Women familiar with Titus 2 know that we do a lot of work on knowing God through his self-revelations of his names, attributes, and character in the Bible. Ancient Hebrews were said to have over 3000 names for God that reflected these attributes. I had done a single session brainstorming activity with about a dozen women one time and we came up with 147 that we ourselves had experienced! Henry Blackaby, in his Experiencing God study, has a scripture-referenced list of these characteristics that numbers over 550. One pastor I know has listed over 1100 in his search of the scriptures!
I had talked to a woman recently whose nearly 2 decades of marriage had been marked by her spouse’s alcoholism and abuse. She had come to relate to God almost entirely in terms of her Comfort in the Midst of Suffering. In my work with her, I challenged her to begin to look for and identify other ways that God was present and revealing himself to her that she was missing. That began opening her eyes to God’s presence in many other ways in her life and renewed her hope through a very difficult passage.
I had talked to our Titus 2 ladies about the doctrine of the Trinity and shared with them that while God is unchanging, our needs are constantly changing. In thinking about God’s triune godhead, it is not so much about how God exists in the three persons- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…..but why he does so. I believe it is so that he can be to us whatever we need in any given moment or circumstance…a loving, guiding, disciplining and sovereign Parent……a companionable, relational Partner/brother taking us by the hand, teaching us and showing us how to walk in the path he prepares for us…..and the intimate Presence that convicts, refines, and molds our hearts and minds into the very likeness of God. “I Am that I Am” means that God is whoever is needed in the moment for the need that we have. No better self-revelation of himself could we have than that! God Who Sees Me, God Who Provides, God Who Heals, God My Refuge, God My Strength, God My Comfort, God My Peace, God My Contentment, God My Wisdom……and on and on and on….
There is nothing I can imagine that can come against me or that I can need that God is not fit, able, and willing to address. God’s very choice to exist in triune personhood is for us……both to demonstrate community to us and to be in community with us.
I love discovering new self-revelations of God in his Word, by his Spirit, and through his Creation!