God Is

Psalm 104:1

Praise the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with strength and majesty.         

          An acquaintance of mine was complaining that she was put off by God desiring our worship.  She found this to be egotistical.  She reasoned that if God were truly good he would deflect attention and praise away from himself and surely would not have planned for heaven to be a place of eternal adoration.
          How little we understand God!  How easy it is for us to ascribe human characteristics and motivations to a God whose nature and existence are so far above us, so other-worldly that it is out of our reach.  Neither our instincts nor our experience can reveal God to us; he can only be accessed by our faith.
          God is not like us.  "God is Spirit" (John 4:24); we can barely conceive of what that means. I am flesh and blood.  I have a spirit, but I am not spirit alone.
          I John 4:16 says that "God is love."  In I Corinthians 13 we find the attributes of love broken down and each one of them can be acknowledged as another quality exposing the person of God.  God is kind, unable to envy, humble, never rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, eager to forgive, protective, and unfailing.
          We find in I Corinthians 1:30 and Ephesians 4:24 that God is righteousness, redemption and holiness. This is different from saying That God is righteous, a redeemer and holy--although, he is all of those things, too.  From David we learn that God is a shield around us (Psalm 3:3).  Paul tells us that God embodies "secret wisdom" (I Corinthians 2:7).  In the human body of Jesus, God explained that he is "the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6).  And the apostle John in I John 1:5 announces that in addition to being IN the light, "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."
          God tried so hard in the pages of the Bible and in the incarnation of Jesus to help us know him.  What is it that he wants us to worship and adore?  I suggest that it is love, righteousness, redemption, holiness, wisdom, life and light.  God alone is the definition and embodiment of these perfect qualities.  He IS these things.  He wants us to value them, adore them, aspire to them, delight in them now and throughout eternity.

Psalm 148:1-3

Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord from the heavens,
praise him from the heights above.
Praise him all his angels,
praise him , all his heavenly hosts.
Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him all you shining stars.
Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the sky