Our relationship with God hinges on trust, like any other relationship.  The level of intimacy we are willing to grant someone is directly related to the level of trust they have demonstrated.  We are not going to share any sort of vulnerabilities with someone who has broken our trust.  No one appreciates a violation of trust, being criticized or shamed for something we have done.  We all can think back to a time when our trust was broken, someone criticized us or treated us like we were less than them.  Those are memories that no one likes to relive.  The trouble with this is that we often relegate our relationship with God to that of the humans we have interacted with in our past.  We in our finite minds only have the ability to live from our experiences or prior thought.  This is somewhat of a survival mechanism.  We learn from our mistakes, we learn from experiences.  We know not to touch the hot stove because that one time we touched it didn't turn out so good.  It hurt! We don't like hurt.  That simple.  We learn not to trust the brunette in the Bible study group because we heard how she was talking about the lady in the nursery.  Now, this is how God designed us to operate, He designed us to be able to learn from experience, to take in information and to respond accordingly.  This is a good thing.  In fact failure is one of the best teachers.  

The problem with this is that we have for so long viewed God and his character through the eyes of the fallen and cursed world that we live in, simply because that is what we have experienced.  We have been taught that He is a ruthless ogre that  is on watch for us to mess up so that He can punish us.  We have been heard more times than we can count that He will put sickness, tragedy and trials on us to teach us a lesson.  We continue to view our interactions and relationship with God through the lens of Job's three friends.  Whenever something bad happens, it must be because of some secret sin in someone's life and God is dealing with them.  Y'all! Really? With this image of God, why would we EVER take anything to Him?  Why would we ever pray for healing or intervention in our circumstances, since this must be His will for us.  He is, after all punishing us for something we did, so we deserve to suffer.  NO! There is nothing further from the truth! The God that we serve is a holy, compassionate and just.  If the Creator didn't love us, why in the world would He have planned to sacrifice His son, from before the foundation of the world was laid.  Jesus was always the plan.  Love was always the plan.  

Self existant

Before we can understand many of the other attributes of God, we need to lay the first foundational stone for the conversation.  First and foremost we have to know and understand that God was never created.  He is not part of this Creation.  He exists outside of this creation that we know.  He is not of this world.  He is not of this dimension.  Now yes, this is a really big thought, but it arguably sets the stage for all of the other attributes of God and how we can relate to Him.  God does not have a creator or anything else that his existence depends upon.  You and I exist out of the relationship and because of the relationship of our parents.  We were not happenstance from mold or randomly generated.  We exist because cells met together and life was formed.  

This is not the case with God.  God does not have a creator, or designer of Himself.  He exists only in and out of Himself.  Stop and breathe with that one.  I know I shot out of the gate pretty quickly with this one, but there is a reason.  If we believe that God exists or that He was created by another force or power, then it is not God that is all powerful, all knowing and in control of creation.  It would mean that whoever or whatever created God would be in control and that God was subject to them.    There is no other source from which God derives his power, knowledge or existence.  God is not dependent on anyone or anything else.  

Because He exists outside of this Creation, also means that He is not subject to the fallen state of it.  When the fall of man happened in Genesis 3, God was not present.  He was not party to the fall.  He was not a partaker in the fall.  He was the One that set forth the parameters of the relationship. He was the One who pronounced the curse.  He was the One from which everything had existed, so He was in control of it all and He chose to share that power and control with man, at the same time, giving him free will to remain or to exit the relationship.  If God was not part of Creation, thus the curse was not pronounced on Him.  There is no sin nature in God, because He is not a created and fallen being.  This leads into the first of our attributes of God to discuss. 

This means He cannot lie.  He cannot go against Himself.  He cannot violate His covenant.  He cannot sin against us!  When you sit in the magnitude of that last sentence.... HE CANNOT SIN AGAINST US..... this really helps us to separate Him from every other person we have interacted with in our lives.  God is not a fallen being like us, He does not have a sin nature.  He exists outside of Creation, so He is not subject to the fallen state of our world.  This means He cannot lie, He cannot steal, He cannot abuse us, He cannot violate our trust, He cannot abandon us.  He cannot sin against us like every other person we know.  

This may be a difficult concept to fully grasp, after all, this is what life has taught us in our interactions with others.  This is the habit we have to break.  God is not a person.  We cannot compare Him to our parents, to our friend, our spouse, our mentor or teacher.  He is not like any of them.  He is Himself, and he is only, totally, completely, emphatically and always holy. 

just

The holiness of God cannot be separated from the fact that He is equally just.  Meaning that He will always seek and bring about justice in everything.  This, in fact, comes out of His holiness.  He arguably cannot be holy and not be just.  Without holiness justice has no value.  Justice has no reason.  If it weren't for the holiness of God and His perfection, there would be no standard to uphold therefore necessitating justice.  There would be no right or wrong.  There would be no definitive good or evil.  Without those absolutes, all of which exist because we have a holy standard modeled for us in God, there is no cause for justice.  

This becomes an assurance for us that God will always settle the issue.  He will always vindicate where vindication is necessitated.  God will always defend, guard and protect.  He will always punish sin.  He will always execute judgement where judgement is needed.  The peace we have in this as His children is that because of Jesus, and us placing our faith in Him, we are no longer the object of His wrath or judgement.  We have experienced full atonement, or payment, for all of our sins past, present and future.  This was all paid for by the precious blood of Jesus! We took on the punishment that was necessary.  He took on the judgement and the full exaction of justice on our accounts.  Thus our balance is paid in full, forever.  

Omnipotent 

This word encapsulates the fullness of God's power.  He is all powerful. He is without limit.  He cannot be outdone.  There is no power in all of heaven or earth that can surpass Him.  I think this might be the attribute most relatable and familiar.  We have been taught across all of history that God is all powerful and that He can do anything.  We have been taught this so much that I think we often walk away with an image of our Creator as merely a superhero from the latest action film.  While the power exacted in each of those superhuman beings is powerful - no one will argue with that.  God is beyond that.  I would argue that there is danger in viewing God in that context, simply because every superhero comes with a weakness - whether it be some alien mineral, anger, a bullet or simply the fact that they are rejected for their differentness.  Our God doesn't have a weakness.  And He is certainly not just a vigilante parading about.  

The beauty of the fact that God is all powerful is that His power is perfectly balanced with every other of his attributes.  He will not use His power to abuse us, deceive us or violate our free will.   He will not use His power to simply nihilate us and start again.  His power is balanced by His goodness.  His power is balanced by His holiness.  This is yet another resting place for us.  We can rest in the fact that His power is only good towards us, it is only restorative to the believer in Jesus and it is only wielded out of His holiness.  

Omniscience goes beyond God just being a know it all.  This speaks to the fact that He possess all of the wisdom, knowledge and the understanding that needs to go with it to make the perfect decision every time.  I once made the mistake of informing God that He had gotten everything out of timing.  You see, here in the south, we are surrounded by beautiful dogwood trees in the spring.  Right in time for Easter very year, the white petals of the flowers will begin to get red spots on them as they wilt.  This serves as a reminder of Jesus blood in many southern traditions.  I was sitting on the front porch taking in the beauty of the tree and spring, and I noticed that it was still a week or two even before Easter and the white flower petals already had red spots.  I bodaciously scolded God that He had messed up the timing.  To which He promptly spoke right back to my spirit, " I created it, don't you think I know how it is supposed to work! And further more, I created you, don't you think I know how your life is supposed to work, too!"  I was probably a little too big for my britches for my own good that day.  Needless to say, I never again challenged God on his timing of anything.  He was absolutely right, He is the Creator, He is the designer.  He knows how it all works together.  

Honestly, knowing that He knows it all, gives me quite a sense of peace and rest.  I can completely trust that He knows what is best for me, what will work  and what the best option is in every situation.  Resting in this means that I rely on His provision.  Truthfully, I get into the most trouble when I am not trusting His wisdom in some area.  It can be relationships, finances, business - whatever it is that you are facing. He knows the right answer, for your good and His glory. 

This is not to say that our Holy, Holy, Holy God can or will tolerate sin.  We already addressed the fact that He is equally as just as He is holy, and that we can rest in that fact.  To reconcile this within our belief system we have to possess a truly balanced understanding of the character and person of God.  Omnibenevolence points to the fact that in His complete and total wisdom, He is only good.  Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 7.  He asked the parents standing by which of them, even though they were sinful beings, would give their child a stone or a snake to eat.  This sounds just as ridiculous today as I am sure it sounded to the people there talking with Jesus that day.   There is not a one of is that would do such a thing to our child.  We would never knowingly harm them or put them in harms way.  That was the point Jesus was making.  If we, who are fallen creatures, would meet our child's needs and protect them, how much more so will our Heavenly Father do the same, and even more, for us.  

Pulling all of this together creates a much more accurate picture of God than I am sure many of us have grown up knowing.  I am sure there were some things that stretched your thoughts and beliefs here.  The reality of it is until we have a true revelation of who God ACTUALLLY is, how can we truly know Him.  We have to know Him in order to trust Him.  Knowledge and trust go hand in hand here.  I pray that these words resonate with you and that you will pray into asking God to give you a full revelation of His person and His character.  I feel full well that when a believer has this full revelation of who God really is, they cannot help but to fall deeper into relationship and trust with Him.  The opposite is true as well, true relationship and intimacy cannot happen until you know Him.