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Who is God? How would someone describe Him? Can God even be described? The late S.M Lockridge once gave a sermon describing who God is and then concluded that God is simply indescribable. In Psalm 71:19, we read "... O God, who is like you?" And yet we also know from further study of the Psalms that one way we draw closer to God is to reflect and acknowledge who He reveals Himself to be and what He has done and is doing. In the coming months, Lily7 hopes to give you a small glimpse into who God is by focusing on a few of His attributes. By no way an exhaustive description of who God is, understanding these attributes has a profound effect on our life and how we view the world. They also serve to remind us of why we worship God, to reflect on who God is and how, like Reverand Lockridge concluded, He truly is indescribable. God As Loving Bridegroom Meeting our desire to be loved, pursued, and wooed. by Erica K. Rangel While I was home this past Christmas, I decided to flip through some old journals, still neatly stacked on the bookshelves of my "old" bedroom. I approached with both curiosity and fear to be reminded of what a 15 and 16-year old Erica had to say about life. Aside from the curly, girly dot-the-i-with-a-heart handwriting and a few glimpses into the "super awesome" media of my teenage years, I discovered a theme: I wanted someone to love me. I wanted to be thought of as lovely, to be pursued, and to be wooed. I cared deeply for my family, and I enjoyed my friends, but the desire of my heart was intimacy with someone who wanted me for me. Strangely enough, 8 years later, these sentiments are not far from my heart today. In fact, if you read my current journal, I think you would find the same theme, just written in slightly less feminine script. And I’m guessing that many of your journals read the same as well. We want to be wanted. We love to be delighted in. We long to be pursued. In fact, for many of us, these desires are the deepest cries of our heart. Good news: God is not only Father, Redeemer, and King. God is not only Friend, Comforter and Provider. God is The Lover of your soul. I have never had much trouble imagining God as a loving Father, having grown up with a particularly great Dad, who supported, disciplined and provided for me well. Nor have I ever had much trouble imagining God as friend. But for some reason the idea of God as my husband or lover has always sounded sort-of strange, and even creepy. It usually reminds me of this group of girls in high school that went on a six month dating fast because "Jesus was their boyfriend." Hmm ... a little weird. But the Bible has lots to say about God as our ultimate bridegroom, and often speaks of us as His bride. "For your Maker is your husband-the Lord Almighty is His name-the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called God of all the earth. The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit." (Isaiah 54:5-7) "As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God rejoices over you." (Isaiah 62: 5) "‘In that day’, declares the Lord, ‘you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me my master." (Hosea 2:16) "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with His love and rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17) What these verses say to me is that God doesn’t just want my obedience, or my mind or my body. God wants deep intimacy with my heart. He wants me for me. Even in my sin, God announces his intention never to abandon me, but to seek me out and win me back. He delights in me, and longs to captivate my heart, with song and love and the beauty of nature. He finds me lovely and beautiful, the crown of His creation. These are not merely "friendly" or "fatherly" sentiments, ladies. These words speak of a deep, personal and passionate adoration of our hearts. One of my favorite pictures of God as Bridegroom is the story of Hosea and Gomer (see the book of Hosea). The story uses Hosea’s relationship with Gomer as a symbol of God’s love for Israel, or us. Hosea was commanded to take Gomer, a prostitute, as his wife, and to continually pursue her, love her and restore her heart, even when she was adulterous. "The Lord said [to Hosea] ‘Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and she is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods." (Hosea 3:1) Friends, we are Gomer. We have the perfect and fully satisfying love of the ultimate Lover and yet we constantly give our hearts to idols that only disappoint. But God is relentless, and He will come after us. "Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:39 I pray that we will all learn to see God as The Lover of our Souls, inviting us into a sacred romance. I pray that whether we have a husband, a boyfriend, or are single, we would know that we have the unconditional attention and affection of our Creator. And I pray that we run back into His strong and loving arms. Now that would make a good journal entry.