“For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:11
Beyond the question of “WHO is God,” comes the following: “What is God?” John the Apostle calls Him Love, “God IS love.” Jesus Himself reveals to us that He IS the truth, the way, the Life. The Great “I AM” that spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, in speaking to him in this manner, revealed to Moses that God IS perpetual, eternal, Almighty, everlasting, changing not in any aspect or characteristic of His being. As that author of the Letter to the Hebrews put it: “…Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (13:8) But how do you put an ocean into a bottle? How can one grasp the enormity of God, His greatness, if we cannot even count the number of grains of sand on the seashore? So, here we stand before what the students of Scripture throughout the ages declare as God being “ineffable,” too great to be expressed or described in words. Not only is God too great and mighty to grasp, but the essence of His nature is so far-reaching and unchanging, that the only thing we can do is to look heavenward with Bible in hand, trusting the Spirit of God to open our hearts and minds to Christ. It is as the Lord gives the seeking heart that “Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowlege of Him” that we begin to touch the hem of His garment, grasping something of the beauty and wonder of this God who is our Creator and Redeemer. Such was the experience of David, who learned that the most wonderful place in the world to be was in “…the house of the Lord.” (Ps. 27:4) Why? It was to David a place where he could worship, a place set apart for the unique purpose of seeking God, and finding Him. David would go on to write that his objective in desiring and seeking to dwell in the house of the Lord was to “…behold the beauty of the Lord, and enquire in His temple.” It was there in the aloneness with God, trusting the Holy Spirit, worshipping Christ, that God would reveal the ineffable beauty of His Person as God, but also, His nature, the very essence of His person and being.
In another Psalm, the author would declare how precious it was to seek God and find Him. In Psalm 84:10, the author writes: “For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Here is a worshipper of Jesus Christ who has seen the Lord in His glory, in His beauty. He has tasted and seen that the Lord is good, holy, lovely, without fault, perfect in all that He says and is. He thus comes to this conclusion: “For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory.” Not only does the psalmist see God as a sun, his light and life, but as his protector and keeper. He then adds a most wonderful truth concerning what he sees: “…no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” The Eternal, Almighty God, the Great “I AM,” the ineffable Creator and Redeemer, even though He cannot be understood, man being so very limited to understand Him, chooses to bless man by revealing His goodness to him. Thus, as the Apostle James declares, He is the “…Giver of every good and perfect gift.” He delights to give that which is good, and this in abundance.
What is the call of God to the believer who is thirsting after God, to behold His beauty? It is simply, “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” When Moses asked the Lord that he might see His glory, the Lord responded by saying, “…I will make all my goodness pass before thee.” (Exodus 33:19)
Dear Father, Show us Thy glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.