While listening to a radio preacher on the way to work a few weeks ago, he challenged his listeners to take a blank piece of paper and write on it as many single words as they could that come to mind when thinking about God. That evening I sat down in my rocking chair to do just that. Many words came to me. I soon realized that all of the words should be understood to be superlatives. For example, God is not merely knowing but all knowing. The next thought came that any word that was superlative should describe God. Immediately a caution flag arose in my conceptual vision. I should only use words that are either in Scripture or clearly describe ideas in Scripture. It took me about 40 minutes to make the majority of the list below. More words came in subsequent days as I read the Scriptures in my devotions or heard a sermon at church, on the radio, and online. You cannot tell which words were on the first 40-minute list because I decided to alphabetize them for the sake of making a study out of them. I further decided to separate out descriptive words from names of God. I hope that this list is useful to you in your thinking about and meditating on God. There was one difficulty in the exercise. I tried to limit myself to attributes of God’s character and not works He has done. Much of what we know about God through Scripture and the witness of Creation revolves around what God has done. Many of the attributes listed below concern what He does flowing from who He is. It is a fine distinction that I tried to adhere to.
As a suggestion, you might meditate on one word per day, looking up the verses listed. You could also look up cross references in the column of your Bible to find more related verses. As you consider the ideas, praise and thank God for being an excellent being in this area. Consider three things additionally: 1) How does this attribute of God modify or fortify my concept of who God is? 2) How does this concept increase my security in God and confidence for living for Him? 3) How does this idea about God increase my piety, both positively in godly living and negatively in mortifying the flesh and overcoming temptation?
| Able | Luke 3:8; Rom 4:21 | Perfect | Deut 32:4; Mt 5:48 | |
| Awesome | Deut 10:17 | Powerful | Psa 29:4 | |
| Beautiful | Isaiah 4:2 | Pure | 2Sam 22:27; Psa 19:8; 1Jn3:3 | |
| Caring | I Peter 5:7 | Real | Deut 4:35; Isa 44:8, 45:5 | |
| Communicative | Gen 35:13; Ps 50:1 | Relational | 1 Cor 1:9; 2 Cor 13:14; 1 Jn 1:3 | |
| Compassionate | Exo 34:6; Deut 4:31 | Reposed | Gen 2:1-3; Is 28:12 | |
| Condescending | Gen 16:13, 21:15-19; Isa 57:15 | Righteous | Deut 32:4; Psa 116:5; Acts 22:14 | |
| Discerning | Ps 138:6; 139:2 | Self-sufficient | Psa 50:10-12 | |
| Eternal | Dt 33:27; Isa 9:6; Jn8:58 | Shining | Ezek 8:2; 1 Jn 2:8; Rev 1:16 | |
| Exalted | Job 36:26; Psa 97:9; Acts 5:31 | Source | Deut 8:3-9; Heb 5:9; James 1:17 | |
| Faithful | Deut 7:9 ; Isa49:7; I Cor 10:13 | Sovereign | Psa 103:19;Dan 4:25,34-35, 5:21 | |
| Famous | Isaiah 66:19 | Strong | Job 9:19; 2 Sam 22:33 | |
| Forgiving | Num14:18 | Transcendent | I Kings 8:27;Job 37:23;Isa 57:15 | |
| Giving | Jam 1:17; Dt 8:18; Matt 5:45 | True | Jer 10:10; Jn 3:33, 17:3; 1 Th 1:9 | |
| Glorious | Exo 15:11, Psa 29:2,9 | Trustworthy | Psa 22:4-5 | |
| Good | I Chr 16:34; Ez 3:1;Mark 10:18 | Unsearchable | Job 5:9; Rom 11:33 | |
| Gracious | Neh 9:17; Psa 103:8 | Wise | Rom 11:33, 16:27;1Cor 1:26 | |
| Great | Exo 18:11; Deut 5:24,10:17 | Wonderful | Isa 9:6 | |
| Heavy | Psalm 32:4, see glory | Worthy | Psa 18:3; Rev 4:11, 5:12 | |
| Holy | Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8,154 | Wrathful | Lev 26:28; Nah 1:2 | |
| Honorable | Lev10:3; Dt28:58; Jn5:23 | Zealous | Joel 2:18; Zech 1:14-15 | |
| Infinite | Ps147:5; Eph3:18-19 | |||
| Intense (Fierce) | Num25:4; Jer30:24; Rev19:15 | Almighty | Gen 17:1; Job 40:2; Rev 1:8 | |
| Invisible | Col1:15; J n1:18 | Alpha | Rev 1:8, 21:6, 22:13 | |
| Jealous | Ex20:5; Nah1:2 | Creator | Eccl 12:1; Isa 40:28 | |
| Just | Dt32:4; Rom3:26 | Christ | Acts 10:38; 18:28 | |
| Kind | Ps145:17; Eph1:5 | Father | Psa 68:5; Jn 8:54; 1 Cor 8:6 | |
| Life | Gen2:7; Jn1:414:6; Rev20:4 | Jesus | Matt 1:,16,21; Phil 2:10 | |
| Longsuffering | Ex34:6; 2 Pt3:15 | Judge | Gen 15:14,18:25; Psa 7:11, 75:7 | |
| Lovely | Ps 84:1, 135:3 | Justifier | Isa 53:11; Rom 3:26,30 | |
| Lovingkindness | Ps 69:16; Jon4:2 | King | Psa 47:2,95:3; Mal 1:14;Rev15:3 | |
| Majestic | Ex15:11; Is33:21 | Lord | Gen 2:4,15:7; Ex 20:2;Acts 22:8 | |
| Merciful | Ps 86:15; Jam 5:11 | Omega | Rev 1:8, 21:6, 22:13 | |
| Mighty | Ps50:1; Is9:6 | Priest | Zech 6:13;Heb 3:1, 4:14, 5:6, 7:3 | |
| Moral | Lk23:41; 2Cor5:21; Jam1:13 | Prophet | Deut 18:15,18;Acts 3:13-23,7:37 | |
| Omnipotent | Job42:2; Eph1:18-22 | Protector | Psa 14:6, 46:1, 146:9 | |
| Omnipresent | Psa 139:7-12 | Provider | Psa 147:8, Eph 3:20 | |
| Omniscient | Job34:4,21; Psa 33:13; 1Jn3:20 | Redeemer | Job 19:25 | |
| Patient | 2 Pt3:9,15; 1 Tim1:16 | Savior | Isa 43:3,11, 47:4 Jer 50:34 | |
| Spirit | Gen1:2;Jn14:16,16:13;Rom8:11 |
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