Grounded · Lesson 3 · 42 min read

Who is God?

God is good. And more than good. He is love.

By Kevin Thompson · Licensed minister, Assemblies of God

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How do you even begin describing who God is? Where do you start? Thankfully, we don’t have to guess. God tells us about Himself in His Word. But here’s something you’ll find out the longer you walk with Him. There is always more. You will never figure out all the things of God. In this life, we only get a glimpse of Him, and even that glimpse is possible only because He chose to reveal Himself to us. We are not discovering God. He is showing Himself to us.

So before we get into anything else today, I want to establish the one truth that everything else in this lesson hangs on. God is good. Not good on His good days. Not good when things are going your way. He is good, period. It’s who He is. Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the LORD is good.”

But the Bible takes it one step further. It doesn’t just say God is good. It says God is love. 1 John 4:8 tells us, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” Not “God is loving,” like it’s an emotion that God expresses. God is love. It’s His nature. It’s what everything else about Him flows from. His power is loving. His holiness is loving. His knowledge, His presence, His judgment- all of it comes from a God who is love, and who loves you.

So let’s start where a lot of people start with a question.

Moses stood before a burning bush and asked God the most basic question a person can ask. Who are you?

Exodus 3:13-14 (NIV) ¹³ Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

That answer sounds strange to us at first. I AM WHO I AM. But look at what God is saying. I am not defined by anything else. I don’t depend on anyone. I didn’t come from anywhere. I have always been, and I always will be. Everything else that exists is because of Me. I AM. It’s so incredibly powerful!

Everybody seems to have an answer to “Who is God?” Whether they’ve thought about it or not. Some people picture an old man with a beard who is mostly disappointed in them. Some picture a force, an energy, “the universe.” Some picture a God who is far away and busy with more important things than them. Others have decided God is whoever they want Him to be.

But here’s the problem with all of that. It doesn’t matter who we think God is. It matters who God says He is. And God has told us. Clearly. Over and over. In His Word.

In the lesson on Jesus, we talked about childlike faith. We come to Jesus with open hands and open hearts, believing Him at His word. That’s how we’ll approach this lesson too. We’re not going to try to figure God out. We’ll let Him tell us who He is. And then we’re going to believe Him.

Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV) You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

So let’s seek Him. Let’s answer… Who is God?

A. God Has Made Himself Known

Can a person even know God? Some people say no. God is too big, too far, too mysterious. You can’t know Him, so why try?

But that’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says God wants to be known. And He has gone out of His way to make Himself known. He didn’t hide. He revealed Himself. Four ways.

He revealed Himself through creation.

Psalm 19:1-2 (NIV) ¹ The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. ² Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.

Romans 1:20 (NIV) 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 people are without excuse.

Have you ever stood outside on a clear night and just looked up? I have. Jennifer and I were on vacation on The Big Island of Hawaii. We were driving back to our hotel in Waimea after spending the day in Hilo. We were on Saddle Road Highway, which stretches from the island’s east side to its west side. The road rises to 6,632 feet above sea level. There’s an observatory on the Mauna Kea summit, which rises to 13,800 feet. At this location, everything was pitch black. I stopped our Jeep, turned off all the lights, got out, and looked up. You could see the Milky Way Galaxy in all its wonder with just your naked eye.

Experts say viewing the Milky Way here is about as good as it gets anywhere on Earth. Here comes some science… Mauna Kea is a Bortle class 1 or 2 sky: you are above the inversion layer that traps moisture and haze, the air is thin and dry, Hilo and Kona (opposite sides of the Big Island) are far away and hidden behind mountains, and Hawaii County has strict lighting ordinances to protect the observatories. Once your eyes adapt, the band is bright enough to cast a faint shadow and shows structure you never see on the mainland: the dark Great Rift splitting the band lengthwise, dust lanes, and the bulge of the galactic core looking like a textured, glowing cloud rather than a smooth smear. It was amazing, and God has created all of this.

Psalm 19:1 (NIV) The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Creation preaches a sermon every day, and the sermon is this: Somebody made this, and He is powerful. You can learn a lot about an artist from his art. But creation can’t tell you His name. It can’t tell you He loves you. For that, He had to speak.

He revealed Himself through His Word.

2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

The Bible is not a book about God written by people who were guessing. It is God telling us about Himself. God-breathed. When you open your Bible, you are reading God’s own description of who He is, what He has done, and what He is going to do. If you want to know who God is, go to His Word.

He revealed Himself through His Son.

John 1:18 (NIV) No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Hebrews 1:1-3 (NIV) In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. ³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

This is the big one. If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. The exact representation of His being. Not a rough sketch. Not close enough. Exact. Do you want to know how God treats a sinner? Watch Jesus with the woman caught in adultery. Do you want to know how God feels about the sick and the broken? Watch Jesus heal them. Do you want to know how God feels about you? Watch Jesus go to the cross. Jesus said it Himself: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

He reveals Himself through His Spirit.

Ephesians 1:17 (NIV) I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

1 Corinthians 2:12 (NIV) What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.

Look at what Paul is praying for. These people are already believers. They already have the Holy Spirit. And he is still asking God to give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Why? “So that you may know him better.” Knowing God is not a one-time event. It’s a lifetime of the Spirit showing you more.

God didn’t just leave us a book and walk away. He put His Holy Spirit inside every believer so we could understand what He wrote. The Holy Spirit takes what you know about God in your head and moves it to your heart. That’s why two people can read the same verse, and one is bored while the other is in tears. The Holy Spirit is the one who reveals.

So can we know God? Yes. He made sure of it. Creation shows His power. The Word tells us His heart. Jesus shows us His face. And the Holy Spirit makes it all real inside of us. God is not hiding from you. He has been revealing Himself to you your whole life. The question is whether you’ve been paying attention.

B. God Is One, and God Is Three

Now we have to talk about something that every believer has to wrestle with at some point. The Bible says there is one God. And the Bible also says the Father is God, Jesus is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. How does that work?

We covered this in the lesson on Jesus, and we’re going to cover it again here on purpose, because this is one of those truths you have to hear more than once before it settles in. We call it the Trinity. You won’t find that word in the Bible, but you will find its truth on nearly every page.

Let’s start with the first half. God is one.

Deuteronomy 6:4 (NIV) Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

Now the second half. God is three Persons.

Matthew 28:19 (NIV) Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Look closely at that verse. Baptize them in the name. Singular. One name. But then Jesus gives three: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: one name, three Persons.

And we see all three at the same time, in the same place, at Jesus’ baptism.

Matthew 3:16-17 (NIV) ¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

The Son is in the water. The Spirit is coming down. The Father is speaking from heaven. Three distinct Persons. Not one Person playing three parts. Not three gods. One God, eternally existing as three Persons.

Go all the way back to the beginning, and you’ll see it there too.

Genesis 1:26 (NIV) Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…”

Let us—our image. God is talking within Himself, before a single human being existed. He has always been Father, Son, and Spirit, in perfect relationship, in perfect love. That’s why the Bible can say “God is love.” Love needs someone to love. God didn’t need to create us to have someone to love. He has always been a relationship of love within Himself.

Here is the simplest way I can say it. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father. And there is only one God.

Here’s the picture of it again. We used this same diagram in the lesson on Jesus. Each circle is a Person. The arrows between the circles say “is not,” because the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit. But all three circles meet in the middle, in God. Same nature. Same attributes. Look at the list inside each circle. All-powerful, all-knowing, all-good, unconditionally loving, ever-present, holy, a real Person, self-existing. Every one of those is true of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That’s what “one God” means. We’ll walk through those attributes later in this lesson.

Some people try to explain the Trinity with pictures. Water, ice, and steam. An egg. A man who is a father, a son, and a husband at the same time. Every one of those falls apart if you push on it. Water can’t be ice and steam at the same moment. And one man wearing three hats is still just one person, which is exactly what the Trinity is not. So don’t lean too hard on those other examples. Lean on what the Bible says. The Trinity is not a puzzle to solve. It’s a mystery to behold.

Every part of your Christian life involves all three. The Father planned your salvation. The Son purchased it on the cross. The Spirit applies it to your heart. When you pray, you pray to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. You are never dealing with just part of God. You get all of Him.

2 Corinthians 13:14 (NIV) May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

C. What God Says About Himself

When we studied Jesus, we looked at what Jesus claimed about Himself. Let’s do the same thing with God the Father. Not what people say about God. What God says about God. Because if God says it about Himself, it’s settled.

“I AM.”

Exodus 3:14 (NIV) God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”

We already looked at this, but I want you to see it again. God’s name is not “I was,” “I will be,” or “I might be.” It’s I AM. Present tense. Always. He is not the God of the past who did big things a long time ago and retired. He is not the God of someday. He is the God of right now. Whatever you are walking through today, He is. Right now. In it with you.

“I am compassionate and gracious.”

This next passage is the most complete description God ever gave of Himself. Moses asked to see God’s glory, and this is what God showed him. Not lightning. Not thunder. His character.

Exodus 34:6-7 (NIV) ⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished…”

Read that list slowly. Compassionate. Gracious. Slow to anger. Abounding in love. Abounding in faithfulness. Forgiving. When God describes Himself, He starts here. Not with His power. Not with His judgment. With His compassion. The rest of the Old Testament quotes this passage over and over (Numbers 14:18, Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 103:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2), as if to say, “Remember who He is.”

Notice the last line. He does not leave the guilty unpunished. God is not soft on sin. He is compassionate and just at the same time. That’s not a contradiction. That’s the cross. At the cross, sin was punished, and sinners were forgiven, all at once. Thank you, Jesus.

“God is spirit.”

John 4:24 (NIV) God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.

Look at where Jesus said this. He’s sitting at a well talking to a Samaritan woman, and she asks Him a religious question: where is the right place to worship God, on this mountain or in Jerusalem? And Jesus tells her she’s asking the wrong question. God is spirit. He isn’t on a mountain. He isn’t in a building. You don’t have to go somewhere to find Him.

God does not have a body. He is not an old man on a cloud. He is not limited to one place. And He isn’t made out of anything in creation, because He’s the one who made creation. John 1:3 says, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” Everything physical came from Him, so He can’t be made from it. He was there before any of it existed (Psalm 90:2). That’s what “spirit” means. Not a body. Not a substance. The Maker, not the material. That’s why He can be everywhere at once, and why He can be with you right now, wherever you are sitting.

It’s also why the Bible calls God invisible (Colossians 1:15, 1 Timothy 1:17), and why He told Israel never to make an image of Him (Deuteronomy 4:15-16). Nothing you could carve or paint could ever look like Him, which is exactly why Jesus matters so much. In Jesus, the invisible God took on a body so we could see Him (John 1:14).

Now look at the second half of the verse. Because God is spirit, worship isn’t about a location or a ritual. It’s about your spirit connecting with His. “In the Spirit and in truth” means worship that is real, from the inside, led by the Holy Spirit, and lined up with who God actually is. You can worship Him in a sanctuary, in your car, or on your kitchen floor at two in the morning. He is spirit, and He is there.

“God is light.”

1 John 1:5 (NIV) This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

No darkness at all. Not a little. Not hidden somewhere. None. There is nothing shady about God. Nothing deceptive. Nothing you have to worry about finding out later. What you see is what you get, and what you get is pure light.

“God is love.”

1 John 4:8 (NIV) Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

This is the foundation we established in the lesson on Jesus, and it’s just as true of the Father. God doesn’t just do loving things. He is love. It’s His nature. Take love away, and you don’t have God anymore. Everything He does for you flows from love. Even His correction. Even His “no.” Even His silence. All of it comes from love.

“I am holy.”

Isaiah 6:3 (NIV) And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

1 Peter 1:15-16 (NIV) ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Holy means set apart. Completely other. Nothing and no one is like Him. When the angels around God’s throne describe Him, they don’t say “powerful, powerful, powerful.” They say “holy, holy, holy.” Three times. In Hebrew, saying something three times is the strongest way to say it. Perfectly pure. Perfectly separate from sin. And He calls us to be like Him.

So when God describes Himself, here’s what He says. I AM. I am compassionate and gracious and slow to anger. I am spirit. I am light. I am love. I am holy. That’s His own testimony. Believe Him.

D. The Character of God

Bible teachers call these God’s attributes. That means the truths about God’s nature. There are more than we can cover in this lesson, but I want to walk you through ten of them. For each one, look for two things: what the Bible says, and why it matters for you.

Let’s start with three big words. You’ll hear them in church, you’ll read them in books, and I want you to know what they mean. Omnipotent. Omniscient. Omnipresent. “Omni” means all. So these three words mean God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present. He has all the power. He knows everything there is to know. He is everywhere there is to be. No other being in existence can say that. Not angels. Not the devil. Only God.

David puts all three of them in one psalm. Psalm 139 (read on your own.) He starts by saying God knows everything about him. Then he says he can’t go anywhere to get away from God. Then he says God formed him in his mother’s womb. All-knowing, all-present, all-powerful. In one prayer. Let’s take them one at a time.

God is omnipotent. He is all-powerful.

Jeremiah 32:17 (NIV) Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.

Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV) ¹³ For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Omnipotent means God has no limit to what He can do. He spoke, and galaxies showed up. He also knit you together, one cell at a time, in the dark, where nobody was watching. The same power does both. Nothing is too hard for Him. Not your marriage. Not your addiction. Not your finances. Not your prodigal child. Not the diagnosis.

Why it matters: what feels impossible to you is not impossible to Him. Stop measuring your problem against your strength. Measure it against His.

God is omniscient. He is all-knowing.

Psalm 139:1-4 (NIV) ¹ You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. ² You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. ³ You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. ⁴ Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely.

Omniscient means God knows everything. Every fact. Every thought. Every motive. Every future. He has never learned anything, because He has always known it. He is never surprised. He never says, “I didn’t see that coming.” Now put that next to what we said earlier. He is all-knowing, and He is love.

Why it matters: He knows everything about you, and He loves you anyway. You can’t confess to Him anything He doesn’t already know. You can’t shock Him. He knew what you were going to do before you did it, and He still chooses you and wants every part of you.

God is omnipresent. He is all-present.

Psalm 139:7-10 (NIV) ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. ⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

Omnipresent means God is everywhere at once. Not spread thin, a little bit of Him here and a little bit there. All of Him, everywhere, all the time. That’s possible because, as we said, God is spirit. He isn’t limited to a body or a building. He was with you in the car on the way here, and He is in this room right now.

Why it matters: you are never alone. Not in the hospital room. Not in the courtroom. Not at the bottom of the pit you dug for yourself. Not once. Not ever. Even when it feels like it, there is no place you can go where He is not already waiting. This should encourage us all today because God is always there, always listening to us. His schedule is never full. He’s never booked up. He always has time for us. He’s never too busy to pay attention to us when we call upon Him. Let’s call upon Him!

Those are the three omnis. All-powerful. All-knowing. All-present. Now let’s look at seven more.

God is all-good.

Psalm 145:9 (NIV) The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

This is where we started today. God is good. Everything He does is good. He will use everything He allows for good. He has never once done anything evil, and He never will.

Why it matters: You can trust His heart, even when you can’t see what He’s doing. He is good, and He doesn’t stop being good when your circumstances no longer make sense.

God is unconditionally loving.

Romans 5:8 (NIV) But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Not after you cleaned up. Not once you proved yourself. While you were still a sinner. God’s love for you is not based on your performance. It never was.

Why it matters: you can’t earn His love, and you can’t lose His love.

God is holy.

Isaiah 6:3 (NIV) “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

We covered this above, but it belongs in this list because it’s the attribute that keeps all the others in balance. His love is holy. His power is holy. Everything about Him is holy.

Why it matters: God takes sin seriously, which is why the cross was necessary and why your forgiveness is real.

God is personal.

Joshua 1:9 (NIV) Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

God is not a force. He is not “the universe.” He is a Person with a mind, a will, and emotions. He speaks. He listens. He introduces Himself to Moses as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). He knows people by name.

Why it matters: you can have a relationship with Him. You can talk to Him. And He talks back. He even knows your name.

God is all-sufficient.

Acts 17:24-25 (NIV) ²⁴ “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. ²⁵ And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.”

Psalm 90:2 (NIV) Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Everything that exists depends on something else. You depend on air, food, water, sleep. God depends on nothing. Nobody made Him. Nothing feeds Him. He has no beginning and no end. He lacks nothing, and He needs nothing. When He told Moses His name was I AM, that’s what He meant. Not “I am because of” anything. Just I AM. The Bible has a name for this: El Shaddai, God Almighty, the All-Sufficient One (Genesis 17:1). He is enough in Himself, and He is enough for you.

Why it matters: God doesn’t need you. He wants you. There’s a big difference. He didn’t create you because He was lonely or missing something. He already had everything, including perfect love within the Trinity (remember section B). He created you to share that love with you. And He doesn’t need your service or your performance to be complete. Everything you give Him is a response, not a payment.

God is unchanging.

Malachi 3:6 (NIV) I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

James 1:17 (NIV) Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

People change. Moods change. Culture definitely changes. God does not. The God who parted the Red Sea is the same God you prayed to this morning.

Let’s talk about culture for a minute, because this is where God’s unchanging nature gets tested in your everyday life. Culture is always moving, usually in the wrong direction. What was shameful twenty years ago is celebrated today. What was celebrated twenty years ago is shameful today. The definitions of right and wrong, what a life is for, and what love even means get rewritten every few years. And every generation is convinced that its version is the final one.

This is not new. It’s as old as the Bible.

Judges 21:25 (NIV) In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

Psalm 2:1-4 (NIV) ¹ Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? ² The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, ³ “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” ⁴ The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.

Notice what culture always does. It doesn’t just drift away from God. It pushes against Him. “Let us break their chains.” Every culture in history has eventually decided that God’s ways are the problem and that freedom means getting out from under Him. Isaiah 5:20 describes it exactly: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.” That’s not a description of one nation or one decade. It describes what people do when they make themselves the standard.

And look at God’s response in Psalm 2. He isn’t nervous. He isn’t scrambling to update His position. Not because He doesn’t care about people, but because the idea of the created rewriting the Creator is insanity. Kingdoms rise and fall. Movements come and go. Empires that were sure they had replaced God are now museum exhibits. And God is exactly who He always was.

Isaiah 40:8 (NIV) The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.

Here’s what this means for you. You are going to live your whole life inside a culture that is constantly changing and constantly pulling on you. And sometimes the pull is strong. It comes through your phone, your friends, your job, your entertainment. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” You can’t do that if your standard is moving as the culture moves. You need something that doesn’t move. That’s God.

Why it matters: you can build your life on God, because He will be the same tomorrow as He is today. When culture says the ground has shifted, it hasn’t. God’s character has not changed. His Word hasn’t changed. His love for you hasn’t changed. Culture is the shifting shadow. He is the standard by which we live and breathe.

God is faithful.

Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV) ²² Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. ²³ They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

2 Timothy 2:13 (NIV) If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

This is simple. God keeps His word. Every promise He has ever made, He has kept, or He will keep. Even when we are faithless, He remains faithful, because faithfulness is who He is.

Why it matters: when God says something about you in His Word, you can stand on it.

Omnipotent. Omniscient. Omnipresent. All-good. Unconditionally loving. Holy. Personal. All-sufficient. Unchanging. Faithful. That’s your God. This is who He is.

E. If God Is Good, Why Is There Evil?

Now here it comes. If God is all-powerful, and God is all-good, then why did sin enter the world in the first place? Why did Adam and Eve fall? Why do bad things happen? Why do children get sick? Why do good people suffer and bad people get away with it?

This is not an easy question. It may be the biggest reason people struggle with God. But the struggle comes from not understanding God’s nature and character. Let’s break it down.

God made everything good.

Genesis 1:31 (NIV) God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

Let’s start here at the beginning. God did not create evil. Everything He made was good. Genesis 1:31 says very good. There was no sin, sickness, death, or shame in the garden. So where did evil come from? It didn’t come from God’s hand. It came from a choice. God gave Adam and Eve everything, and He asked them to trust Him on one thing. And they chose not to. They believed the serpent over their Creator. They decided God was holding out on them and that they could be their own god. Evil entered the world not because God made it, but because His creatures chose not to trust Him. So when someone asks, “If God made everything, didn’t He make evil?” the answer is no. He made the good. Sin is what we did with it.

God gave us a choice.

So why did God put the tree in the garden at all? Why give Adam and Eve the option?

Genesis 2:16-17 (NIV) ¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Because God wanted sons and daughters, not robots, He made us in His image, and part of His image is the ability to choose. Here’s what I want you to understand. Love that cannot say no is not love. It’s programming. If Adam could not disobey, then his obedience meant nothing. The tree was not a trap. It was the one place in the garden where trust in God could be real. And God didn’t hide the consequences. He told them plainly. You are free. But this one thing will kill you.

The first sin was doubting that God is good.

Genesis 3:4-5 (NIV) ⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Look at what the serpent actually did. He didn’t lead with the fruit. He led with a lie about God’s character. “Did God really say?” (verse 1). Is God holding out on you? Is He keeping something good from you? Is He really as good as He says He is? The first sin was not about eating. The first sin was believing that God is not good. And every sin since has started the same way. That’s why this whole lesson matters. If you know who God is, the enemy’s lies don’t work.

Romans 5:12 (NIV) Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.

And it wasn’t just people who were affected.

Romans 8:20-22 (NIV) ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

Creation itself is groaning. That’s the answer to tornadoes, cancer, and bodies that wear out. None of that is God’s design. It’s the wreckage of the fall. We live in a broken world, and we feel it more and more every day.

So why do bad things happen now?

Here’s something important. Not everything that happens is God’s doing. The Bible gives us three sources of suffering in this world.

• A broken world. (Romans 8:22) Disease, disasters, accidents, bodies that age and die. This is the world after the fall. It’s not the world God made, and it’s not the world He is going to leave it as.
• Human sin. (James 1:13-15, Galatians 6:7) Ours and other people’s. Most suffering on this earth comes from people hurting people. Abuse, greed, betrayal, violence, neglect. People blame God for a lot of what they do.
• A real enemy. (John 10:10, Ephesians 6:12, 1 Peter 5:8) The devil is real. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” Notice that Jesus never once told a suffering person, “God did this to you.” He healed them. He set them free. He is constantly undoing the enemy’s work.

But God could have stopped it. Why didn’t He?

First, God could only stop all evil by taking away all freedom, and if He takes away freedom, He takes away love. Second, God could only stop all evil right now by judging all evil right now. And that includes yours. And mine. If God wiped out evil at midnight tonight, none of us would see morning.

2 Peter 3:9 (NIV) The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

His delay is not weakness. His delay is mercy. Every day that evil is allowed to continue is another day for someone to come home.

God was not surprised, and He did not stay away.

The fall did not catch God off guard. The rescue plan was in place before the first sin was ever committed. 1 Peter 1:20 says Jesus “was chosen before the creation of the world.” Revelation 13:8 calls Him “the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.” And on the very day sin entered the world, God made a promise.

Genesis 3:15 (NIV) And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

What is God actually saying here? God is speaking to the serpent, which is Satan (Revelation 12:9 calls him “that ancient serpent”). And He makes four statements.

“I will put enmity between you and the woman.” Enmity means hostility, war. God is declaring that from this day forward there will be a war between Satan and humanity. We are not on the serpent’s side. He is our enemy, and God is putting us at odds with him on purpose.

“And between your offspring and hers.” The war will continue through the generations. Satan’s offspring are everyone who follows his lie. The woman’s offspring is where the promise starts to narrow. Notice it says “hers,” not “his.” Everywhere else in the Bible, descendants are traced through the father. The one exception is here, and the reason is Jesus, born of a virgin, with no human father. Isaiah 7:14 and Luke 1:34-35 fill that in centuries later.

“He will crush your head.” One offspring of the woman, a “he,” will strike a death blow to Satan. A crushed head is a fatal wound. This is the promise that the serpent will be destroyed.

“And you will strike his heel.” But it will cost Him. Satan will wound Him. A strike to the heel is painful and real, but it is not fatal. That’s the cross. Jesus was struck, and it looked like the serpent had won. But three days later the heel healed, and the serpent’s head was crushed.

Theologians call this verse the first gospel. (Protoevangelium) It’s the whole story of the Bible in one sentence, spoken in the garden on the day everything fell apart. Sin enters. God promises a Son of the woman who will be wounded but will win. God didn’t wait a week to come up with a plan. He announced it before Adam and Eve had even left the garden.

The plan wasn’t to explain suffering from a distance. The plan was to enter it. God came down. He was betrayed, beaten, abandoned, and murdered. The worst evil ever committed, the killing of the Son of God, became the greatest good ever accomplished in the same event. And if God can bring salvation out of the crucifixion, He can bring good out of anything in your life.

Romans 8:28 (NIV) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Joseph was sold by his brothers, falsely accused, and forgotten in prison for years. In the end, he looked at the men who did it and said, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:20). God did not cause what they did. But He was not going to waste it either. God redeems what He did not cause.

But why?

We don’t get every “why.” God has not promised to explain everything (Deuteronomy 29:29). Job lost everything and asked God why for thirty-seven chapters. God never told him. Instead, God showed up, spoke out of a storm, and reminded Job who He was. And Job said, “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you” (Job 42:5).

Job got a Who, not a why. And it was enough. Here’s what I have learned. You may never know why. But you can always know Who. And He is good. When the why doesn’t come, hold on to the Who.

Evil has an expiration date.

Revelation 21:4 (NIV) “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

God is not fixing this world by explaining it. He is fixing it by ending sin and death forever. This is not how the story ends. The God who entered our suffering is the God who will end it.

So is God good? Absolutely. Is He powerful? Yes. Then why is there evil? Because He made us free, we chose wrong, and the world broke because of us. But He was not surprised; He did not stay away; He took the worst of it on Himself, and He is coming back to finish the job. That’s the answer. How? By a cross and an empty tomb.

F. God Is Father

We’ve talked about His power, His holiness, His knowledge, His presence. But I saved the most important thing for last. Because of everything God could have told us to call Him, here is the name Jesus chose.

Matthew 6:9 (NIV) This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,”

Father. Not Master, though He is. Not King, though He is. Not Judge, though He is. When Jesus taught us to pray, He said, start with Father. Of all the ways God has revealed Himself, this is the one He most wants you to know.

Romans 8:15-16 (NIV) ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Abba is an Aramaic word, the everyday language Jesus and His disciples spoke at home. It means “father.” It appears three times in the New Testament, and every time it’s paired with the Greek word for father, so the text reads “Abba, Father”: Mark 14:36 (Jesus in Gethsemane, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me.”), Romans 8:15 (“by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’”), and Galatians 4:6 (“God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father’”).

What matters isn’t the dictionary definition, but who used it and how. Abba was the family word. It was what you called your father at home, not the formal term you’d use in a legal document or a synagogue prayer. Jews of that day did not address God as Abba in prayer. They used reverent titles. Jesus did, and it shocked them.

Look at what Paul does in Romans 8:15. He puts two pictures side by side: a slave and a son. A slave comes to the master with his head down, wondering if he’s in trouble, preparing to be punished. A son comes to his dad and climbs up into his lap. And Paul says the Holy Spirit didn’t make you a slave. He made you a son. You don’t come to God wondering if you’re allowed in the room. You come to Him because you belong there.

You may hear some people say “Abba means Daddy.” That’s an overstatement, and scholars have pushed back. Small children used Abba, but grown adults used it for their fathers too, and it carried respect as well as affection. “Daddy” makes it sound babyish. A better fit is “Dad” or “my father,” spoken by a son who knows he belongs. Intimate, but not childish. (More on this)

1 John 3:1 (NIV) See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Lavished. That’s not a measured word. Lavished is what you do when you’re not counting the cost. That’s how the Father loves you. He pours out His love.

The Father who runs.

Jesus told a story about what God the Father is like. In the parable of the prodigal son, a son demands his inheritance early, which was basically telling his father, “I wish you were dead.” He takes the money, leaves, and blows every dime. He ends up feeding pigs and wishing he could eat what they ate. Finally, he comes to his senses and heads home, rehearsing a speech about how he’ll be a servant now.

Luke 15:20 (NIV) So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

While he was still a long way off, that means the father was watching. Every day. Looking down the road. And when he saw his boy, he ran. In that culture, a grown man did not run. It was undignified. He didn’t care. He didn’t let the son finish his speech. He put a robe on him, a ring on his finger, and threw a party.

That is what God the Father is like. That is Jesus’ own description. Not waiting to punish you. Watching for you. Running toward you.

Matthew 7:9-11 (NIV) ⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Psalm 103:13 (NIV) As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

When “Father” is a hard word.

For some, the word “father” doesn’t feel good. Maybe your dad wasn’t there. Maybe he was there, and you wish he hadn’t been. Maybe he was distant, angry, unpredictable, abusive, or impossible to please. And when you hear “God is your Father,” something in you pulls back.

God is not a bigger version of your earthly father. Your earthly father, however good or bad, was a broken man in a broken world. God is the Father your dad was supposed to point you to, and if your dad failed, it was because he isn’t God. Don’t make your earthly father a point of reference for God. Build your view of God from His Word. Build it on the Father who runs toward you and loves you.

Religion can do the same damage. Some of us were taught about a God who is always disappointed, always keeping score, always about to bring the hammer down on you. That is not the Father Jesus described.

I want to talk about church hurt for a minute, because some of you may be carrying it. A pastor let you down. A leader you trusted turned out to be something else behind closed doors. Someone in the church said something or did something that cut deep, and it made you wonder if any of this is real. Church hurt is real hurt. It’s often worse than other kinds, because it came from the place that was supposed to be safe.

Here is what I’ve learned. A lot of church hurt starts long before the hurt happens. It starts when we put a person where only God belongs. We take a pastor, a leader, a mentor, and without meaning to, we make them the face of God in our lives. We hang our faith on them. We measure God by them. And then the day comes when they fail, because they are human, and it feels like God failed. But God didn’t fail. A man did. And a man was never supposed to hold that position.

Psalm 118:8-9 (NIV) ⁸ It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in humans. ⁹ It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.

Jeremiah 17:5, 7 (NIV) ⁵ This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD.” ⁷ “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.”

People may fail you. Pastors, leaders, friends. Because they’re all human. If your faith is built on a person, it will fall when that person does. If your faith is built on God, it holds. The church at Corinth had this exact problem. Some said, “I follow Paul”; others, “I follow Apollos,” and Paul stopped them: “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants! God has been making it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:5-6).

Here is how we all keep the right perspective. Honor your leaders. Pray for them. Learn from them. But keep your eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2), not on the person pointing you to Him. And if someone in the church has hurt you, don’t let the person who used God’s name keep you from the God whose name they used. The one who hurt you was not Him. Judge God by what Jesus said about Him. Not by what a church or a person told you He was like.

The Father who made the universe knows your name. He is watching over you. He is not disappointed in you. He is not done with you. He is your Abba. And He wants you home.

If God Is Who He Says He Is…

If God is who He says He is, then you can trust Him with the things you can’t control. If He is all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, and good, then the thing you’ve been carrying by yourself was never yours to carry. Give it to Him.

If God is who He says He is, then He deserves your worship. Not just your Sunday morning. Your whole life. The Bible calls this the fear of the Lord, and it doesn’t mean being scared of Him. It means being so aware of who He is that everything else shrinks down to its right size.

Proverbs 9:10 (NIV) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

If God is who He says He is, then the lies you’ve believed about Him have to go. He is not distant. He is not angry with you. He is not a force. He is not whoever you want Him to be. He is I AM. Compassionate and gracious. Slow to anger. Abounding in love. Holy. Faithful. Unchanging. Your Father.

And if God is who He says He is, then He is good. Even now. Even in the thing you don’t understand. Especially there.

So here’s the question I want to end this lesson with. Not “Do you believe in God?” Almost everybody says yes to that. The question is, do you believe God is who He says He is? Do you believe He is good? Because how you answer that question will shape every other decision you make.

He has made Himself known. He has told you who He is. He invites you to know Him, not just learn about Him. The invitation is open, and He is waiting for you. Let’s pray.

This Week’s Challenge

At the end of this lesson is a list of God’s names from the Bible. Every name tells you something about who He is. This week, I want you to pray to God by a different name each day. Here’s how.

Each morning, take one name from the list. Read the verse where that name is found. Then pray to God using that name and thank Him for being that to you. “Jehovah Jireh, You are my Provider. Thank You that You see what I need today.” Keep it simple. Then, watch for Him to show up as that name. Write down what you see.

• Day 1: Yahweh, I AM (Exodus 3:14)
• Day 2: El Shaddai, God Almighty (Genesis 17:1)
• Day 3: Jehovah Jireh, The LORD Will Provide (Genesis 22:14)
• Day 4: Jehovah Rapha, The LORD Who Heals (Exodus 15:26)
• Day 5: Jehovah Shalom, The LORD Is Peace (Judges 6:24)
• Day 6: Jehovah Raah, The LORD Is My Shepherd (Psalm 23:1)
• Day 7: Abba, Father (Romans 8:15)

Proverbs 18:10 (NIV) The name of the LORD is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

Appendix: The Names of God

Appendix: The Names of God

In the Bible, a name is not just a label. A name tells you who someone is. God revealed Himself to His people through His names, and each one shows a different part of His character. Here are the ones you will see most often.

Name	Meaning	Where to Find It	What It Tells You
Elohim	God, the Creator, the Mighty One	Genesis 1:1	The first name for God in the Bible. He is the powerful Creator of everything that exists.
Yahweh (YHWH, “the LORD”)	I AM, the self-existing One	Exodus 3:14-15	God’s personal, covenant name. When you see LORD in all capitals in your Bible, this is the name behind it. He is, and He keeps His promises.
Adonai	Lord, Master	Psalm 8:1, Genesis 15:2	He has the right to rule. He is the owner, and we are His.
El Shaddai	God Almighty, the All-Sufficient One	Genesis 17:1	Nothing is too hard for Him, and nothing is lacking in Him. He is enough.
El Elyon	God Most High	Genesis 14:18-20	There is no one above Him. He is sovereign over every ruler, power, and circumstance.
El Roi	The God Who Sees Me	Genesis 16:13	Hagar, a runaway servant in the desert, spoke this. God sees the overlooked and the forgotten.
El Olam	The Everlasting God	Genesis 21:33	He has no beginning and no end. He was there before you, and He will be there after.
Jehovah Jireh	The LORD Will Provide	Genesis 22:14	Abraham named Him after God provided the ram in place of Isaac. God sees the need and provides.
Jehovah Rapha	The LORD Who Heals	Exodus 15:26	Body, mind, heart, and relationships. Healing is part of His nature.
Jehovah Nissi	The LORD Is My Banner	Exodus 17:15	The banner is what an army rallies around. God is our victory and the One we gather under.
Jehovah Shalom	The LORD Is Peace	Judges 6:24	Gideon named Him when he was afraid. God is peace amid fear.
Jehovah Raah	The LORD Is My Shepherd	Psalm 23:1	He leads, feeds, protects, and goes after the one who wanders.
Jehovah Tsidkenu	The LORD Our Righteousness	Jeremiah 23:6	We could never be righteous on our own. He becomes our righteousness.
Jehovah Shammah	The LORD Is There	Ezekiel 48:35	He is present. Wherever His people are, He is.
Jehovah Sabaoth	The LORD of Hosts (LORD Almighty)	1 Samuel 1:3	He commands the armies of heaven. Nothing stands against Him.
Abba	Father, “Dad”	Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6, Mark 14:36	The closest, most personal name of all. The name Jesus used, and the name the Spirit gives you.

A note on “Jehovah.” The Hebrew name is written YHWH and is usually pronounced Yahweh. “Jehovah” is an older English way of writing the same name, and it’s the form most people know these names by, so that’s what we’ve used here. Yahweh Yireh and Jehovah Jireh are the same name.