I was mildly stunned recently when I read about a Christian lawyer who argued that we should not wear masks to protect against COVID-19. His reasoning? We are made in God’s image and he doesn’t wear a mask. Apparently it didn’t occur to him that God has zero risk of viral infection.

The periodical that reported on the lawyer was clearly making fun of him…or perhaps it was making fun of Christians, in general. Whatever the case, the article underscored the fact that knowledge of God in this country is waning rapidly. Some believe in him but don’t know who he is, while many disbelieve in him without knowing who or what they are disbelieving in. The media are not particularly interested in what Christianity actually says. It’s much more profitable to feature people who act and talk like idiots…especially when those featured fall outside the medium’s market audience. Enough on that. What I would like to do here, then, is provide an introduction to the Christian God.

It is common to hear preachers insist that God is unknowable and beyond human understanding. Such proclamations are both deeply true and deeply false. They are true in that God’s wisdom greatly exceeds ours. The total of all human knowledge occupies a very small corner of his mind. On the other hand, it’s clear that God has gone to great lengths to make himself known to us. If we do not know God, how will we know that he is worthy of worship and emulation? If we do not know him, why would we be interested in him in the first place? Knowing God is the most important of all human activities. Any preacher who insists that God is unknowable should be fired. If what he says is true, there is no purpose for preachers. We must consider what God has told us about himself, not that we can come to know him exhaustively, but in order to establish meaningful connection (communion) with him.

God of Power

When I was in high school I studied publications put out by a group known as the Navigators. Their material described God as omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. “Omni” is roughly equivalent to “all,” so this could be rephrased as God being all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere present.

These are true statements about God, though you should be cautioned that the Navigators did not intend to equate omnipresence with pantheism. God is the Creator and he is totally other than his creation. God’s presence in a tree, for example, is not that the tree makes up a part of God but, rather, that the tree is an expression of God’s creativity. All that exists exists due to God’s active maintenance. If God were to remove his “hand”, all creation would instantly disintegrate.

There is benefit to the Navigator formula, especially as it focuses on the expansive, powerful nature of God. It is grave error to imagine God as in any way small. He is not an idea conjured up to fill a human psychological need. He is not like a superhero from the pantheon of Greco-Roman gods. He is far beyond and far superior in every way to all of that. The Navigator observations are beneficial, but they are also somewhat abstract and impersonal. The Navigator observations are true but insufficient.

God of History

In college I was introduced to a new way (for me) of thinking about God. There I was taught that we know God through what he has done. One of his important acts was creation. He created the universe and he created humans. A quick study of astronomy impresses us with the expansiveness of his creativity. A quick study of geology and biology impresses us with the variety in his creativity. A quick study of microbiology and we come to see the incredible complexity of life. In Psalm 19.1-4 we read, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voicegoes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.”

Nature has a great deal to “say” about God, but there are difficulties with the revelations of nature. For one, nature’s testimony lacks clarity. It’s all very tangible, but nature doesn’t come with an instruction manual. There is much about it that we’re still figuring out. In fact, it seems that the more we learn, the more we learn there is to learn. The other problem with nature is that it is broken. There are droughts and floods and earthquakes and coronaviruses…thorns and thistles. Special revelation is needed to get us beyond nature’s revelatory shortcomings. In Romans 8.19-21 we read, “The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

God had a solid relationship with Adam and Eve for awhile. God used to walk around with them in the garden (presumably taking on human form). But when Adam and Eve distrusted and disobeyed God, the relationship unravelled. The uneasy relationship between God and people continued for generations until God called Abraham to come out from corrupt society to form a renewed people. God guided Abraham and then his son, Isaac, and then his son, Jacob. Through Jacob’s son, Joseph, the Hebrew people found themselves in Egypt. They lived in favor there for a time but the Egyptians eventually grew anxious about the multiplying Hebrews and decided to enslave them. The Hebrews languished as slaves for four hundred years.

Finally, God drafted Moses to lead the people out of their bondage. Moses had been raised in Pharaoh’s court but when he defended a Hebrew man against an Egyptian, he was banished. Moses settled in the Sinai peninsula and remained isolated there for 40 years. He was scratching out a living in the desert when God appeared to him in a burning bush. God introduced himself to Moses by saying, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” – Exodus 3.6. God identified himself, not on the basis of his powers, but on the basis of his historical activity among Moses’ ancestors.

The theme of knowing God through his actions continues throughout the Bible. Let me highlight two important instances. God’s rescue of the Hebrews out of Egypt, his presentation of the Law to the people, and his guiding them into the promised land are seen collectively as the establishment of Israel. “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’” – Deuteronomy 6.20-25

God’s most important revelation of himself came through Jesus Christ. Jesus came to his people, like Moses, with the aim of delivering them out of bondage. With Moses the bondage was quite literal—the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt, but it was also spiritual. The Law aimed to create a holy nation. Jesus’ objective was an emancipation from spiritual bondage and death. This did not mean that Christ was unconcerned about earthly shackles, but his main concern was spiritual renewal which, in turn, would lead to the establishment of justice in the earth.

The means of Christ’s conquest was to submit to crucifixion at the hands of those who held earthly power. They had no real power over him but he submitted anyway, because to do so was the will of his heavenly Father. In this action we see several important aspects of God. He is holy and he is determined to make his people holy. The sacrifice of Jesus paid for human sin, making us holy, in a legal sense, before God. We also see the deep sense of grace within God’s heart. He decided that his Son should die in order to rescue humans from sin and death. He decided that he would die for the sake of humans. (We will consider the triune nature of God a bit later.) We also see the deep wisdom of God. While those who opposed God, especially Satan, imagined that killing his Son would defeat God’s designs, the death (and resurrection) of Jesus accomplished exactly what God intended to accomplish. 

After his resurrection, Jesus spent a short time with his disciples. His resurrection and his presence in a glorified body radically altered the disciples perception of reality. They, too, became willing to die for the sake of God and his truth. Based on historical evidence, 11 of the 12 disciples were martyred for the Faith. After Christ’s ascension, the Holy Spirit was sent to indwell the hearts of all those who believe. This was dramatically demonstrated at Pentecost in Jerusalem. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” – John 14.16,17 

And, not less important than all of this, Jesus promised a future return. He will come again to the earth and put an end to all wickedness. Those who cling to wickedness will be judged; those who remain faithful to him will be raised to life with him and all the saints in everlasting peace. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” – John 14.2,3

Sovereign and Good

Trying to explain God through the sweep of human history requires a lengthy narrative. One quick way to think about God is to recognize him as the one who is both sovereign and good. To say he is sovereign is to recognize that he is in charge of all creation. There is a war between evil and good but it is not an equal battle. God hates evil but he brings good results out of evil actions and, at the time of his choosing, he will eliminate evil altogether. God gives people independence but human independence falls within the boundaries of God’s sovereignty. Whatever gifts and abilities we may have, whatever wisdom, these are all gifts from God. All creation is fully dependent on the sustaining hand of God. Thankfully—and this is no small thing—God is good. His designs for humans are benevolent to the extreme. His desire for all humans is that they trust in him and become like him. This would not make us sovereign but, as adopted children of the King of the universe, it would make us royalty—royalty that is pure of heart, and not subject to physical or spiritual corruption.

Triune God

Discussing the Trinity is difficult and sometimes this aspect of God even seems irrelevant to human interaction with him. Nevertheless, God has revealed himself as a triune God, so it is best if we are mindful of him as he has revealed himself. 

One striking aspect of the Trinity is that it is a description foreign to human design. It complicates God. It is a description of a being that is not in the image of man. Ironically, this makes the Trinitarian God even more believable. Humans have been constructing gods in their own image from the beginning of time. These gods mostly look like tempestuous superheroes or animal-human blends. They seem like bad dreams. But the Triune God doesn’t seem like a human invention.

Why do we believe in a Triune God? Well, the Bible, even though it does not use the term “trinity”, still routinely assumes this truth about him. The following are some biblical examples. 

The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’”– Luke 1.35. This is how the angel explained to Mary how she would become pregnant, without having sex with a man. It was stunning and disturbing message on a variety of levels for Mary. I doubt she gave much thought at the time to the trinitarian aspect of this revelation, but there it is.

Early in Jesus’ ministry he called on John the Baptist to baptize him. John was reluctant because he considered Jesus a prophet of God “whose sandals he was unworthy to untie.” Jesus prevailed on John, however, and John performed the baptism. “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’” – Matthew 3.16-17. It is a striking picture in which all three persons of the Godhead are physically manifested—the Father vocally from heaven; the Spirit appearing, dove-like; and Jesus incarnate.

When Jesus was about to ascend into heaven he gave this last command to his disciples. “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 28.19

The Apostle Peter, writing to Christians, acknowledged all three persons of the Godhead: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” – 1 Peter 1.1,2

Paul used similar language in his second letter to the church in Corinth. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”                       – 2 Corinthians.1.21-22

It’s pretty hard to escape this idea of God being triune, however uncomfortable it might make us, or however confusing it might seem. God is who he is.

The early Christian Church wrestled with the issue of Christ’s deity and with the trinitarian nature of God. There were many different viewpoints on the matter, as you can imagine. As a consequence, early Church leaders determined that they needed to come up with a description that matched the statements and implications of the New Testament.

It’s surprising how redefinitions of God, definitions that stray from his revelations, lead into theological difficulties and diminish the Gospel. The heresy known as Docetism, for example, insisted that Jesus was not truly human—he only appeared to be human. But the Bible speaks of sin entering the world through one man, Adam, but that sin was defeated by the perfect obedience and work of the “second Adam”, Jesus. It is Jesus’ humanity that enables his sacrifice to have substitutionary value, delivering humans from the bondage of sin and the judgment of death. Additionally, If Jesus is not truly human the empathy that he can feel for us is diminished, and the intimacy that we can experience with him is also diminished. Furthermore, a fleshless Jesus leads to a false understanding of the difference between being “in the spirit” and “being in the flesh.” The Bible does not teach that the physical world is inferior or without value. The very fact that Jesus became flesh underscores the fact that creation is good. It is a restatement of God’s comment in Genesis: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” – Genesis 1.31. New Testament references to acting “in the flesh” don’t mean that we should abandon the physical world. What they mean is that we should not let our physical impulses guide our behavior. The body is altogether good but for it to do good it must be ruled by the Spirit.

So the early Church came up with some confessions and creeds that were used to encapsulate or summarize Christian doctrine. It was not the intent of the creeds that they should replace the Bible or even stand as interpretations of the Bible, which would effectively place them over the Bible. Rather, their purpose was to represent the Bible. Some creeds have lasted for many centuries, which suggests that they have long been recognized by the Church as accurate representations. Nonetheless, like the Constitution of the United States, they remain subject to amendment. The Bible is not subject to amendment; the creeds and confessions are. 

One creed that most Christian churches adhere to and often recite in their services is the Nicene Creed.

       We believe in one God,

      the Father almighty,

      maker of heaven and earth,

      of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,

      the only Son of God,

      begotten from the Father before all ages,

           God from God,

           Light from Light,

           true God from true God,

      begotten, not made;

      of the same essence as the Father.

      Through him all things were made.

      For us and for our salvation

           he came down from heaven;

           he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,

           and was made human.

           He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;

           he suffered and was buried.

           The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.

           He ascended to heaven

           and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

           He will come again with glory

           to judge the living and the dead.

           His kingdom will never end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit,

      the Lord, the giver of life.

      He proceeds from the Father and the Son,

      and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.

      He spoke through the prophets.

      We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.

      We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

      We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,

      and to life in the world to come. Amen.

This creed was partially written at the church Council of Nicea in 325 A.D., and then essentially completed by the church Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. The writing of the creed was motivated by heresies of the time. Its emphases on the Trinity and the personhood of Christ were aimed at addressing those heresies.

I will attempt here to explain the Trinity, as best as I can. I make no claims of expertise, but my intent is to express the orthodox Christian position, and I hope I am not too far off the mark.

Christianity believes in one God. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” – Deuteronomy 6.4. This doctrine made the idea of the Trinity difficult to accommodate, not only for Jews at the time of Christ; for Muslims, who appeared on the scene a few centuries later; but even for the early Christian church. The idea seemed paradoxical or even illogical. Nevertheless, the early Church had to come to grips with the New Testament descriptions that presented the Trinitarian idea. Fundamentally, the Church resolved the difficulty by explaining that God is one in “substance” (or “being” or “essence”) and of three persons. This explanation remains difficult for us because we associate one person with one being. This is not so with God, apparently.

The personhood of the Father is made evident by Jesus’ use of the term. Similarly, he referred to himself as “the Son”. The Spirit is not always presented in such a personal way. He is described as “wind”; he comes upon Mary but without any physical manifestation (that we’re aware of); he appears as a dove or as tongues of fire. Where is the personhood? We must look to other references to be made aware of the personal nature of the Spirit.

In one of Jesus’ last conversations with his disciples prior to his crucifixion, he promised to send them the Holy Spirit. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper (or Advocate or Counselor), to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” – John 14.16,17.

Paul writes later about the work of the Spirit: “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” – Romans 8.26

Paul, in a lengthy speech about the importance of good behavior, notes that sins by Christians actually hurt the Spirit’s feelings: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” -Ephesians 4.30

We see also that the three persons of the Trinity have different roles. I say this with some caution because, even as we distinguish the activities of the three persons of the Trinity, we also find that they are not always so clearly distinguished in the Bible. And how would you? The three persons of the Trinity are in perfect agreement on all truth and on all activity; they are always working together. But we see that Jesus is unique in that he takes on human form (he is “incarnate”). While Jesus, as part of the Godhead, has always existed, he clearly took on human form in a specific place in a specific time. He was born as a baby, grew in wisdom and strength, served as a teacher and healer, died on a cross, was buried, and then he rose again to life. The Father remained in heaven (busy holding the universe together.) The Son was motivated by one thing above all things: to obey the Father, and to make certain that their relationship would in no way be disrupted. The Son, by living a holy life, and because of his willingness to sacrifice himself, was granted full authority over all creation. By his sacrificial blood, all Christians are absolved and appear before the Father as pure. “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” -Romans 8.34

The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin; he troubles our consciences with guilt, not so we will feel badly about ourselves, but so we will recognize sin for what it is and repent of it. The Spirit also guides us into truth. While we rely heavily on the written word of the Bible, it is clear that the Bible can be misused for any insidious purpose. People have used the Bible to justify slavery, for example. Satan, when he tempted Jesus in the desert, three times quoted Scripture to support his three temptations. Jesus quoted Scripture back, finally sending Satan packing. Jesus understood the spirit of Scripture. The letter of Scripture does not necessarily reveal God—the spirit of Scripture does. Reading the Scripture fairly and honestly is how people must approach it. The Spirit’s job is to give guidance to those who seek understanding. The Spirit is also the Comforter. We live in a harsh world, full of dangers, pain, and sorrows. The Spirit reminds us of our hope in Christ—that Christ has overcome all corruption, sorrow, and death, and the Spirit is our guarantee of being similarly delivered.

Perhaps one useful way of seeing the Triune God is to recognize the pervasiveness of grace displayed through the Trinity. God the Father brings grace to humanity through the law. Though the law demonstrates that we are sinners, its primary purpose is to guide us into wise thinking and behavior. As David wrote, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” – Psalm 119.105. Wise relational behavior leads to flourishing, peace, and joy. God the Son brings grace to us, first of all, by identifying with us. He knows how difficult life can be. He experienced life in a way that’s just about as hard as it can get. He knows our frailties and he stands up for us. As Paul wrote, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? …For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8.35,38,39. He also proved his love for us by dying on the cross, thus providing the gift of salvation. God the Spirit comes alongside us, even indwelling us, maintaining an intimacy between us and God, providing the grace of assurance that is peace.

God of Love

The Bible teaches that God is love. That’s something to cheer about. There’s no reason he isn’t a god of hate or, like most gods of human invention, arbitrary and capricious.  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” 1 John 4.7-12

I had a professor once who was careful to point out that “God is love” does not mean that “love is God”. I found this rather illogical of him. However, I’m sure what he was trying to say is that “love” means many things, some of which are counterfeit loves. For “God is love” to be true, “love” must be properly defined.

What does John mean when he says that God is love, then? A helpful answer comes from Jesus when he responded to a question from an Old Testament scholar: “‘Which commandment is the most important of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” – Mark 12. 28-31.

In the world, romantic and erotic love get most of the press. They are not to be despised—they are loves that God has designed and, in their proper contexts, encourages. But these loves are not the focus of these verses. Love for God has to do with obedience. As we saw earlier, God’s law is a lamp to our feet. To love God is to trust him. To love God is to recognize his goodness and all that is true about him. It is to embrace these things about him, and it is to freely express these truths privately and publicly. It is to be his representative or image bearer. It is also to remember all he has done for us and to be filled with thanksgiving. It is to remember his personhood and that, through prayer, through the reading of his Word, and through obedience, we commune with him. The verse above calls on us to use our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength to love him. There’s to be no holding back. Love for God is to be unreserved and passionate.

The second commandment is like it but it calls for similar behavior towards all other people. We do not worship other people, nor is there reason to, but we are called to treat them with justice, kindness, genuine concern, genuine interest, and with active service. Loving one another is critical. “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4.20. Jesus says that the core of what it means to be human—the purpose of life—is to love Him and one another. That’s the framework, roof and shell of the house. The rest is decoration.

First Corinthians 13 is often referred to as “the Love chapter” of the Bible. It frequently is used in wedding ceremonies as a kind of exhortation to the marrying couple. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13. 4-7. This picture of love demonstrates how it includes humility. We don’t often think of God in terms of his humility but that is because we think about him wrongly. Jesus called them to him and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’” – Matthew 20.25-28

This calling by God to love is how we live in his image. We love because he is love. We understand how he is love by thinking through the Trinitarian aspects again. He loved us by pursuing us and by giving us the truth so that we would know how to live. He loved us by addressing the problem of sin and death that ruled over us, by defeating them both, and by granting the opportunity through faith to become sinless and immortal. And he loves us by watching over us both physically and spiritually as we seek to serve him in this broken world. And he will love us by bringing about our final delivery into a new earth that is filled with incorruptible, loving people, and in the full presence of God.

The God Who Is

We talked earlier about Moses’s first encounter with God in which God introduced himself as the God of Moses’ forefathers. In this same encounter, God described himself to Moses in a second way. God told Moses that when he came before the elders of Israel, he should speak of him in this manner: God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.’” – Exodus 3.14-15

Jesus echoed this passage in the New Testament when he tried to explain his identity to the religious leaders. “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’” – John 8.58. The Jews considered this blasphemous because he was equating himself with God. They picked up stones, intending to stone him to death. They were absolutely right, of course, in understanding his meaning. He was equating himself with God.

What can we derive from this identification, “I Am”. It is an identity that is foreign to human experience. All we know are beings and things of the material universe, all of which had a beginning, all of which will experience their ending at some point in time. God reveals himself as unbounded by time. He was before all that was created. He always was and always will be. He cannot cease to exist. Being outside time also gives him complete access to history. He knows where history has been and where it is going. He knows every detail of every person’s history. 

Though the name does not imply it, we also know that he is the creator of the universe. This is spelled out in Genesis and then again at the beginning of the book of John: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1.1-3. The God who has always existed is also the one who knows everything about everything. A single gram of DNA is capable of storing 215 petabytes (215 million gigabytes). In theory, every bit of datum ever recorded by humans could be stored in DNA the size and weight of a single small house. The belief that DNA assembled itself is one idea that proves the folly of human reason. What is revealed by DNA is some sense of the brilliance of God.

What also bears noting is the energy and power required to make creation happen, and to sustain it. Creation continues on beyond what humans can see, even with the most powerful telescopes. How far does it go? No one can know. 

The greatness of God, in every respect, should put an end to human hubris. Humans have, throughout history, scoffed at God, and have frequently slandered him. Humans killed Jesus. God could destroy us all without any effort. In fact, it is his effort that sustains us. A moment of inattention and the universe would burst in a grand conflagration.

God is gracious and patient, beyond our comprehension. This should not lead us into taking him for granted, however. We should humble ourselves before him with glad hearts and with thanksgiving. In all his great power, he still holds us tenderly in his hand, caring for us in the fullness of his love.

 The Lord your God is in your midst,

    a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness;

    he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.” – Zephaniah 3.17