Counseling Theology - The Attributes of God and the Practical Implications of Each Attribute For Life and Counseling

Introduction

The attributes of God can sometime’s become bleak or bare, boring or bland. I think this is probably the case, because so few really take the time to get to know their God. If you were dating your husband or wife to be, you would spend countless hours getting to know him or her, but when it comes to God we sometimes stop short of knowing all there is to know about him.

Here is a small sampling of his attributes, namely, his wrath, mercy, holiness, omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. And I will simply describe them briefly, and make some application to our lives and the counseling room.

God’s Wrath

The wrath of God is most likely the one attribute that is particularly repulsive to the world at large. However, to those who love Christ and have a deep hatred for sin, the wrath of God becomes necessary, appropriate, and gives us much more reason to love God and fall down before him in thankfulness because of what he has rescued us from, than to be leery of a God who just might enact justice.

The idea of God’s wrath is, while an attribute of God, does not exist in a vacuum, and stems ultimately from the holiness and love of God. It is the holiness and righteousness of God that requires his wrath upon sin and sinners alike. The significance of the realization of God’s wrath, his holiness and righteousness in the counseling room, is one of utmost significance. If a person “reacts to God’s majestic-holiness with a feeling of utter insignificance and awe, his reaction to the ethical holiness reveals itself in a sense of impurity, a consciousness of sin…”[1] In other words, when a person sees God, he should immediately see his sin and fall down before the Lord of Glory just as Isaiah did:

In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."

Isaiah 6:1-5

In biblical counseling, it is the glorification of God that we are ultimately after, and the bowing down before him in reverence with a humble submission to him is what the end goal is for both counselee and counselor. 

God’s Mercy

The mercy of God is a thing of genuine and true beauty. Words cannot accurately and adequately describe the true splendor and magnificence of this great compassion of God. The mercy of God is “the goodness or love of God shown to those who are in misery or distress, irrespective of their deserts.”[2] By the term “deserts” Berkhof means a person's worthiness or entitlement to reward or punishment. God pities those who are in misery (which is all of us), and stretches out his hands to relieve and comfort them.

God’s mercy extends to all of his creation, but it goes to those who fear him in special measure, that those who do not fear him will never experience. In counseling it is necessary that people see and know the compassionate mercy of God, because knowing that God is not simply there, demanding things of you, but actually, really, and truly cares for you is a life changing reality. This understanding becomes so real in the life of believers that there is a tangible comfort present, and the counselor strives to convey this to the counselee. Many do not know the comfort of a father, and so it is important to convey the love and mercy of our Heavenly Father to those who desperately need him to give their souls rest. 

Our sovereign Lord, Jesus expresses his own heart in simple, yet magnificent detail for us here:

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Matthew 11:28-30 (emphasis added)

God’s Holiness

The holiness of God is of the utmost importance, and it is vital for all Christians to be fully aware of this. His holiness is the absolute distinctness, and otherness he possesses from all of his creation and creators. In all of God’s other attributes, he portrays his holiness; so if it were possible to say that one attribute of God were central or fundamental, our foundational, it would be his holiness, because it is applicable to everything that can be found in God. The holiness of God shows us how unholy we are, and how imperfect we are in spite of all the lies the world and our own hearts tell us. When we see the holiness of God, our only response ought to be an immediate and humble bowing down before him and a recognition like John:

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, …When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last…

Revelation 1:12-17

God’s Omnipotence

The omnipotence of God is also known as the sovereign power of God. This is the power that God has to execute his will over his creation. Berkhof defines it as, “that perfection of his being by which he is the absolute and highest causality.”[3] The power and sovereignty of God are essential to grasp, because it is by this knowledge we are able to accept the things that happen in our lives. Isaiah articulate this as he prophesies regarding Assyria, saying:

The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, "Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand…

Isaiah 14:24

Knowing, and subsequently trusting in, the sovereign power God – in light of all his other attributes – lends comfort because we know that nothing God does is purposeless, and that past events are no longer arbitrary and senseless, but purposeful and ultimately for our good and God’s glory. And of course, we know the great comfort that comes from Pauls famous words:

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28

God’s Omniscience

The omniscience of God is the all-comprehensive knowledge of God. God knows himself, and all things that are in himself and that come from himself perfectly. He knows all things as they stand in time, as well as all hidden things and the very essence of all things. He sees past the exterior that man sees and knows with complete and perfect knowledge the human heart.

"Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you."

Isaiah 42:9

and,

Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure

Isaiah 46:10

This attribute of God can often be more discomforting than comforting. God knows the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Jeremiah 17:9), and he knows what we think and what we want to do and what we do and do not do. He knows our hidden secret sins and the lies that we tell others as well as the lies we try to tell God and ourselves. He sees every encounter of our lives perfectly and by this is able to judge with the utmost perfection. The counselee should see that they cannot fool God, and that they are only deceiving themselves if they assume they can. This is the part that is discomforting - the part that gives us the willies.

But, on the flip side, God also knows our pain, and is therefore not aloof, but is intimately near and understanding, and full of compassion because he is aware of our circumstances and he is ready to bare us up upon himself, like a kind and gracious father. He knows all about you. He knows every ache of your heart, every fear and worry. He knows your trials and the circumstances of all your life. He sees you and embraces you as a gentle elder brother. He knows your deepest desires as well as the sin that entangles you, and he call you to himself to receive the healing balm of his love.

In Hebrews we learn:

[W]e do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews 4:15

Conclusion

All that God is, makes him objectively beautiful and worth of our admiration. However, these attributes of his are more than mere characteristics. They are immutable and essential qualities of the God we worship and because of this, they are of great use and comfort to us. These are qualities of God that we ought not confuse nor discard, but rather focus upon and remember, so that in all of life we might aim to be consoled by him, and also seek to glorify him.

[1]Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology

[2]Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology

[3]Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology