MORNING DEW RELAUNCH

Foundations of the Faith:
 GOD

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I was a little child when my mother taught me how to enjoy storms. She would put her arms around me as we stood at the window of our house in Latin America. The wind would whip through the banana trees in our front yard. It was magnificent to see the tossing leaves, wet with rain, shining when the lightning flashed. The thunder sounded like drums telling the story of how the grass and flowers loved the refreshing rain.
People can enjoy or fear a storm, depending on what they have been taught about it. It is also important to know what kind of a storm it is--beneficial or destructive.
How can you understand a storm? What is the shape of the wind and rain and lightning? Can you put a storm in a bottle? Of course not. A storm is understood when we study its parts: for example, the cold air meeting the hot. We can study its effects--what it does to the land or the sea.
In a way, God can be compared to a storm. Some people fear Him and others love Him--depending on what they have been told and what they do about it.
You cannot see God, but you can study what He does.  it is the Bible that tells us all about God--about His qualities and how He deals with mankind. In this lesson we will look into the Bible and explore a few of the many things it has to say about God.

His Relationship to Us

The Bible says in John 4:24 that God is a Spirit. The dictionary says that a spirit is the vital principle that gives life. Since God is the Creator, this means that He is the supernatural force that gives life to all of His creation. Because He is a spirit, He cannot be seen unless He chooses to show Himself in some visible form.
He did show Himself through His Son. John 1:14 says, "The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father's only Son."
God has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three Persons which are called the Godhead or Trinity. The three are referred to in many places, one of which is Matthew 28:19: "Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."
One good way to learn more about God is by studying His attributes or qualities. God is good, holy, just, all-powerful, all-knowing, and eternal. Let's look at a series of verses that mention these qualities and others as well.
Exodus 34:6 states, "I, the Lord, am a God who is full of compassion and pity, who is not easily angered and who shows great love and faithfulness."
Leviticus 11:44 says: "I am the Lord your God, and you must keep yourselves holy. because I am holy."
The fact that He is all-powerful can be seen in Daniel 4:35. It says. "No one can oppose his will or question what he does." God knows everything.
"There is nothing that can be hid from God; everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before his eyes. And it is to him that we must all give an account of ourselves" (Hebrews 4:13). Revelation 10:6 tells us that God is eternal. An angel "took a vow in the name of God, who lives forever and ever, who created heaven, earth, and the sea, and everything in them."
The few verses that we have read, verses that give a little description of God, help us to realize how great He is. He is powerful and He is strong--but He is also merciful and kind. And He wants to have a close relationship with us, His creation.

Memory Verses

For this is what the high and lofty One says--he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
- Isaiah 57:15
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
- Romans 1:18-20