General Comments on God's Attributes

Spurgeon commenting on Psalm 9:10 observes that

Ignorance is worst when it amounts to ignorance of God, and knowledge is best when it exercises itself upon the Name of God (Click here for study on Names of God). This most excellent knowledge leads to the most excellent grace of faith. O, to learn more of the attributes and character of God. Unbelief, that hooting night bird, cannot live in the light of divine knowledge, it flies before the sun of God's great and gracious name. ...By knowing his name is also meant an experimental acquaintance with the attributes of God, which are everyone of them anchors to hold the soul from drifting in seasons of peril. The Lord may hide his face for a season from his people, but he never has utterly, finally, really, or angrily, forsaken them that seek him.

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Commenting on Psalm 18:22 he adds that

The word, the character, and the actions of God should be evermore before our eyes; we should learn, consider, and reverence them. Men forget what they do not wish to remember, but the excellent attributes of the Most High are objects of the believer's affectionate and delighted admiration. We should keep the image of God so constantly before us that we become in our measure conformed unto it. This inner love to the right must be the main spring of Christian integrity in our public walk. The fountain must be filled with love to holiness and then the streams which issue from it will be pure and gracious.

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In life and death we prove the attributes of God’s righteousness. We find that He does not lie but is faithful to His Word. We learn the attributes of mercy, for He is gentle in the time of our weakness. We prove the attributes of His immutability, for we find Him “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8).

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Commenting on Psalm 37:4 Spurgeon encourages us to remember that

Every name, attribute, word, or deed of Jehovah, should be delightful to us, and in meditating thereon our soul should be as glad as is the epicure who feeds delicately with a profound relish for his dainties.

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Our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep who was brought up from the dead (see note Hebrews 13:20), uses His omnipotence, His omniscience, and His divine attributes to keep His sheep. My dear believer, rest assured, He will preserve you! You are in good keeping. He is the Shepherd, the great Shepherd and the chief Shepherd (see note 1 Peter 5:4).

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In Morning and Evening (May 18) Spurgeon reminds us that...

All the attributes of Christ, as God and man, are at our disposal. All the fulness of the Godhead, whatever that marvellous term may comprehend, is ours to make us complete. He cannot endow us with the attributes of Deity; but He has done all that can be done, for He has made even His divine power and Godhead subservient to our salvation. His omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability and infallibility, are all combined for our defence.

Arise, believer, and behold the Lord Jesus yoking the whole of his divine Godhead to the chariot of salvation! How vast his grace, how firm his faithfulness, how unswerving his immutability, how infinite his power, how limitless his knowledge!

All these are by the Lord Jesus made the pillars of the temple of salvation; and all, without diminution of their infinity, are covenanted to us as our perpetual inheritance. The fathomless love of the Saviour’s heart is every drop of it ours; every sinew in the arm of might, every jewel in the crown of majesty, the immensity of divine knowledge, and the sternness of divine justice, all are ours, and shall be employed for us. The whole of Christ, in his adorable character as the Son of God, is by Himself made over to us most richly to enjoy. His wisdom is our direction, His knowledge our instruction, His power our protection, His justice our surety, His love our comfort, His mercy our solace, and His immutability our trust. He makes no reserve, but opens the recesses of the Mount of God and bids us dig in its mines for the hidden treasures. “All, all, all are yours,” saith He, “be ye satisfied with favour and full of the goodness of the Lord.” Oh! how sweet thus to behold Jesus, and to call upon Him with the certain confidence that in seeking the interposition of His love or power, we are but asking for that which He has already faithfully promised.

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OMNISCIENCE

Suppose for a moment that Jehovah could not see the works and know the thoughts of man. Would you then become more careless concerning Him than you are now? I think not. In nine cases out of ten, and perhaps in a far larger and sadder proportion, the doctrine of divine omniscience, although it is believed, has no practical effect on our lives at all. The mass of mankind forget God.

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I have known a man who was once stopped from an act of sin by there being a cat in the room. He could not bear even the eyes of that poor creature to see him. Swearer! Could you swear if you could see God's eye looking at you? Thief! Drunkard! Harlot! Could you indulge in your sins if you saw His eyes on you? Oh, I think they would startle you, and bid you pause, before you did in God's own sight rebel against His law.
 

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When a great Grecian artist was fashioning an image for the temple, he was diligently carving the back part of the goddess. One said to him, "You need not finish that part of the statue, because it is to be built into the wall."

He replied, "The gods can see in the wall."

He had a right idea of what is due to God. That part of my religion which no man can see should be as perfect as if it were to be observed by all.

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I have sometimes stood in a picture gallery, and there has been a painting of some old warrior, and he has looked straight at me. If I have gone to the other end of the room, he has still looked at me. Wherever you are in the room, a well-painted portrait will be looking at you. Such is God. Wherever you are, the eye of God will be on you—as much on you as if there were not another person in the whole world.

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Psalm 139:1
“O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.”

He invokes in adoration Jehovah the all-knowing God, and he proceeds to adore him by proclaiming one of his peculiar attributes. If we would praise God aright we must draw the matter of our praise from himself - “O Jehovah, thou hast.”

No pretended god knows aught of us; but the true God, Jehovah, understands us, and is most intimately acquainted with our persons, nature, and character. How well it is for us to know the God who knows us!

The divine knowledge is extremely thorough and searching; it is as if he had searched us, as officers search a man for contraband goods, or as pillagers ransack a house for plunder. Yet we must not let the figure run upon all fours, and lead us further than it is meant to do, the Lord knows all things naturally and as a matter of course, and not by any effort on his part.

Searching ordinarily implies a measure of ignorance which is removed by observation; of course this is not the case with the Lord; but the meaning of the Psalmist is, that the Lord knows us as thoroughly as if he had examined us minutely, and had pried into the most secret corners of our being.

This infallible knowledge has always existed - “Thou hast searched me”: and it continues unto this day, since God cannot forget that which he has once known. There never was a time in which we were unknown to God, and there never will be a moment in which we shall be beyond his observation.

Note how the Psalmist makes his doctrine personal, he saith not, “O God, thou knowest all things”; but, “thou hast known me.” It is ever our wisdom to lay truth home to ourselves. How wonderful the contrast between the Observer and the observed! Jehovah and me! Yet this most intimate connection exists, and therein lies our hope. Let the reader sit still a while and try to realize the two poles of this statement, - the Lord and poor puny man - and he will see much to admire and wonder at.

Psalm 139:2
“Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising.”

Me thou knowest, and all that comes of me. I am observed when I quietly sit down, and marked when I resolutely rise up. My most common and casual acts, my most needful and necessary movements, are noted by thee, and thou knowest the inward thoughts which regulate them. Whether I sink in lowly self-renunciation, or ascend in pride, thou seest the motions of my mind, as well as those of my body. This is a fact to be remembered every moment: sitting down to consider, or rising up to act, we are still seen, known, and read by Jehovah our Lord.

“Thou understandest my thought afar off.”

Before it is my own it is foreknown and comprehended by thee. Though my thought be invisible to the sight, though as yet I be not myself cognizant of the shape it is assuming, yet thou hast it under thy consideration, and thou perceivest its nature, its source, its drift, its result. Never dost thou misjudge or wrongly interpret me, my inmost thought is perfectly understood by thine impartial mind. Though thou shouldst give but a glance at my heart, and see me as one sees a passing meteor moving afar, yet thou wouldst by that g!impse sum up all the meanings of my soul, so transparent is everything to thy piercing glance.

Psalm 139:3
“Thou compassest my path and my lying down.”

My path and my pallet, my running and my resting, are alike within the circle of thine observation. Thou dost surround me even as the air continually surrounds all creatures that live. I am shut up within the wall of thy being; I am encircled within the bounds of thy knowledge. Waking or sleeping I am still observed of thee. I may leave thy path, but thou never leavest mine. I may sleep and forget thee, but thou dost never slumber, nor fall into oblivion concerning thy creature. The original signifies not only surrounding, but winnowing and sifting. The Lord judges our active life and our quiet life; he discriminates our action and our repose, and marks that in them which is good and also that which is evil. There is chaff in all our wheat, and the Lord divides them with unerring precision.

“And art acquainted with all my ways.”

Thou art familiar with all I do; nothing is concealed from thee, nor surprising to thee, nor misunderstood by thee. Our paths may be habitual or accidental, open or secret, but with them all the Most Holy One is well acquainted. This should fill us with awe, so that we sin not; with courage, so that we fear not; with delight, so that we mourn not.

Psalm 139:4
“For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.”

The unformed word, which lies within the tongue like a seed in the soft, is certainly and completely known to the Great Searcher of hearts. A negative expression is used to make the positive statement all the stronger: not a word is unknown is a forcible way of saying that every word is well known. Divine knowledge is perfect, since not a single word is unknown, nay, not even an unspoken word, and each one is “altogether” or wholly known. What hope of concealment can remain when the speech with which too many conceal their thoughts is itself transparent before the Lord? O Jehovah, how great art thou! If thine eye hath such power, what must be the united force of thine whole nature!

Psalm 139:5
“Thou hast beset me behind and before.”

As though we were caught in an ambush, or besieged by an army which has wholly beleaguered the city walls, we are surrounded by the Lord. God has set us where we be, and beset us wherever we be. Behind us there is God recording our sins, or in grace blotting out the remembrance of them; and before us there is God foreknowing all our deeds, and providing for all our wants. We cannot turn back and so escape him, for he is behind; we cannot go forward and outmarch him, for he is before. He not only beholds us, but he besets us; and lest there should seem any chance of escape, or lest we should imagine that the surrounding presence is yet a distant one, it is added, -

“And laid thine hand upon me.”

The prisoner marches along surrounded by a guard, and gripped by an officer. God is very near; we are wholly in His power; from that power there is no escape. It is not said that God will thus beset us and arrest us, but it is done - “Thou hast beset me.” Shall we not alter the figure, and say that our heavenly Father has folded his arms around us, and caressed us with his hand? It is even so with those who are by faith the children of the Most High.

Psalm 139:6
“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.”

I cannot grasp it. I can hardly endure to think of it. The theme overwhelms me. I am amazed and astounded at it. Such knowledge not only surpasses my comprehension, but even my imagination.

“It is high, I cannot attain unto it.”

Mount as I may, this truth is too lofty for my mind. It seems to be always above me, even when I soar into the loftiest regions of spiritual thought. Is it not so with every attribute of God? Can we attain to any idea of his power, his wisdom, his holiness? Our mind has no line with which to measure the Infinite. Do we therefore question? Say, rather, that we therefore believe and adore. We are not surprised that the Most Glorious God should in his knowledge be high above all the knowledge to which we can attain: it must of necessity be so, since we are such poor limited beings; and when we stand a-tip-toe we cannot reach to the lowest step of the throne of the Eternal.

Psalm 139:7
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit?”

Here omnipresence is the theme, - a truth to which omniscience naturally leads up. Not that the Psalmist wished to go from God, or to avoid the power of the divine life; but he asks this question to set forth the fact that no one can escape from the all-pervading being and observation of the Great Invisible Spirit. Observe how the writer makes the matter personal to himself - “Whither shall I go?” It were well if we all thus applied truth to our own cases. It were wise for each one to say - The spirit of the Lord is ever around me: Jehovah is omnipresent to me.

“Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?”

If, full of dread, I hastened to escape from that nearness of God which had become my terror, which way could I turn? “Whither?.... Whither?” He repeats his cry. No answer comes back to him. The reply to his first “Whither?” is its echo, - a second “Whither?” From the sight of God he cannot be hidden, but that is not all, m from the immediate, actual, constant presence of God he cannot be withdrawn. We must be, whether we will it or not, as near to God as our soul is to our body. This makes it dreadful work to sin; for we offend the Almighty to his face, and commit acts of treason at the very foot of his throne. Go from him, or flee from him we cannot: neither by patient travel nor by hasty flight can we withdraw from the all-surrounding Deity. His mind is in our mind; himself within ourselves. His spirit is over our spirit; our presence is ever in his presence.

Ps139:8
“If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there.”

Filling the loftiest region with his yet loftier presence, Jehovah is in the heavenly place, at home, upon his throne. The ascent, if it were possible, would be unavailing for purposes of escape; it would, in fact, be a flying into the centre of the fire to avoid the heat. There would he be immediately confronted by the terrible personality of God. Note the abrupt words -

“Thou, there.” “If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.”

Descending into the lowest imaginable depths among the dead, there should we find the Lord. Thou! says the Psalmist, as if he felt that God was the one great Existence in all places. Whatever Hades may be, or whoever may be there, one thing is certain, Thou, O Jehovah, art there. Two regions, the one of glory and the other of darkness, are set in contrast, and this one fact is asserted of both - “thou art there.” Whether we rise up or lie down, take our wing or make our bed, we shall find God near us. A “behold” is added to the second clause, since it seems more a wonder to meet with God in hell than in heaven, in Hades than in Paradise. Of course the presence of God produces very different effects in these places, but it is unquestionably in each; the bliss of one, the terror of the other. What an awful thought, that some men seem resolved to take up their night's abode In hell, a night which shall know no morning.

Ps139:9
“If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.”

If I could fly with all swiftness, and find a habitation where the mariner has not yet ploughed the deep, yet I could not reach the boundaries of the divine presence. Light flies with inconceivable rapidity, and it flashes far afield beyond all human ken; it illuminates the great and wide sea, and sets its waves gleaming afar; but its speed would utterly fail if employed in flying from the Lord. Were we to speed on the wings of the morning breeze, and break into oceans unknown to chart and map, yet there we should find the Lord already present. He who saves to the uttermost would be with us in the uttermost parts of the sea.

Wherever you are, your heavenly Father watches over you. He looks on you as if there were no other created being in the entire world. His eye is fixed on you every moment. You cannot banish me from my Lord. Send me to the snows of Siberia, and I will have the eyes of God on me. Send me to Australia, and He will visit me. Send me to the utmost verge of this globe, and I will still have God’s eye on me. Put me in the desert, where there is not one blade of grass, and His presence will cheer me. Let me go to sea in the howling tempest, with winds shrieking, the waves lifting their mad hands to the skies, and I will have the eye of God on me. Let me sink. Let my gurgling voice be heard in the waves. Let my body lie down in the caverns of the sea, and still the eye of God will be on my very bones. “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me” ( Psalm. 139:9–10 ). And in the resurrection day, my every atom will be tracked in its wanderings. The eye of God is everywhere. Providence is universal. God’s eye is on your friends who are far away. If you have beloved ones moving, wherever they go, God will keep them. Wherever you are, whatever your case, God will be with you. His eye is at the wedding, the funeral, the cradle, and the grave. In the battle, God’s eye is looking through the smoke. The revolution of God’s hand is managing the masses who have broken from their rulers. In the earthquake, Jehovah is manifested. In the storm, there is God’s hand tossing the ship, dashing it against the rocks, or saving it from the boisterous waves. In all seasons, always, in all dangers, and in all regions of the earth, there is the hand of God.

Ps139:10
“Even there shall thy hand lead me.”

We could only fly from God by his own power. The Lord would be leading, covering, preserving, sustaining us even when we were fugitives from him.

“And thy right hand shall hold me.”
In the uttermost parts of the sea my arrest would be as certain as at home, God's right hand would there seize and detain the runaway. Should we be commanded on the most distant errand, we may assuredly depend upon the upholding right hand of God as with us in all mercy, wisdom, and power. The exploring missionary in his lonely wanderings is led, in his solitary feebleness he is held. Both the hands of God are with his own servants to sustain them, and against rebels to overthrow them; and in this respect it matters not to what realms they resort, the active energy of God is around them still.

Ps 139:11
“If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me.”

Dense darkness may oppress me, but it cannot shut me out from thee, or thee from me. Thou seest as well without the light as with it, since thou art not dependent upon light, which is thine own creature, for the full exercise of thy perceptions. Moreover, thou art present with me whatever may be the hour; and being present thou discoverest all that I think, or feel, or do. Men are still so foolish as to prefer night and darkness for their evil deeds; but so impossible is it for anything to be hidden from the Lord that they might just as well transgress in broad daylight.

Darkness and light in this agree;
Great God, they're both alike to thee.
Thine hand can pierce thy foes as soon
Through midnight shades as blazing noon.

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Psalm 147:5
“His understanding is infinite.”

There is no fathoming His wisdom, or measuring His knowledge. He is infinite in existence (infinite omniscience), in power (infinite omnipotence), and in knowledge, as these three phrases plainly teach us. The gods of the heathen are nothing, but our God filleth all things. And yet how condescending! For this is He who so tenderly nurses the sick souls, and waits to be gracious to sinful men. He brings His boundless power and infinite understanding to bear upon human distress for its assuagement and sanctification. For all these reasons let His praise be great: even could it be infinite, it would not exceed his due. In the building of his church and the salvation of souls, His greatness, power, and wisdom are all displayed: let Him be extolled because of each of these attributes.

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OMNIPOTENT

“Say not my soul, ‘From whence can God relieve my care?’
Remember that Omnipotence has servants everywhere.
His method is sublime, his heart profoundly kind,
God never is before his time, and never is behind.”

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By His omnipotence He rules in the world of mind as well as matter, and all things happen as He ordains.

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Commenting on Ps 89:13 "Thou hast a strong arm; Thy hand is mighty, Thy right hand is exalted" Spurgeon writes - Thou hast a mighty arm, omnipotence is Thine in smiting or uplifting; strong is Thy hand, Thy power to create and grasp is beyond conception great; and high is Thy right hand -- thy skill is incomparable, Thy favour ennobling, Thy working glorious. The power of God so impressed the Psalmist that in many ways he repeated the same thought: and indeed the truth of God's omnipotence is so full of refreshment to gracious hearts that it cannot be too much dwelt upon, especially when viewed in connection with his mercy and truth, as in the following verse.

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The omnipotent God never promises beyond His power. We frequently intend to act according to our word; however, we find ourselves mastered by overwhelming circumstances, and our promise falls to the ground because we are unable to perform it. This can never be so with the almighty God for His ability is without limit. All things are possible with Him. (According to Promise)

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His riches in glory (See notes Philippians 4:19)... means not only the riches of what He has done, but the riches of what He could do; for if He has made hosts of worlds, He could make as many myriads more, and then have but begun. The possibilities of God omnipotent, who shall reckon? But the Lord shall supply all your need according to such glorious possibilities. When a great king gives according to his, riches, then he does not measure out stinted alms to beggars, but he gives like a king, as we say; and if it be some grand festival day, and the king is in his state array, his largesse is on a noble scale. Now, when God is in His glory, bethink you, if you can, what must be the largesse that He distributes,-what the treasures that He brings forth for His own beloved! Now, “according to His riches in glory,” He will supply all your needs. After that, dare you despond? O soul, what insanity is unbelief? What flagrant blasphemy is doubt of the love of God! He must bless us; and, blessed by Him, we must be blest indeed. If He is to supply our needs “according to His riches in glory,” they will be supplied to the full. (Amen!) (His sermon on Philippians 4:19 entitled A New Year's Wish)

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When God says, “I will,” his resolution is supported by omnipotence. you say, “I will,” but you cannot do what you have promised. You will is good enough; but you fail because of lack of the means. you say, “I will, yes, I will;” but afterwards you have meekly to say, “I pray thee, take this will for the deed; for I find that I have overshot the mark. I have promised what I am unable to perform.” Now, that can never happen with God. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Is anything too hard for the Lord, especially anything he promised to perform? Come, then, dear friends, if God be omnipotent, and we know that he is, when he says, “I will,” we dare not doubt it; for eternal power goes forth with the word of his wisdom; and it must, yea, it shall be done. Whatever doubts we might have had, if it were not God’s “I will,” vanish when we come to remember that all things are possible with him.  (See full sermon - Two "I Wills" in Isaiah 41)

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No power, short of the omnipotent energy of the Eternal Spirit, can renew the human heart.

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It is a wonderful thing when omnipotence overcomes omniscience, when omnipotent love will not allow omniscience to recollect.

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God has strength omnipotent; that strength He can communicate to us, and His promise is that He will do so. He will be the food of our souls and the health of our hearts; thus, He will give us strength. There is no telling how much power God can put into a man. When divine strength comes, human weakness is no more a hindrance.

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Everyone who is a man of God has omnipotence as his guardian, and God will sooner empty heaven of angels than leave a saint without defense. Be braver than lions for the right, for God is with you.

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IT is a great encouragement to valor to be assured of victory, for then a man goes forth to war in confidence and ventures where else he had been afraid to go. Our warfare is with evil within us and around us, and we ought to be persuaded that we are able to get the victory, and that we shall do so in the name of the Lord Jesus. We are not riding for a fall, but to win; and win we shall. The grace of God in its omnipotence is put forth for the overflow of evil in every form, hence the certainty of triumph.

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In this day’s labors or trials say, “The Lord God will help me.” Go forth boldly. Set your face like a flint and resolve that no faintness or shame-facedness shall come near you. If God helps, who can hinder? If you are sure of omnipotent aid, what can be too heavy for you? Begin the day joyously, and let no shade of doubt come between thee and the eternal sunshine.

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The treasury of the church is the liberality of God. The power of the church is the omnipotence of Jehovah. The persuasions of the church are the irresistible influ­ences of the Holy Ghost. The destiny of the church is an ultimate conquest over all the sons of men.

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There is no greater proof of the omnipotence of God than His longsuffering, for it shows the greatest possible power for God to be able to control Himself, to be able to keep in an anger which naturally must boil, and restrain a fury which else must burn.

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Man is perfectly free, and God violates not the human will. Yet he is as much able to rule perfectly free agents as he is to control the atoms of inert matter. It is omnipotence which compels yonder starry orbs to obey the laws which God has made and to travel in their appointed courses. But to my mind it is even more marvelous omnipotence which leaves men free agents and controls not their will, but yet sweetly triumphs over them.

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Hell itself does not contain greater monsters of iniquity than you and I might become. Within the magazine of our hearts there is powder enough to destroy us in an instant, if omnipotent grace did not prevent.

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Are you fighting with the adversary to-day? Are Satan, the world, and the flesh, all against you? Be not discouraged nor dismayed. Fight on! For God himself is with you; Jehovah Nissi is your banner, and Jehovah Rophi is the healer of your wounds. Fear not, you shall overcome, for who can defeat Omnipotence? Fight on, “looking unto Jesus”; and though long and stern be the conflict, sweet will be the victory, and glorious the promised reward.

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The right hand is the place of power. Christ at the right hand of God hath all power in heaven and in earth. Who shall fight against the people who have such power vested in their Captain? O my soul, what can destroy thee if Omnipotence be thy Helper? If the aegis of the Almighty cover thee, what sword can smite thee? Rest thou secure. If Jesus is thine all-prevailing King, and hath trodden thine enemies beneath His feet; if sin, death, and hell are all vanquished by Him, and thou art represented in Him, by no possibility canst thou be destroyed.

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OUR unbelief is the greatest hindrance in our way; in fact, there is no other real difficulty as to our spiritual progress and prosperity. The Lord can do everything, but when He makes a rule that according to our faith so shall it be unto us, our unbelief ties the hands of His omnipotence.

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Were Omnipotence to stay its power but for a moment, earth would return to earth and ashes to ashes.

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When you are in trouble, ask God for help. Ask believing that He is able to give it. Ask expecting that He will bestow it. Do not grieve the Spirit of God with doubts and mistrust. These things will be fiery arrows in your soul to drink away the very life of your strength. However hard the struggle, however difficult the trial, seek the Lord, and seek Him in the confidence He deserves. Depend only on the arm invisible, the arm omnipotent. Be a scholar in the school of faith. Become proficient in the divine art of prayer and praise.

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He who knows how to be master of prayer will rule the heart of Christ, and Christ can and will do all things for His people, for the Father has “given all things into his hands” (John 13:3). You can be omnipotent if you know how to pray, omnipotent in all things that glorify God. What does the Word itself say? “Let him take hold of My strength” (Isa. 27:5). Prayer moves the arm that moves the world. Oh, for grace to grasp almighty love in this fashion.

Prayer is a creature’s strength, his very breath and being;
Prayer is the golden key that can open the wicket of mercy;
Prayer is the magic sound that saith to fate, so be it;
Prayer is the slender nerve that moveth the muscles of Omnipotence.
Wherefore, pray, O creature, for many and great are thy wants;
Thy mind, thy conscience, and thy being,
Thy needs commend thee unto prayer, 
The cure of all cares, the grand panacea for all pains,
Doubt’s destroyer, ruin’s remedy, the antidote to all anxieties. 
(Power in Prayer)

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Doth the Creator expect the creature to fulfil his promise for him? No; he who makes the promise ever fulfils it by his own unaided omnipotence. If he speaks, it is done—done by himself. His promises do not depend for their fulfilment upon the co-operation of the puny strength of man.

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“Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (Ps. 37:3–5). Always expect the unexpected when you are dealing with God. Look to see in God and from God what you never saw before. When you are dealing with Him who is omnipotent, faithful, and true, the things that seem utterly impossible will be those most likely to happen.

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He is God indeed who, without reversing the engine or removing a single cog from a wheel, fulfills the desires of His people as they come up before Him. The Lord is so omnipotent that He can work results tantamount to miracles without in the slightest degree suspending any one of His laws. In olden times He did, as it were, stop the machinery of the universe to answer a prayer (see Joshua 10:12–13), but now, with equally godlike glory, He orders events so as to answer believing prayers and yet suspends no natural law. (Power in Prayer)

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Spurgeon remarks that...to make worlds, is nothing to Him compared with saving souls. He takes the big hammer of his omnipotence, and brings it down on the anvil of His wisdom, and worlds fly like sparks all over the sky when He is at that work; and He thinks nothing of it. But He rests in His love, and rejoices over His people with singing when He is at work for their salvation. This is the very joy of His heart; it is never hard for Him to set free those who have been in bondage. (Excerpt from Spurgeon's sermon Forgiveness, Freedom, Favor - Deuteronomy 15:2)

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In Morning and Evening (December 22 AM)

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OMNIPRESENT

Ge 28:16
The Puritans believed in an ever-present God. Oh to be able to feel God everywhere, in the little as well as the great, in our rising up and our sitting down, in our going out and our coming in. I cannot imagine a life more blessed or a spirit more related to the spirit of the glorified than the mind and heart of the person who lives in God, who knows and feels that God is ever-present.

If you are in personal danger, or in the midst of a storm, or facing illness, and if you hear a voice saying, “Surely the Lord is in this place,” you will be perfectly at rest. The anxious air grows pure if He is there. Lightning cannot strike you, or if it does it will be joy. The storm cannot devour you, nor can the hungry ocean engulf you, or if one does it is happiness if God is there. There is no need to fear. Nervousness is wickedness when “the eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you” (Deut. 33:27). 

You may be in great poverty. Your walls may be bare and your furnishings scant. And still you may say, “Surely the Lord is in this place.” Remember the old Christian’s exclamation, “What, all this and my God present with me?” Better to have poverty and feel His presence than to own the world’s riches and not know that He is here. Some of you are in deep affliction. Your difficulties are so great that you do not know where things will end, and you are deeply depressed. But remember, “Surely the Lord is in this place.” Some of you are called to some extraordinary duty and do not feel strong enough. Follow that call, for surely the Lord is in that place. He will help you. His arm will not be far off, so lean on Him. His divine strength is not remote, because “surely the Lord is in this place.

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I heard the story of a man, a blasphemer, profane, an atheist, who was converted singularly by a sinful action of his. He had written on a piece of paper, "God is nowhere," and ordered his child to read it, for he would make him an atheist too. The child spelled it, "God is n-o-w h-e-r-e—God is now here." It was a truth instead of a lie, and the arrow pierced the man's own heart.

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God is everywhere. His circumference is nowhere, but his center is everywhere

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He filled all things by His omnipresence, yet He came and tabernacled on the earth. This is that Jesus, who was born of Mary, yet who existed before all worlds.

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 The thought of Your omnipresence was once horrible to us. We said, “Whither shall we flee from His presence?” It seemed to make hell itself more dreadful, because we heard, “If I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there.”  But now, O Lord, we desire to find You. Our longing is to feel Your presence, and it is heavenly that You are there. The sick bed is soft when You are there. The furnace of affliction grows cool when You are there. The house of prayer when You are present is none other than the house of God, the very gate of heaven.

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“The Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he willbe with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not neither be dismayed.”—Deuteronomy 31:8

IN the presence of a great work or a great warfare, here is a text which should help us to buckle on our harness. If Jehovah Himself goes before us, it must be safe to follow. Who can obstruct our progress if the Lord Himself is in the van? Come, brother soldiers, let us make a prompt advance! Why do we hesitate to pass on to victory? Nor is the Lord before us only; He is with us. Above, beneath, around, within is the omnipotent, omnipresent One. In all time, even to eternity, He will be with us even as He has been. How this should nerve our arm! Dash at it boldly, ye soldiers of the cross, for the Lord of hosts is with us!

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Psalm 121:3
He who keeps you will not slumber.

God is everywhere, in every place, in every time. His eyes never sleep. His hands never rest. He is in the city traffic as well as the wilderness. Every place feels His footstep. Every time trembles at His presence. It is a great comfort to discern God in all our trials. Do not say that these are evil times—no times are evil when God is there. His presence scatters all that is harmful. Do not think that evil circumstances have happened. They may seem greatly evil, but these clouds will break in blessings on your head. If you can see that your troubles are sent from God, it will change them from wasps that sting to bees that gather honey. A present God! I cannot suggest a theme to make you more courageous. You will find it exceedingly helpful and comforting to discover God in the unimportant things. If we had a God for only great things and not also for little things, we would be miserable. Blessed be our heavenly Father. He that wings an angel, guides a sparrow. He that rolls a world along, molds a tear and marks its track when it trickles from your eye. God is in the motion of a grain of dust as much as He is in the revolutions of the planets. God is in the sparkling of a firefly as truly as He is in the flaming comet. God is in your home, in your bedroom, in your office, and in your shop. Recognize God in every little thing. (Ed note: Spurgeon is not teaching that everything is divine which is the false teaching known as "pantheism")

We should not stand a moment if our keeper were to sleep; we need him by day and by night; not a single step can be safely taken except under his guardian eye. This is a choice stanza in a pilgrim song. God is the convoy and body guard of his saints. When dangers are awake around us we are safe, for our Preserver is awake also, and will not permit us to be taken unawares. No fatigue or exhaustion can cast our God into sleep; his watchful eyes are never closed.

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ETERNAL/EVERLASTING

Deut 33:26 33:27
“There is no one like the God of Jeshurun (upright one), Who rides the heavens to help you, and in His excellency on the clouds. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you” (Dt 33:26 27).

God surrounds His children. We dwell in Him. These verses show that the Lord is above, around, and underneath His saints.

“Lord , You have been our dwelling place in all generations” (Psalm 90:1).

We are as surrounded by You as the earth is surrounded by the atmosphere:

Within Thy circling power I stand,

On every side I find Thy hand;

Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,

I am surrounded still with God.

The eternal God is your dwelling place and your rest, and underneath are the everlasting arms. A parallel passage is,

“His left hand is under my head, and His right hand embraces me” (Song 2:6).

The soul has come to its resting place in God and is supported by divine strength. The heart has learned to live in Christ Jesus and to lean on Him day and night. We are like Noah’s dove, weary and about to drop into the destroying waters. But Noah puts out his hand, takes her, and draws her into the ark (Ge 8:9). She was safe in the hollow of his hand, held by her savior with a firm but tender grip. The dove found a refuge that surrounded and upheld her. The hands covered her on all sides. The hand of God sustains those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord,

“He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust” (Psalm 90:1)...

Tested believer, the Lord will be as faithful to you as He has been to me. The Lord will not fail you. Do not be discouraged,

the eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms (Dt 32:27).

You will conquer. You will be delivered, and God will be glorified....God will not take away His hand until He has finished His purpose concerning us....However weak you are, His strength shall be revealed in the everlasting arms, which will not permit you to sink into disaster.

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you” (Deut 32:7).

God—the eternal God—is himself our support at all times, and especially when we are sinking in deep trouble. There are seasons when the Christian sinks very low in humiliation . Under a deep sense of his great sinfulness, he is humbled before God till he scarcely knows how to pray, because he appears, in his own sight, so worthless. Well, child of God, remember that when thou art at thy worst and lowest, yet “underneath” thee “are everlasting arms.” Sin may drag thee ever so low, but Christ’s great atonement is still under all. You may have descended into the deeps, but you cannot have fallen so low as “the uttermost”; and to the uttermost he saves. Again, the Christian sometimes sinks very deeply in sore trial from without . Every earthly prop is cut away. What then? Still underneath him are “the everlasting arms.” He cannot fall so deep in distress and affliction but what the covenant grace of an ever-faithful God will still encircle him. The Christian may be sinking under trouble from within through fierce conflict, but even then he cannot be brought so low as to be beyond the reach of the “everlasting arms”—they are underneath him; and, while thus sustained, all Satan’s efforts to harm him avail nothing.

This assurance of support is a comfort to any weary but earnest worker in the service of God. It implies a promise of strength for each day, grace for each need, and power for each duty. And, further, when death comes , the promise shall still hold good. When we stand in the midst of Jordan, we shall be able to say with David, “I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” We shall descend into the grave, but we shall go no lower, for the eternal arms prevent our further fall. All through life, and at its close, we shall be upheld by the “everlasting arms”—arms that neither flag nor lose their strength, for “the everlasting God fainteth not, neither is weary.”