What is God Like?

It is the age-old question that has claimed the attention of countless men and women much smarter than myself. God by definition defies just description, being so much greater and magnificent than we could ever imagine. Perhaps that is what is meant in I Corinthians 13:12, which speaks to the fact that presently we know in part, having only what we can comprehend, but that when we join God in heaven, we shall fully know Him.

Yet, we do know in part –God has given us much information about Himself in the Bible. One passage that gives a very clear insight into the character of God is I Corinthians 13.

I John 4:8 states that God is love. The Greek word used in this verse for love is the same as that translated “charity” in I Corinthians 13 (According to my Strong’s Concordance). So, we may conclude that since the Bible tells us that God is love, the description of love given in I Corinthians 13 is, in fact, a description of God Himself. Not to say that it is an exhaustive description, but it does give a very clear picture of some aspects of the nature of God.

Charity suffereth long, and is kind…
God is often described in the Bible as longsuffering, for example in Exodus 34:6 when the Lord was meeting with Moses on Mount Sinai, His name was proclaimed, “And The Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth…” (emphasis mine) As to kindness, there is Psalm 117: “O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For His merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord.”

Charity envieth not...
There is a difference between envy and jealousy. Envy is, according to my dictionary, “To repine at another’s prosperity or happiness”, while jealousy deals with the suspicion of faithlessness in the area of love. (Although God never “wonders” if there is something more precious to His child than Himself --He always knows.) In other words, God does not covet what is ours, nor does He covet or despise our happiness. God is elsewhere described as a jealous God, but He does not envy. He simply wants our love for Him to eclipse whatever else is in our lives.

Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up...
God is not --as most humans are—“puffed up” with undue pride. The word vaunt means to boast or brag ostentatiously. It is true that God speaks of His own greatness, but unlike the prideful boasting of man, every word God speaks is true and deserved.

Doth not behave itself unseemly...
The word unseemly means unbecoming, improper, or indecent. God is never any of those things! His complete holiness prevents it.

Seeketh not her own...
If Christ had sought “His own”, He would never have yielded Himself to be tortured and die that we might be saved. God is the perfect example of selfless sacrifice.

is not easily provoked...
As we have already seen, God is longsuffering. He never acts prematurely or harshly. The prophets often were frustrated with how wicked God allowed His people and other nations to become. They would ask God why He would not just punish them right away. God’s timing is perfect, however, and His punishments just, so He let them go, keeping His wrath from falling on them until their cup of wickedness was full. We may not understand God’s timing or purposes, but we may understand that He is just, not acting out on a short temper or a rash decision.

thinketh no evil...
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” God does not sit up in heaven, plotting how to “get even” with sinful humans. Rather, He mercifully works all things together for the good of His children, (Romans 8:28) even when we disobey.

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth...
God, in His complete holiness, cannot take pleasure in sin. He is not, as we too often are, blinded by the lies of Satan which enshroud sin in a web of deceitful pleasure. He sees through our attempts to lie to ourselves, (and Him) seeking to justify our wickedness. Rather, God delights in the truth. He delights in seeing us read His word, learning and understanding the freeing truth He has so graciously given to us.

Beareth all things...
According to my Strong’s Concordance, the word for “beareth” has the connotation of bearing patiently. God does not complain. He bears the pain and sorrow of man’s constant wickedness, yet does so patiently and silently, only speaking for the benefit of others.

believeth all things...
–I must admit that this one stumped me for a while. How could the God who made everything have beliefs? Yet, if we ascribe to Plato’s definition of knowledge, belief is necessary to knowledge, and God is all-knowing, so He must have beliefs. We tend to think of beliefs as pertaining to things that are unknown, but if one were to look at life like a philosopher, one would see that beliefs can concern things that we are quite certain are true. Thus, it is possible for God to have beliefs. His differ from ours, however, in that all of God’s beliefs are true and certain.

hopeth all things...
This is one of those attributes of God that I shall probably not fully understand until I get to heaven. How can God hope, being omniscient? Yet, I have always thought of hope as the joyful expectation of belief fulfilled. In that sense, it would be possible for God to hope; since His beliefs are always true, and thus always come to pass, he might joyfully expect them to do so.

endureth all things...
Patient endurance is built on belief and fueled by hope. God patiently endures man’s terrible wickedness, with the hope of the coming eternity we will spend with Him after the judgment day, when there will be no more sin to so sorrow and pain Him.

Charity never faileth...
God will never fail! No matter what must come to pass in our lives, no matter how others wrong us, no matter how faithless we are, God will never fail. It is we who so often fail God, and then seek to blame Him for our failures.

-I apologize for the lengthiness of this post, but I was so excited about this passage, I wanted to try to do it justice. : )