Taking Rest in God’s Characteristics

Being Satisfied with God by Taking Rest in His Characteristics

God Jubilant

Let’s turn things around by adopting God’s joy and ease. Joy in the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10). Nehemiah’s life was made more stable by the knowledge that God delights. That’s just the way life is. This is a task that will test your stamina. Having faith that God was pleased gave Nehemiah the strength he needed to face the challenges of daily life.

We went through this as kids. To the extent that our parents were content, we were also free to let our guards down and enjoy ourselves. When we felt our parents’ disapproval, we would try to figure out where we went wrong or what was bothering them.

Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children; because it is God’s glorious nature that compels us to become like Him (Ephesians 5:1). To rephrase, let God’s pleasure in you motivate you to grow in holiness. Studying God’s qualities is like a youngster putting on their dad’s baggy work clothes and saying, “Look at me!” I can relate to you since we both get happiness and safety from our partnerships.

God’s approval of you in Christ should motivate you to become more Christlike.
When we’re enjoying a good day and the big choices in life aren’t clouding our vision, that approach is useful. However, what about when we cannot make heads or tails of the situation, when we do not know what God requires of us? These are not the times to feel like a curious youngster putting on their parents’ clothes for the first time.

God Is Simple

God doesn’t seem to be straightforward in times of turmoil (plain, clear, noncontradictory). Human nature leads us to constantly compare and contrast God’s different characteristics. For example, we may reason, “Since God is loving, he would want me to do A, but since God is just, he would want me to do B. “But I can’t do A and B at the same time.” We’re conflicted because we believe God is very intricate.

Because of God’s inherent simplicity, the many facets of God’s nature are in perfect harmony with one another. We are not like that because we are fallen beings living in a limited universe. We’d want to be healthy and happy (eat anything we want) (being thin). Responsibility and impulsiveness (the ability to make a purchase on the spur of the moment) are highly desired (saving for the future). We are not simple beings, even when we are not sinning.

It’s easy to understand God since He’s straightforward. Anxiety and stress are foreign to God. This means that God does not demand of us contradictory behaviors. Yet, life doesn’t often seem as straightforward as God. People who assume that since God is straightforward, that life must be as well are a source of justified annoyance. In reality, they only make things seem simpler than they are.

Life may be difficult to navigate because we inhabit a fallen world populated by fallen people and because we ourselves are fallen. How do we make sense of the fact that God is uncomplicated while our actual lives are everything but? Okay, let’s go back to the metaphor of a parent and kid.

The Path from Admiration to Imitation

Picture a youngster who is divided between his excitement about Grandma’s birthday and his need to get his schoolwork done and chores done. For the sake of this example, let’s say the kid hasn’t been slacking off on his homework. This causes him anxiety since he wants to make his parents happy but is at a loss as to how to accomplish so. Assumptions go through the young mind:

“My parents are intelligent people who want the best for me in life, therefore I need to put in the effort to succeed academically.”
I should tidy my room since my parents are neat and want me to be organized.
The birthday celebration for Grandma is this weekend, and my parents would want for me to go since they are caring and want me to cherish family.
Because I can’t achieve all three, my parents will be quite disappointed in me.
The kid starts crying because he is afraid of his parents and dreads meeting them. What would the proper response of caring parents be in this situation? They comfort him with a smile, draw him near, and reassure him of his commitment to honoring them while he figures out what to do. Because this is a metaphor, the parents’ joy shows that God is pleased with the situation. God’s simplicity is seen in the answer, which favors character above immediate result, despite the fact that the situation is really difficult (mimicking the brokenness of the world).

Let us keep looking at life through the lens of Ephesians 5:1 and using our sanctified imaginations. How does the youngster feel about his parents following this interaction? Places where people feel cherished and safe. Where does he want to go when things becomes harsh again? To his parents. This adoration (rest) leads to emulation (refined character and maturity) (refined character and maturity). 1 The emulation will always be imperfect — because of the limits of the kid and the competing obligations of a flawed world — but resting in the parents’ character permits his ongoing maturation to not feel fruitless.

Exhale. It’s okay to be honest about the fact that God is straightforward and life is not. God is satisfied with us even though we are always evolving. This eliminates the sensation of frantic trying that exhausts so many of us as we live with a felt sense that we’re not good enough. It’s not like God needs to hurry things up (after all, progressive sanctification was his idea). Each new stage of our development brings him as much joy as a baby’s first steps do to its parents.

Gratitude and Simplicity for Our God
How could we react to this contemplation on God’s simplicity and happiness?

God must be beaming with parental pride when we pray to him about the challenging and perplexing portions of life. Fear God and observe his commands, because this is the complete responsibility of man. When we experience the complexity of our own souls, we may find clarity in Ecclesiastes 12:13. We may put this passage on like a badge of honor, secure in the knowledge that God takes great pleasure in our half-hearted, baby-step attempts at modeling our lives after His.

The delight of God is like a parent’s joy as they watch their kid open Christmas gifts; if you take the time to savor the little moments of happiness and pleasure throughout the day, you’ll see that God is just as happy as you are.