Oh Wow #1 - Chocolate!

(Note: After a long break I am picking up this blog again. I wrote this a few years ago as an intro for a series on the Attributes of God. Then got caught up in all my health issues, neck surgery, etc. and never posted it. I'm hoping to get the series going now. My grandson that I mention in it as being two years old just started first grade. So that's how long ago I actually wrote it.)

Oh Wow—Chocolate! 

By Tammy L. Hensel

On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. (Psalm 145:5)

My two-year-old grandson gazed with interest as his mother shook the small bottle that contained the light brown liquid, then poured some into his cup. He took a sip. Then another, and another, until he drained the cup. He put it down with emphasis, and said, "Oh wow—chocolate!"

Almost everyone loves chocolate; but by itself cocoa tastes very bitter. My grandson would not have had the same reaction if he just tasted a bit of unsweetened chocolate. It must blend with other ingredients for its flavor to emerge. 

 Psalm 34 tells us to "taste and see that the Lord is good." How do we do that? In Psalm 145, we learn that He is "unsearchable" or "unfathomable," although the passage goes on to relate many of His characteristics. But the message is clear—the finite cannot fully comprehend the infinite. We cannot put God into a box and dissect Him. If we could, He would not be God! 

The very concept of an infinite, all-powerful God suggests that He cannot be fully known by His creation. Still, from the very beginning He revealed Himself to men. Romans 1:20 tells us: "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." 

 We only have to look at the world He created to know that there is indeed a God. However, He didn't stop with declaring Himself through creation. He also divulged aspects of His divine person through His Word. In the Scriptures, we receive the most complete picture of who God is and how He relates to mankind. In its pages, He shows us as much as we can understand of His character and divine nature. 

 The qualities that make up His personality, often called His attributes, produce amazing paradoxes. He is holy and sovereign, yet accessible and personal. He is jealous, yet just. Wrathful, yet loving, compassionate and merciful When we consider each attribute in God's personality as an ingredient in a delightful dish called God, we will never be satisfied with just one taste. We will fill our cups over and over again and say, "Oh wow—God!"

Copyright 2023 Tammy L. Hensel