The Eternal God and His Everlasting Arms
Study Text: Deuteronomy 33:27
Introduction:
God is introduced to us as the Eternal God, providing refuge to us and supporting us beneath with the Everlasting Arms.
The challenges of life usually can be categorized under three classes:
1. The Pains of the Occurrences of the Past.
Things that happened in the past, but we are still bearing the burdens and pains today.
2. The Pressure of the Happenings of the Present
Things that we are currently facing or passing through that are overwhelming us and putting us under pressure.
3. The Perplexity of the Probable Situations of the Future
Things we are afraid they might happen in the future, or generally, the fear of the unknown making us to be full of worries.
In all these phases of life challenges, the eternal God is there to give us support and comfort because He is the same in the past, in the present and the future. Hebrews 13:8
We shall be discussing the topic under three subheadings:
1. The Greatness of the Eternal God
2. The Guidance of the Eternal God
3. The Goodness of the Eternal God
1. The Greatness of the Eternal God:
When we are looking at God's greatness, we must remember that we have been created in His image to reflect and glorify Him. When you think about the greatness of God, you can't help but bless Him with your praise. Some of the attributes of God illustrate His greatness to us:
1. Our God is all-knowing.
He knows our faults, our weaknesses, our sins, and our rebellions, yet He loves us.
2. Our God is all-powerful.
He has power to do all things and to destroy all things. He could clear out our lives in an instant, yet He continues to bless us with life.
3. Our God is all-present.
He is present everywhere at all times, He watches us, and is involved in all that we do.
Yet, He shows grace and leads us in our lives away from spiritual and physical danger by His everlasting arms.
God not only reveals His greatness to us, but He also shares His greatness with us. God has created us in His image to reflect Him for His glory. Genesis 1:26-28.
This means that God has shared every attribute of Himself with us, but we will never have them fully because we will never be God.
Because God has revealed to us and shared with us the greatness of His attributes, we must bless and praise His great and holy name. A King who both personally relates and shares His greatness with His own people deserves great praise from His people.
To think about our God who is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent is beyond our comprehension. We live in a world with weaknesses, breakdowns, expiration dates, and limitations. It is very difficult for us to imagine a being with no weakness, no end, no beginning or limits. Yet our God is infinite in all of His qualities. In fact, we could spend a lifetime ascribing greatness to God, adding more greatness to Him every day, and would never reach the end of His greatness. It is absolutely unimaginable.
There is no one like our God. The Scripture testifies to that truth. It is important for every person to acknowledge and see the greatness of God, especially compared to other gods and ourselves.
There are several observations about God greatness:
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1. God is great because he is the sole creator.
Genesis gives us this creation account. It teaches about how God alone created everything.
2. God is great because no one compares to him.
There is no one to compare to Him or compete with Him in glory, honour, power, holiness and in wisdom. He is a God who can give and take away.
He is the great Shepherd. The good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep , he is not hired shepherd like most, but Christ laid down his life for his sheep.
3. God is great because in him true wisdom exists
Romans 11:34
God is where true wisdom is found. So when you think about wisdom, the first thing that should come to mind is what does God have to say about this.
4. God is great because he is Lord over all nations and rulers.
Nations may think they are in control, but the truth is God is in control. Those nations or rulers may think they control their own destiny, but God is in control. He is indeed Lord over all. Colossians 1:15-20
5. God is great because he is superior to all others gods
Isaiah reminds the Israelites that God is not made with human hands, their gods cannot move or speak, or are capable of anything that the one true God is capable of. The people were worshiping the creature rather than the creator. Romans 1:18-23
Do we treat God that he is superior to all other gods/idols?
2. The Guidance of the Eternal God:
The Eternal God guides us by His Everlasting Arms and keeps us saved from all forms of evil in the physical and the spiritual.
Living according to God’s guidance requires certain actions and attitudes:
1. Meditation upon His Word. Psalm 119:105.
What the cloud and fire were to Israel, God’s Word is for us today. It is adequate to guide us through life if we will read and meditate upon it regularly instead of just opening it when we have a problem.
2. Sensitivity to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. John 16:13
The Holy Spirit guides us into God’s truth so we can discern right from wrong, truth from error, and good from evil. With God’s Word and His Spirit, we have everything we need to live a godly life. Our responsibility is to be good stewards of these treasures entrusted to us.
3. Willingness to wait for God’s timing. Isaiah 64:4
Instead of rushing off to start the day, we need to wait for God’s direction by reading His Word and asking Him to implant it in our minds so it can guide us throughout the day.
4. Following God when the way is unclear. Proverbs 3:5-8.
When we are confused, we must trust God and learn to see our circumstances from His perspective as revealed in His Word. Then we will gain clarity and insight for each day.
5. Walking in the Spirit of God in order to be strong and courageous. Joshua 1:9
When we live by faith in the Word of God, our obedience is energized by the Spirit’s presence in us. He is the source of our hope, strength, and courage.
6. Willingness to face conflict.
“But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.
Acts 5:29-32
We live in a world that is hostile to God, and there may be times when our beliefs conflict with culture. Therefore, we must rely on the Holy Spirit to give us discernment, guidance, and strength to stay faithful in times of opposition.
We must be willing to obey God and leave all the consequences to Him. Since the Lord is always true to His Word and keeps His promises, we can trust Him to handle whatever happens as a result of our obedience.
3. The Goodness of the Eternal God:
There are many expressions of God’s goodness. The Lord displays His goodness in a variety of ways, but they are most obvious to us when we have reached the end of our strength and need His help. Some of these are:
1. His Mercy.
God’s mercy is His tenderhearted love and concern expressed toward those in distress. If not for His mercy, we would all be lost because we need His mercy for salvation.
No one can be saved who doesn’t recognize their hopeless, sinful condition and cry out for mercy Luke 18:13.
But God’s mercy is not limited to salvation. Jesus is our High Priest Who sympathizes with our weaknesses and invites us to the throne of grace, where we receive mercy and find grace for help in our time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16.
2. His Grace.
God’s grace is His unmerited favour toward us, but it is so much more than this, too.
It was His grace that took the guilt of our sin and placed it on His Son at the cross. And since God is just, no sin can be overlooked. Every sin must be punished if He is to remain just. Jesus bore the punishment we deserved so that God could justify repentant sinners and declare them righteous.
It is in the death of His Son that God’s goodness is expressed through grace to all who believe in Christ by faith. Ephesians 2:8-9.
But we are not only saved by His grace, we live by it every day of our Christian life.
3. His Love.
This display of His goodness is especially beyond definition. God’s love is immeasurable, unfathomable, and indescribable.
Unlike ours, His love is perfect and is not changed by external influences because it is an aspect of His very nature.
It is expressed in the giving of blessings, but also in His discipline. In our sufferings, He lovingly corrects us so we may share in His holiness and bring Him glory. The pinnacle of His love for us was when He gave His Son to rescue sinful humanity from eternal condemnation John 3:16.
As believers, we are showered with God’s goodness because we are recipients of His endless mercy, His inexhaustible grace, and His unmatched love. The pathway of goodness that God has prepared for us is paved in the blood of Christ Jesus.
There are specific channels God uses to broadcast His goodness to us. These include:
1. Natural blessings
This is the lowest level at which He expresses His goodness and the one we tend to overlook or take for granted. Psalms145: 3-4
That means there is nowhere in the universe you can go where God won't be good to you. Look in every corner of this world and every part of your day and you will find the overflow of His generosity, if you will only begin to look for it.
2. Kind interventions
Psalm 107
God comes to the rescue of people who are frantically searching for something or someone that will satisfy their soul. When they cry out to the Lord, He will deliver them and their soul will find its true home.
God intervenes in the lives of those who have rebelled against the Word of God and suffer for it. When they repent, He delivers them from their distress, breaks the chains of sin that bind them, and turns the night to day.
God intervenes on behalf of His goodness in the lives of foolish people who had given themselves to sin and find its death-bringing results touching their relationships and lives. When they cry to the Lord. He heals them, and reverses the killing effects of sin in their lives.
God rescues those pounded by calamity. When the storms threaten to sink us and we're at our wit's end, we can call to Him and see Him command the storms to be still, because He is good.
He has been there for you, more than you will ever know. No matter what situation you are facing, God is the best Person to take you through. There is no surer source of deliverance or blessing than Him, because He is good all the time.
3. Through God's Son, Jesus
Colossians 1:15
Jesus is God's goodness in the flesh. He demonstrated God's desire to pour out blessing and help and deliverance on us in three ways.
1. He took the judgment that our sins deserved upon Himself. Romans 5:8
God's extravagance flowed to us in the amazing substitution of His Son in our place on the cross. His death for us is the undisputed picture of unmerited goodness.
2. He includes a thousand other things in the gift of Himself
Romans 8:32
God has already shown His goodness toward you in the biggest way possible. All the other little details to help you live a godly life through thick and thin are included in that gift.
3. Jesus unlocks God's goodness toward us in new ways 2 Corinthians 1:20
That means all the good and perfect gifts of God come to us through our relationship with Jesus. If I want to understand and appreciate God's goodness to me, I can begin and end with Jesus.
Conclusion:
Our Eternal God is a great God, He guides His people and keep them from evils by His Everlasting Arms, and He manifests His goodness in several areas of their lives.
