash of color caught my eye as I opened my Bible. I was still getting accustomed to the lovely ring I’d been wearing for only a couple of weeks. I was a freshly engaged young lady, anticipating a new life ahead with my forever boyfriend (married now for almost 43 years).
As I slowly turned my hand, I was mesmerized by the light and color of each facet reflecting the sunlight. How perfect, I thought.
This ring represented the beauty of what we were looking forward to and trusting God to do in and through our marriage. It also represented the beauty of persevering by faith in Him through the unknown - life’s challenges and hardships that we as a young couple couldn’t imagine.
Every facet of that sweet little diamond in that simple swirling band reminded me that every facet of God’s perfect character would be available to us as we stepped into this new chapter of our lives.
I hadn’t thought of that day sitting in church, admiring my new ring, for a very long time. Then an illustration in a Bible study lecture brought that memory flooding back to me. Miss Lauren was comparing the many facets of God’s character to the facets of a perfectly formed diamond. She described being able to appreciate the absolute flawlessness of such a high-quality gem and how a believer is struck with awe and reverence when encountering one attribute of God after another. Even more mind blowing is the understanding that God is every single one of those things – fully and completely – at any moment and for all eternity.
One of the disciplines I wish I’d adopted earlier in my walk with Jesus was to mine the Scriptures in search of God’s attributes. I had probably been a believer for 15 years before I started reading the Word and asking myself, “What does this tell me about God?” I would make notes and keep little lists, and as I did, an interesting thing happened to me. My anxiety level began to drop. My trust level in God began to grow. And my capacity and desire to worship Him more fervently exploded!
From that experience, I began to understand and share a simple truth: “You can’t trust a God you don’t know.” At the time, my friend Jennie and I were leading a middle school girls’ Bible study. Each week, we added to our list of God’s attributes as we looked at various passages of Scripture.
From our few years together, I pray that’s the one discipline the girls have remembered and carried forward in their lives. I can attest to the value of its practice.
I’ve been a believer for almost 45 years. I’ve been in the Word of God consistently since my journey with Jesus began all those years ago. And it never fails that when I open the pages of Scripture, the Holy Spirit reveals something new or deeper or more praiseworthy about the Lord that I’ve missed in my previous studies and reading.
I need to get used to those “aha” moments because I have all of eternity ahead to admire new and known facets of the perfection and beauty of God’s holy character. Can’t wait to join the angels and the saints in worship as the light of the Son reveals the Father in His fullness!
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“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out!” – Romans 11:33
“‘But let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, Who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord.” - Jeremiah 9:24
“For God, Who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 4:6
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” – Psalm 46:10
“I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.” – Jeremiah 24:7
