What is God like? Maybe that is a question that you’re asking right now, as you’ve just become a Christian or are just now beginning to look read the Bible a bit. Maybe it’s a question you’re asking again, though you’ve been a Christian for a while, as you’re seeing things in the Scripture you’ve missed for a while concerning the ways and acts of God. Maybe it’s a question you’re not asking at all, as you feel quite comfortable answering the question or are asking a number of other questions right now. Wherever you are, however, the question, “What is God like?” is one that the church must be asking and answering on a consistent basis.

One reason we must continually ask and answer such a question is because there are many in our number who do not know what God is like. We cannot simply assume that because we feel confident in understanding what God is like, everyone around us does as well. And there is a danger of assuming others have answers to the point that you leave an entire generation without knowledge of basic things. Moreover, we must continually ask and answer this question because the culture around us is challenging a biblical concept of God. Therefore, if we are not putting into our minds that which is right about God, we are bound to accept that which the culture is telling us about him. Finally, we need to ask and answer this question because we need to know what God is like. We may come into this time of corporate worship today thinking our greatest needs are many numerous things, and knowing what God is like might not be among our top ten. But, whether we acknowledge it or not, we need to know what God is like. We need to know because all of our life is lived before him, he created us and sustains us, and our only hope for life is in him. Thus, we need to know what our God is like.

With all of that, however, we have only made the question legitimate. But how do we answer the question? What is God like? The obvious answer is that we open the Scriptures, for they are nothing less than God’s revelation of himself, his ways, his commands, and his work of redemption. Yet, specifically, there are some texts within the Bible whose function it seems is to give us a head-on picture of what our God is like. Psalm 76 is one of those texts.

In many ways, Psalm 76 is a celebration of who God is, what he is like, and what he has done. It was probably written after a time in which God had brought about great a great deliverance of his people, maybe after he had delivered from the threat of the Assyrians under Sennacherib. But whatever the occasion that preceded the psalm, it is a clearly a psalm that celebrates God, his nature, and his ways.

The psalm itself divides somewhat neatly into four sections. The first three verses form a section, marked by the presence of “selah” after verse three. The second section is less obvious, but I believe there are some hints that we are to group verses 4-7a together. The third section then goes from 7b-9, where we see the marker, “selah” again. And the final section is verses 10-12. Therefore, let us now turn to see what each section reveals to us about our God. First, we see that …

God is one who identifies himself with his people (1-3)

The first three verses of the psalm are a celebration by God’s people that God has clearly chosen to identify with them. Notice how clearly they declare that God has identified with them as the Psalmist writes, “In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel. His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion” (1-2). “In Judah … in Israel … in Salem … in Zion” are heard again and again. God has chosen to identify himself with those who are there. There his name is great. There he has made his abode.

But how do they know God is their God? It is because they have witnessed his protection and deliverance of them in the past. The psalmist writes in verse 3, “There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war.” This is recounting of God’s deliverance of his people from their enemies. But even in this verse, the key is not the stress is on the location, the people. “There he broke the flashing arrows …” reads the text. God is one who identifies with his people. We see it even in verse 6 as he is called the God of Jacob.

We need to have something clear in our minds concerning this point, however. God is not identified with his people because somehow he needs it, as if without them he is powerless or lonely. No, God does not need us. Paul makes clear in Acts 17:25 that God is not served by human hands “as though he needed anything.” Yet, God has chosen to be identified with his people.

What does this mean for us? It means that that, if we are God’s children, we need to stop seeing God merely as the one who created the world and reigns over all, and begin seeing him as our God. Again, not in the sense as if we own God or are owed anything by him. But we need to realize that he has voluntarily chosen to identify himself with his children; he is their God. He is our God.

In many ways, I think we have a taste of this as members of the church. I enjoy conversations with people talking about the members of this church. It is exciting to hear people talk about individuals and how gifted they are, how service-oriented they are, and how much God has shed his grace on them. I love to hear others point out how great the individuals of this church are, for I know it’s true.

But inevitably, as those conversations end my mind turns to a greater thought. I think to myself, “I recognize these individuals’ gifts just as that person does. I realize how great they are and how much God has blessed them.” But then I realize that I don’t celebrate the members of this church for their gifts and talents. I celebrate those whom God has in this body because they have chosen to covenant with me. They have chosen to join themselves with me in membership so that they will invest in my life and ask me to invest in theirs. That is, I know the talent that God has blessed us with through the members of this church. But I am most thankful for the commitment we have toward one another, being willing to identify ourselves together as a church.

That same idea is celebrated in this psalm with our God. The psalm will go on to speak of God’s abilities and greatness, but it begins with the greatest blessing we could imagine – that he has chosen to identify himself with us, to commit to us, to be devoted to us as his people. Therefore, the first thing we need to know about God is that if you have placed your faith in Christ and have become his child, then he has identified himself as your God, as one who is committed to doing what is best for you in making you like Christ. What a blessing to proclaim that the God of the universe is our God! Yet the psalmist goes on, showing us that …

God is one who has absolute power and is to be feared (4-7a)

The psalmist goes on in verses 4-7a to write, “Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains with prey. The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil and they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands. At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned. But you are to be feared.”

The psalmist is contrasting the power of man with the power of God. He describes his enemies as stouthearted men of war. These are mighty men. Yet they have been stripped of their spoil, made to sleep, made unable to use their hands, and stunned. And all of this has been done by God. Therefore, though these men might bring fear to us, the psalmist points out how helpless they are before God, and then declares, “But you, you are to be feared.” That is, God alone is to be feared.

Yesterday, I was blessed to have a conversation with some new Christians about God’s power. We were talking about those who are against us and might seek to do harm to us. And as I was talking, I found myself encouraged anew by our blessed position. As our God, the Lord has committed himself to work all things together for our good. And because he has all power, there is no one who can get the upper-hand on him.

Therefore, as a Christian, whatever you face and however evil someone intends a situation against you, God intends that very situation for good. Men’s attacks are powerless. Men’s schemes against us are silly, when God is committed to us. Therefore, should God allow such attacks to come to us, we can know that it is not because he couldn’t stop it. It’s because he is intending it for good in our lives.

Do you see the blessing here? It is so tempting to deceive ourselves into thinking that God has abandoned us and is unaware of us in great difficulties. Yet when you understand that he has declared himself to be the God of his people and one with absolute power, he could not have abandoned us and could not be unaware of our situation. First, having all power, he must allow any power over us to begin with. This is what Jesus understood with Pilate as Pilate declared, “Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” (John 19:10). Do you see, Pilate wanted Jesus to know he had power over him. But Jesus responds, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11). And because he is devoted to our greatest good, in making us like Christ, he will intend all that comes to us to be for our good. That is a restful position to live, and it is ours. This is again why it is so crucial that we know what our God is like. Yet the psalmist gives us more, adding that …

God is one who brings salvation and judgment (7b-9)

Not only is God one who identifies with his people and one who has all power, but he is one who is committed to bringing salvation and judgment to the earth. The psalmist speaks of this judgment and salvation in verses 7b-9, writing, “Who can stand before you when once your anger is aroused? From heaven you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still, when God arose to establish judgment to save all the humble of the earth.”

One of the interesting things you find in Scripture is that judgment and salvation are almost always (if not always) coupled together. The first promise of salvation in Genesis 3:15 is a threat of judgment coming to the serpent. In the Exodus, great judgment against the Egyptians, we have the deliverance of the Israelites. As David delivers God’s people from the Philistines, Goliath is struck down and killed. And on the cross as the judgment for our sin falls on Christ, we are beholding our salvation. As God judges, he is simultaneously delivering and saving his people.

Therefore, when we hear that God is one who is going to judge the earth, it does not have to make us fearful and trembling as if condemnation awaits us. For, because we are God’s children, we can hear our salvation in final judgment. Yes, there is a terrible day coming for all of those who do not know Christ, but that same day is bringing our salvation.

So, as God’s children, be comforted as well in the fact that God is a God who has judged and will judge again, and yet he is a God who has redeemed you and will redeem you fully on that final day. No matter what this life brings, the final day of judgment is coming, and for us that means our salvation. Finally, …

God is one who is to be worshiped and who will be exalted (10-12)

The psalmist ends writing in verses 10-12, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise you; the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt. Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them; let all around bring him gifts to him who is to be feared, who cuts off the spirit of princes, who is to be feared by the kings of the earth.”

The psalmist declares that even men’s wrath against God will result in his praise, in his greatness being known. That is, God will not be overcome and will not fail in showing his greatness. Therefore, the psalmist pleads with his hearers to obey the Lord, serve him, and worship him who is greater than all.

And the call is to us as well. Today, may we decide to worship him who is God over all and who will be exalted over all who come against him. He is a God who identifies with his people, has all power, will bring judgment and salvation, and who is to be worshiped as he will be exalted.

But what does all of this mean for us? What does knowing what God is like mean for us? The answer to that question depends on who you are. If you are a child of God, then it means that you can rest, as we have said, in knowing that he who has made himself your God and committed himself to bringing about your greatest good is all-powerful. Nothing can come against you outside of his control and apart from his good purposes for you. It means that you can know that when his inevitable judgment comes, you will be saved from merciless wrath and dwell with God forever. It means that your heart has been made new so that in the midst of a world that worships all but God, you have been given the privilege of worshiping the one true God through faith and repentance. It means that we can serve him and obey him as our God.

But if you are an enemy of God it means that the all-powerful God is not your God, committed to your good, but your judge whose wrath hangs over you. It means that because God is all-powerful, nothing will stop his judgment. There will be nothing but shut mouths before his judgment against you. And it means that because you have failed to worship him, you are his enemy over whom he will be exalted as he pours out his merciless wrath against his enemies in hell.

If you are his enemy, it means that you need to repent before this God. You need to place your faith in Christ, who died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and was raised from the dead. It means that if you’ve heard the question, “How can you say ‘no’ to such a good God?” you’ve been asked the wrong question. Rather, the question is, “Why will you die in your sins when this great God will judge and triumph over his enemies? Why will you die when you can have life in Christ?” We are not asking you to pity God today. We’ve seen who he is, and he does not need pitied. We ask you to pity yourself. Therefore, if you are God’s enemy today, answering the question, “What is God like?” I pray has led you to see that you need to make him your Lord today. Therefore, may you respond to him in faith this day. Amen.

A PORTRAIT OF OUR GOD