Who is God?

It is rather difficult to describe God. When we begin to ponder who God is several different qualifiers rear up: who is God in relation to me? Who is God in relation to creation? Who is God in relation to himself? The description of God depends on the qualifying context.

"What is your answer if the context is: describe who God is in relation to you? Perhaps through your walk with the Lord you have grown in relationship with him and some very detailed and intimate words may be used to describe who God is in relation to you.

Perhaps through your walk in life you have been distant with the Lord and thus the words used to describe him in relation to you are vast and impersonal. What is your answer if the context is: describe who God is in relation to creation? Perhaps through the work of the Holy Ghost you understand the Scriptures to reveal God as creator of all things and thus describe God as creator of creation and in relation to creation as being King of all things.

Perhaps through cynicism, doubt, and disbelief your perception of God in relation to creation is near deism. Because of this disbelief you describe God in relation to his creation as far away and distant. a

What is your answer if the context is: describe who God is in relation to himself? The Westminster Shorter Catechism in Question 4 paints a wonderful picture of God describe WHAT God is:
Q 4: What is God?
A: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

This is very helpful to gain a little understanding of what God is and through learning what God is we can know a bit about who God is.

But the question remains how can we describe God? If we try to use the right words to elaborate on his attributes we fall short since mere human words cannot grasp or display who he is. If we try to use enough words to describe God we will fall short simply due to God's eternal infinite nature, there simply aren't enough words in existence to add up to a perfect human description of God.

Yet there is a perfect description of God. It is not because a pious or holy person thought of it, it is not because a gifted or devout person devised it. The only perfect description of who God is, is the description he himself has given. Exodus Chapter 3:13-14 God states who he is.

13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" 14 God said to Moses, "I am who I am . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'

This is who God is and this is his description of himself. He cannot be described in any way we know because there is nothing with which we can compare him to in order to fully understand who he is. When describing himself God refers back to himself. This is rather funny to think when defining or describing words one of the first rules is: do not use the word you are trying to describe in it's definition or description. Yet God does exactly that, God WAS, IS, and WILL BE forever!