Who Is God?

Who is God? This question has been on my heart and mind lately. It seems like everywhere I go, I am hearing some rendition of that question as it pertains to knowing Him fully. Here are some examples:

I am reading The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges with my discipler and one of the main points in that book is that we will never pursue holiness to the fullest extent until we get our focus off of ourselves and onto the God of the universe.

Shaun and I are going through Focus on the Family's The Truth Project at church and the latest lesson was on the question "Who is God". I realized again as I was watching the lesson that I do not always live my life as though I know who God is. His character is revealed for us through the scriptures and it is there that we can learn and grow in our knowledge of Him.

We recently met with the youth pastor at our church and were talking with him about how so often we read the Bible with a "me" mentality instead of a "God" mentality. For example, we read the story about David and Goliath and the lesson we draw from it is that we can do anything if we trust in God. But, if you read the story closely you realize that in 1 Samuel 17:46 David gives the reason for fighting Goliath.
" This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel."
David didn't fight for his own glory, but for the glory of God!

I know that I all too often read the Bible trying to see what is in it for me. I underline verses that make me feel good and sometimes skip over the parts that seem too difficult. I want to know God deeper and search for His character throughout His Holy Word. I want to put off my selfishness and replace it with a love for God and people. I know in my mind that everything was created to glorify God, not me, but I don't always live that way. Praise the Lord that we serve a merciful and forgiving God as well as a jealous and righteous God!