100 Posts, 100 Praises

This post marks the 100^th post on An Iris Awaits! It’s hard to believe this journey that started five-and-a-half years ago has been filled with 100 “irises” already! To mark this milestone, I thought I’d do something a little different on the blog today.

Something my mom’s family does when the elder generations hit a major milestone birthday is to present them with a list of things we love about them, matching the number of their age. For instance, when my grandfather turned 80, we each came up with several phrases that showed him how meaningful he was to us and what a difference he makes in our lives until we reached 80 things. Some were serious, some were silly, but all were sincere.

Performing such an exercise is not only good for the recipient, it’s good for the givers as well, because it causes us to focus our minds on showing gratitude and appreciation for one we love, on actually articulating years of feelings that might not always be expressed. As I’ve written in another post, keeping an attitude of gratitude is important in the life of a Christian, and making a point to express gratitude helps us enlarge that attitude in our lives.

So today, in this 100^th post, we’re going to look at 100 praises to the Almighty God. Praise typically connotes appreciation for who someone is, while thanksgiving relates to what someone does, but when it comes to God, the two are often intertwined because it is difficult to praise Him for Who He is without also being thankful that He is those things. So you ready? Hold onto your seats, ‘cause here we go…

1. God is Love (1 John 4:8)

2. God is Supreme (Ephesians 1:19-21)

3. God is Just (Romans 3:26)

4. God is Good (Psalm 73:1)

5. God is Kind (Romans 2:4)

6. God is Always Present (Psalm 139:7-10)

7. God is Wise (Romans 11:33; Job 12:13)

8. God is Eternal (Isaiah 40:28)

9. God is All-knowing (1 John 3:20; Romans 11:33-34)

10. God is Creator (Genesis 1:1)

11. God is Creative (Psalm 139:13-15)

12. God is Committed (Hosea 2:20)

13. God is Gracious (Exodus 34:6)

14. God is Merciful (Deuteronomy 4:31)

15. God is Gentle (Isaiah 40:11)

16. God is Protective (Psalm 18:30)

17. God is Provider (Matthew 6:30)

18. God is Healer (Jeremiah 30:17; Psalm 41:3)

19. God is King of Kings (Revelation 17:14)

20. God is Righteous (Psalm 116:5)

21. God is Holy (Revelation 4:8)

22. God is Sovereign (Psalm 47:8)

23. God is Relational (John 15:15)

24. God is Constant (Malachi 3:6)

25. God is Defender of the Weak (Deuteronomy 10:18)

26. God is Truth (John 14:6)

27. God is Patient (2 Peter 3:9)

28. God is the Way (John 14:6)

29. God is Steadfast (Psalm 25:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:5)

30. God is Father of the Fatherless (Psalm 68:5)

31. God is Savior (Psalm 68:19)

32. God is our Eternal Husband (Hosea 2:16, 19; Isaiah 54:5)

33. God is the Life (John 11:25)

34. God is Redeemer (Psalm 103:4)

35. God is Transcendent (Isaiah 55:9)

36. God is Imminent (Psalm 139:1-4)

37. God is Near to the Brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18)

38. God is Sustainer (Psalm 54:4)

39. God is Revealer of Mysteries (Daniel 2:47)

40. God is Deliverer (Psalm 40:17)

41. God is a Musician (Zephaniah 3:17)

42. God is an Author (Acts 3:15)

43. God is a Maker of Promises (Genesis 28:15; 1 Kings 9:5)

44. God is a Keeper of Promises (Joshua 21:45; 1 Kings 8:15; Genesis 21:1)

45. God is a Designer (Job 38-39) 

46. God is Joyous (Zephaniah 3:17)

47. God is All-Seeing (Proverbs 15:3)

48. God is Available (Deuteronomy 4:7)

49. God is Persistent (Romans 10:21)

50. God is Approachable (Hebrews 4:16)

51. God is Light (1 John 1:5)

52. God is a God of Purity (Psalm 12:6; Psalm 19:8)

53. God is Shepherd (Psalm 23:1; Ezekiel 34:15)

54. God is Guider (Psalm 48:14)

55. God is Faithful (1 Corinthians 10:13)

56. God is Atoner (Psalm 65:3)

57. God is Peace (Ephesians 2:14)

58. God is Master (Jude 1:4; Luke 8:24)

59. God is Lord of Lords (Deuteronomy 10:17)

60. God is our Banner (Exodus 17:15)

61. God is Communicator; He is not silent (2 Peter 1:21; Ephesians 3:5)

62. God is Warrior (Proverbs 21:31)

63. God is Sanctifier (Leviticus 20:8)

64. God is Intimate (Psalm 139:2; Psalm 145:18; Psalm 44:21)

65. God is Discipliner (Hebrews 12:6)

66. God is Relatable (Hebrews 4:15)

67. God is Wholly Other (Psalm 50:21)

68. God is Hope (Psalm 71:5)

69. God is Active (Psalm 145:4; Isaiah 64:4)

70. God is Emotive (John 11:35; Luke 19:41)

71. God is Shield (Psalm 84:11)

72. God is Powerful (Job 37:23)

73. God is Refuge (Psalm 46:1)

74. God is Caring (1 Peter 5:7)

75. God is Refiner (Zechariah 13:9)

76. God is Comforter (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

77. God is Judge (Psalm 50:6; Psalm 9:8)

78. God is Witness (Romans 8:16)

79. God is Guarantee (2 Corinthians 1:22)

80. God is Tester (1 Thessalonians 2:3-4)

81. God is Slow to Anger (Numbers 14:18)

82. God is Attentive (Psalm 145:19; Psalm 34:15)

83. God is Restorer (Psalm 23:3)

84. God is our Seal (2 Corinthians 1:22)

85. God is Intercessor (Romans 8:26-27)

86. God is Able (Hebrews 7:25)

87. God is Always Awake (Psalm 121:4)

88. God is Compassionate (James 5:11)

89. God is Justifier (Romans 3:26)

90. God is a Firm Foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11)

91. God is the Source (Romans 11:36)

92. God is Victorious (Revelation 5:5)

93. God is Pursuer (Ezekiel 34:11; Luke 19:10)

94. God is Forgiver (1 John 1:9)

95. God is Delighted (Psalm 35:27)

96. God is Giver of Good Gifts (James 1:17)

97. God is Sacrificial (Philippians 2:6)

98. God is Helper (Hebrews 13:6; John 14:26)

99. God is Avenger (Romans 12:19)

100. God is our Song (Exodus 15:2)

Praise be to God! 

Calm amidst Corona

Likely, you’re tired of hearing about the newest coronavirus. But don’t worry—despite the title, this post is less about the coronavirus and more about Christ. Regardless of your opinions about the virus, I’d imagine that you’ve felt at least some uneasiness in recent days. If you’re like me, you’re less worried about catching the virus and more worried about how the reaction to it will affect current and future plans.

It’s easy to get caught up in worries about the unknown. We are finite creatures, after all. But giving into those worries is not something we have to do. In the face of the unknown, we can choose to take a different path. And the best thing to do is to intentionally fix our eyes on the One who knows all. Instead of fixating on the news, feeding our minds and souls a steady diet of social media, and passively letting the worries build inside of us, we can face them head on by actively focusing on the Truth of who God is and what that means for us.

-          God is all-knowing. That means that not only did none of this take Him by surprise, but also He knows what tomorrow holds—and next week—and next month—and you get the picture. (See 1 John 3:20, Romans 11:33, Job 37:16, etc.)

-          God is outside of time. That means that He is already fully present in our future. Mind-blowing, I know, but that’s why He’s the infinite One and we’re not. (See Genesis 1:2, Psalm 90:2, John 1:1, Deuteronomy 31:8, etc.) 

-          His mercies are new every morning. That means that regardless of what we face in a given day, He gives us a fresh dose of mercy to sustain us. (See Lamentations 3:22-23)

Put all of this together, and we see that the One who knows all things and is already literally ahead of us is also the One who provides us what we need. We’re not left in the hands of an incompetent Being, one who is caught off guard by hardships we might face. Nor are we left in the hands of a cruel or apathetic Being, who delights in our struggle or couldn’t care less about us.

Jesus, the Son of God and God Himself, came and dwelt among us, His creatures, as one of us. The God who is outside of time experienced life within time in the person of Jesus Christ. He faced spiritual oppression, literal storms, physical exhaustion, and grief, just to name a few—so He knows. Not only because He already knew all but because He chose to know experientially as well.

For those of us who have accepted the gift of His sacrifice on our behalf, i.e. are trusting in His perfect life, substitutionary death, and bodily resurrection instead of in our own good deeds to have right standing before God, we also have the indwelling presence of His Spirit with us every. single. moment. That means you’re not walking into any situation without God already having been there and without God accompanying you intimately—oh, and without God praying for you. That’s right! Jesus is right now interceding for us before God’s throne in heaven, and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we don’t know what to pray (Romans 8:26-27, 34).

Maybe you don’t know what this feels like, though. Maybe you’ve never experienced the peace that passes understanding, the confidence that comes from knowing that there is a God who loves you—loves you enough to suffer injustice and die in your place so that you could have a relationship with Him. Maybe you live your days with no sense of purpose and without hope for today, much less for the future. If that’s the case, there is no better time than now to run to God and let Him teach you. Let Him show you why you lack peace, why you feel hopeless, why you can’t shake that fear of the future.

If you want to do that—to seek after the God who is pursuing you with a relentless love—but you’re not sure how, please reach out, and I would love to help you find the way. If you don’t have another way of contacting me, you can leave a comment at the end of this post. The settings are such that no one else will see it besides me unless I publish it (which I won’t). But be sure to let me know who you are, so I can respond!

We live in a world that has fallen from its original God-fashioned design, a world in which evil exists, humans go to war against each other, and viruses lead to panic, illness, and death. But followers of Jesus know that this world is not our ultimate home and that whatever struggles we face here pale in comparison to the eternal joy that awaits us when we finally see our Beloved Savior face to face and can worship Him purely without having to fight against the remnants of our sinful nature.

So if you’re a follower of Jesus, when you feel the worry rising in your spirit and the tension building in your body, preach to yourself the truths of Scripture to remind yourself about Who you serve and Who is holding you always in His hand. And if you’re not a follower of Jesus, don’t ignore the anxiety you feel in facing the unknown. Let it be a force that pushes you to seek the answers and peace that only God can provide.

In the uncertainty of our lives that has been brought into sharper focus in these coronavirus times, look to Christ, take up His easy yoke, and rest in the calmness of His presence each day.

The Waiting Christ

The Christmas season that we came out of just a few months ago is a time of emphasizing the humanity of Christ. We emphasize His deity during this time, as well, as we recognize Him as Emmanuel, i.e. God With Us. But as we think of the incarnation, or God becoming flesh, we marvel at the fact that the God of all there is willingly subjected Himself to becoming one of us, to putting on a body of flesh and blood, so that He could restore all things to their rightful design, including but not limited to our relationship with Him.

When we think of Jesus’ humanity, we often think of how he needed sleep, needed food, and felt emotions such as gladness, wonder, grief, and anger. But as I was reading Scripture one day, another way in which He is like us jumped out at me, one that I hadn’t thought of before. The verse can be found in Hebrews chapter 10. Verses 12 and 13 read, “But when this priest [Jesus] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool” (NIV).  Did you catch that one little clause? He waits.

This verse speaks of the time after Jesus had completed the sacrifice, after He said, “It is finished.” And yet He waits. He has already achieved the victory, yet He waits for His enemies to be completely vanquished. Lest we think Him impotent or His victory ineffective, we see that He is sitting in a position of authority—at the right hand of God.  So why does He wait? Well, as is the case many times, we don’t completely know, or at least we don’t fully understand. We know that He is waiting for the right time as is set by God’s own authority (Acts 1:7); why that time is the right time is beyond our understanding.  Regardless of why, though, we know that He willingly waits until that right time arrives.

He does not try to usurp the Father’s authority by rushing into things or coming up with a different plan as Abram and Sarai did in waiting for their promised offspring (Gen. 16), or as we so often do. Instead, he submits to the Father’s plan and patiently waits until the time is right. The God who is outside of time uses it to accomplish His perfect plan in our world, and He waits.

This is not the only time we see Jesus waiting, though. In John 7, he waited to go to the festival until after His disciples had gone ahead because his “time ha[d] not yet fully come” (John 7:8, NIV). In John 11, after hearing that His dear friend Lazarus had died, He waited two days before journeying to see Lazarus’s sisters and raise Lazarus from the dead.

Well of course Jesus could wait, you might be thinking. He’s God, so He’s all-knowing and all-wise, so He knows why it’s important to wait for the right time. That’s true. But it’s also true that because He is God, He is all-powerful and sovereign, and could just as easily change when the right time is. Yet He waits.

Okay, but so what? What does it matter to us? It matters a great deal, because it means that among all the other ways in which Jesus can identify with us, He also knows what it feels like to be patient and to wait for something expected to happen that just isn’t happening yet. Plus, He was tempted to gain the kingdoms of the earth on a quicker route, one that would avoid having to die, but one that would involve worshiping His Enemy rather than His Father. So He knows what it is like to face the temptation to take matters into our own hands, to speed up God’s timeline and try to change God’s plan.

So as we wait for things, whether things we might not be guaranteed to receive or witness, or things that are certainly coming, we can draw strength from the fact that we are not alone and we are not being forced to wait by an impersonal being who likes to torment us creatures. No, we are invited to wait by a loving God who created us and knows us better than we know ourselves, who in His perfect wisdom has crafted a beautiful story for our lives, who loves us deeply and eternally, and who chose to experience life as we do so that we can know He understands.

If you’re waiting for something today, even if you’ve been waiting for years and years, I pray that you will turn your eyes to Jesus who is at this very moment waiting too. As He is waiting for the final fulfillment of His kingdom, He is also interceding for you as you wait. Take courage in that, my friend, and worship the waiting Christ as you patiently wait as well. 

PC: Pam Galagan. Used with permission.