Hos 6:3 Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.
The Bible urges us to live with deep reverence for God. In studying the attributes of God to increase in our knowledge of God, we can if we’re not careful, become exclusively cognitive and lose its relational qualities. But we study the attributes of God to broaden our understanding and therefore deepen our relationship with God.
Even when we try to think relationally about God’s attributes, we can still get emotionally conflicted. When we reflect on God being patient, for example, we can think, If God is patient, I should be patient. How can I be as patient as possible as quickly as possible?
We try to be patient for God as if God were impatient with our progress. We ask questions of emulation before we ask questions of rest. We try to imitate an attribute of God before we find security in it. When we do this, each quality of God becomes an intimidating standard rather than a source of refuge.
When we look at Nehemiah, Neh 8:10 “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” The reality that God is joyful steadied Nehemiah’s life.
Paul draws on the parent-child imagery to illustrate how God’s character motivates change in our lives: Eph 5:1 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” In other words, let God’s delight in us fuel our efforts to be more like him. When we study each of God’s attributes, we are to be like children who put on our father’s oversized work clothes, smile, and say, “Look at me! I’m just like you,” because we find joy and security in the relationship.
Confusion arrises when we are unsure of what God expects from us, then it is hard to feel like a playful child trying on our parent’s clothes.
In these moments of confusion, Our instinct, often, is to pit one attribute of God against another. We think, “Because God is loving, he would want me to do A, but because he is just, he would want me to do B. But I can’t do both A and B.” We feel torn because we think God is complicated.
As fallen people in a finite world we want the attributes of pleasure (eating whatever we want) and fitness (being thin). We want the attributes of spontaneity (purchasing something on a whim) and responsibility (saving for the future). Even when we’re not being sinful, we are not simple.
But God is simple and God’s simplicity means that all of God’s attributes live in harmony with one another. He is never ever in conflict with himself. God does not live with internal tensions. Therefore, God doesn’t have expectations of us that are in tension with one another. But life doesn’t always feel as simple as the character of God. We rightly get frustrated with people who conclude that because God is simple, life is too. They make life seem easier than it is.
Because we live in a broken world, with fallen people and as fallen people, life can feel complicated. How do we reconcile the reality that God is simple, but our lived experienced is complex? Let’s return to the image of a parent and child.
Imagine a child who feels torn because he has chores to complete, homework to do, and its Grandma’s birthday. Let’s assume, for this illustration, that the child has not been negligent with his work. He is stressed because he wants to please his parents but doesn’t know what to do. The child thinks,
“My parents are smart and want me to do well in school, so I should do my homework.”
“My parents are neat and want me to be orderly, so I should clean my room.”
“My parents are loving and want me to value family, so I should go to Grandma’s birthday party.”
“My parents are going to be mad at me because I can’t do all three.”
The child begins to fear his parents, dreads seeing them. How do good parents respond to this child? They smile, pull him close, affirm his strong desire to honor them, and help him think through the situation. How does the child feel about his parents after this interaction? Safe, trusting, and loved. Where does he want to go when life gets hard again? To his parents. This resting in the parent character leads to a refined character and maturity.
Similarly, God’s happiness is revealed in the parents’ smile. Even though the situation is legitimately hard (paralleling the brokenness of the world), we see God’s simplicity in the response that values character more than immediate outcome.
The emulation (imitating God) will always be imperfect — because of the limitations of our sinful nature and the conflicting responsibilities of a broken world — but resting in God’s character allows our progressive growth to not feel futile.
We can be honest — sanctification is challenging and complex. We can be perpetually in process and God can still be happy. This removes the sense of desperate striving that exhausts so many of us as we live with a real sense that we’re not good enough. God doesn’t feel compelled to rush the process (progressive sanctification is his idea). He delights in our growth as parents delight in their child’s first step.
How might we respond to this reflection on God’s simplicity and happiness?
We must find rest in God’s character by pondering His attributes.
Soli Deo Gloria