Mortal Thoughts of God

It is undoubtedly difficult to analyze character. The personality is one undivided whole. In analyzing, therefore, we are apt to lose the whole in its parts. The difficulty is especially acute when we seek to define the character of God. It is not that He merely transcends our petty attempts to measure His greatness. But in our analysis we incur the danger of setting the Devine Nature before our minds as a series of lifeless attributes, with which the soul can enjoy no real fellowship. We dwell indeed, on aspects of the Divine character. But these are never abstracted from the fullness of His personality. It is the living God Himself, and not His mere attributes, that fill our spiritual horizon. For, unlike the gods of the nations, who are too often bundles of moral contradiction, Jahweh is a self-consistent personality, true to Himself and the moral principles by which He orders the Universe. This ethical unity of Divine character receives just emphasis in the Psalms. Our God is true. The root quality of His being is truth, and consistency. And one manifestation of His truth is righteousness, or unwavering commitment to that which is straightforward, upright, and honorable. This harmony of truth and righteousness is equally involved in the idea of God’s perfection. The law and ways of God are perfect, and complete. And with God perfection is no superficial appearance. His word is pure, sincere, true to the inmost heart. Let us not forget how vast God’s personality is. He cannot simply be contained in our imperfect minds. A God robbed of all majestic traits and spiritualized into a pure passionless being, would be hollow, empty, and poor, an abstraction that simple souls could not worship in true admiration.