Living God

It’s the middle of winter in the Midwest. The tall, dark, barren trees seem utterly lifeless. It’s not hard to assume they are dead because it has been so long since we’ve seen their life-giving green leaves. The snowy, overcast days, add to the overall gloom.

When winters begin to feel long (can you tell this winter is starting to feel long for me?), I think of the joy, beauty and hopefulness of spring. There is really nothing like seeing the tiny buds begin to form on the trees. One is reminded that the leaves and flowers are soon to follow. Bright color and flourishing foliage will indeed return to the outside. Everything will be living again.

“Living” is a word that has caught my eye in Scripture over the last month or so. A couple of passages I was familiar with–ones that speak of “living water” and a “living sacrifice.”  But as I began digging into the Word, I found quite a few more:  living hope, living stone, living way, just to name a few.

There were so many that I thought I might just do a little series on them. In this post, I’m going to focus on our LIVING GOD.

If you look at Deuteronomy 5:26, Joshua 3:10, Psalm 42:2 (and many others), you will find the phrase, “the living God.”

Time and time again in Scripture, we are reminded that the God who created the universe, the God who sent His Son to die for our sins, the God who knows every hair on our heads, is living.

We don’t serve a statue or some created, lifeless object. We know, love and serve a *living* God.

Why do you think it’s so vital to know and understand that our God is a living God?

What would our faith be like if the god we served was a large chunk of carved stone? What would our prayers be like if they were directed toward some, created image of gold? How would we get through the storms of life if our god was just an inanimate object that stared back at us blankly when we cried out to him?

Worshiping that kind of god would be like living in an unending winter.

In contrast, our God is described by one commentator as a God “…who lives in and of himself, and is the author and giver of life to all his creatures, whereby he is distinguished from and is opposed unto the lifeless deities of the Gentiles…”

Worshiping that kind of God is like living in an unending spring. It is truly life-giving.

“For in him we live and move and have our being…” (Acts 17:28), emphasis mine.

Listen to the deep desire of the Psalmist, “My soul years, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Psalm 84:2

Where there is life, there is hope. There is communion. There is relationship.

Listen to the longing for relationship in this Psalm, “My souls thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalm 42:2)

This same God, spoken of in Psalms, is the One who changed King Darius’ life forever. In Daniel, chapter 6, we read how Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den…and lived. When the king realized that Daniel’s God had saved him, this is how he responded, “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. ‘For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end…'” Emphasis mine.

Doesn’t the eternality of God instill in us an unwavering confidence and a sure hope?

As we take time to meditate on the truth that our God is the living God, may our souls thirst for Him. May our hearts and flesh cry out for Him.

In view of our living God, let us go be radiant this week.