Attributes of God - Interview with Dr Glenn Daman

welcome back to another episode of

Christian Natural Health today I'm

excited to have Dr Glenn Damon with us

Dr Damon is a pastor in Stevenson

Washington with over 35 years of

experience in the Pulpit he's author of

The Lighthouse discovering security and

in the radiance of God's character as

well as five books related to rural

church ministry he's a graduate of

Western Seminary and Trinity Evangelical

Seminary he serves on the board of

directors of vision missions Glenn and

his wife Becky have two children he

enjoys photography and woodworking

welcome Dr Damon thanks so much for

joining us well thanks for having me on

the show it's a real privilege and I

enjoy the opportunity yeah thank you so

tell us about your book what inspired

you to write the lighthouse

well the the book really was an

outgrowth of covid

um

when when covet hit in kind of the week

that we went from

you know in our church from

not worried about kova to being shut

down uh the next Sunday that the Sunday

we shut down and went virtual the sermon

in my series was on First Corinthians

and on giving and I thought well that

doesn't very well fit in terms of that's

awesome yeah when people are going

through crisis and and we're going to

talk about giving today and why you

should give so

um really just prayed about it and

thought what do we need here because

everything is in turmoil and really what

we need is a fresh view of God and the

perspective of him so uh I started a

series on devotional on the attributes

of God and then to can keep connected

with the people I started doing

devotionals uh on

each attribute that we covered that week

just to encourage them right just to

connect with them and to remind them hey

God's still in control and all this and

so that's really where the book was an

outgrowth of sure yeah yeah that

definitely makes sense and so um when

you were doing the study to prepare I'm

sure that always when you're preparing

for sermons you end up learning a lot

yourself but what did that do for you

studying about the attributes of God

well I think the the

journey really was more my journey than

I think the people's journey in terms of

even though I have preached on the

attributes and studying it really

started to bring home

just how big God is and that in the

midst of all the craziness going on in

our world uh you know we have a God

that's in control and nothing's changed

kovid didn't change anything the world

today with all of its massive moral

shifting that we see going on doesn't

change who's in control and so for me it

was just learning to rest in that and

find my peace in that and just realize

hey God's got this yeah

yeah absolutely so in addition to

knowing that God is in control tell us a

few more of the attributes of God and

what that is done for you personally and

how you've seen it kind of affect your

worships yeah you know I think the

when we think about the attributes of

God we we always have a handle on some

of them sure yeah that's true you know

we talk about is Grace and his love and

I think that the thing that impressed

upon me as I was going through all the

different attributes and

that really we need to accept God in the

totality of his multifaceted glory in

his character and

how do we move from just looking at

certain attributes but living in the

context of the totality of who he is so

you know we think of his Holiness we

think of his Justice uh

we think of his his wisdom you know and

wisdom is

not just knowing the best outcome but he

knows every option yeah best way to

achieve every outcome and so from all

that

he never makes a mistake

and uh

and we can rest in that I think in the

midst of our struggles and when we're

facing suffering that

you know and the covet and all this that

God's still in control we can rest in

that so that's really it was kind of

more of a journey for me just to learn

what I knew intellectually good to have

it sink in yeah and it really just

helped me to sink it in in my own

personal life because it was you know

this whole

year and a half with covet in terms of

being a pastor was just there was no no

book I could go to to say you know how

do I navigate this one level one and and

I can read up and somebody can tell me

what to do and it was I

you know we were facing situations we

had never faced before and never thought

of right yeah yeah so

yeah so do you generally just out of

curiosity do you find that the sermons

that

you feel that you're led to prepare does

God first teach you something and then

you pass it on to everybody else or is

it sometimes just you feel like people

need to hear this how much does it does

it affect you first I'm curious yeah I

think it's a little bit of both yeah

because you know part of it is I'm in in

my own personal journey and walk with

the Lord and so

you know there are times I'm sharing

things I've learned but there are times

I'm sharing what I'm learning and then

there's times when I'm preaching

thinking

you know I still haven't got a handle on

this one

that makes sense that makes sense and

that's kind of I think the tension of of

being a pastor is sometimes we're

preaching on topics that we know

I'm not doing this yet sure yeah and

then you get convicted by your own

apartment I don't like those sermons the

ones where I got this one you know right

you get it

so um can we zoom in on just a couple of

God's attributes can you tell me a

little bit like what some of the

devotionals that are on God's love for

example what do you tell people about

that

well in terms of the devotionals

what I do is I kind of start off with an

overview of the attribute of what it is

yeah and then

the daily devotionals are taking

passages that cover that attribute for

example is love and really trying to

bring it home and say okay here's how it

relates to everyday life especially in

the context of of the trials of life and

the struggles we're facing

[Music]

because it it's not abstract knowledge

it has to be personal transformational

knowledge that hey

He Loves Us far more than we can ever

imagine

and you know our

the love that we have for our children

for our spouse is nothing compared to

the love he has for us

that's just a great reminder on a daily

level yeah to keep meditating on that

for sure because that's where trust

comes from right if You That Somebody

Loves You Then You're Gonna know that

they really have your best interests at

heart so yeah awesome so and you've kind

of touched on this but how would

Understanding God's nature and the

totality that you keep describing how

does that change how we live

well I think it does everything I mean

it's really

when we think about the attributes of

God and who God is

I think sometimes we tend to look at the

Bible as a story about God's salvation

of us and that's part of the story yeah

but it's really a story of God revealing

himself to us and calling us and

inviting us into a relationship with him

when you you think back at the Garden of

Eden he created us in His image

and you know I always say that the uh

The Wonder of that I mean that the

Angels must have marveled that here is

the god of the universe saying I'm going

to put my image

into these people on this small little

planet

that that becomes our identity you know

our world today is looking for identity

there yeah everybody's searching for you

know what's my identity what's my

purpose in life and who am I well the

Bible tells us it's found in the image

of God and so when we know him more and

embrace His Image in our life that's

where we find our identity and our sense

of purpose so I think that's that's

really kind of the starting point uh

but then you know it's a growth process

of then getting to know them you know

westminster's confession said you know

what is the chief end of man you know

the chief end of man is the to glorify

God and enjoy him forever

I think sometimes as Christians we get

caught up in the teeth end is for us to

live our life and the God to take care

of us and not to say okay my chief end

is just to get to know him

uh

you know Charles Spurgeon

when he was I think he was in his early

20s when he made this statement which

was an incredible Insight he says the

highest science the the loftiest

speculation that the mightiest

philosophy which it can ever engage the

attention of the child of God is the

name the nature the person the work and

the existence of the great God our

savior and so that really should Define

us uh in terms of

our whole relationship it's about

getting to know him

and then the attributes

not only Define our identity but it

affects our whole outlook on life our

world view

because really when we think about

morality and we think about

uh our our understanding of the world

it's really based upon our Theology of

who is God we don't believe in God

and we're just here by chance well then

our uh morality is a reflection of that

sure yeah absolutely yeah and so you're

you you're talking about the

um the characteristics of God and also

our our identity so I assume you go into

this a little bit in the book but

are you trying to say are you saying

that our understanding of who God is

then ends up being what we should be

reflecting as who we are as our identity

like that's how he's imprinted his his

image on us yeah and that's you know

Christ calls us to that because he says

we are to

reflect his image that we become we die

to self and we become alive to Christ so

uh

it really is about learning to embrace

His Image and reflecting enough so his

righteousness his character

and then we live within the context of

that

but that's a challenge and

I think that the biggest challenge in

our Christian Life in relationship to

this is we get it up here right I mean

I've been to Seminary

you know I can probably go in and pass

the theology test

but do I really get it

yeah

yeah

when I get to heaven I will oh yeah of

course yeah we're all in process but

we're going from glory to glory yeah and

Paul talks about that you know because

he says uh not that I've already

attained these things but the thing I I

press on

he says I see through a glass Darkly and

it's like yeah I get that

absolutely absolutely and so how does

the study of God's attributes affect the

way that we worship God

that's a good question you know I think

sometimes in terms of our worship

uh

sometimes in our worship I think we get

focused in on certain aspects of God's

character

uh

and rightfully so you know we worship

his love for us and we worship

uh his grace and his Mercy but really

the worship of God should be in the

totality of his character

uh you know just you know for example

you look at most of the hymns in the

songs we sing in church today

are focused on his grace his Mercy his

care for us but how much do we really

sing on his Justice in his his uh

judgment upon sin and yet you look in

the Psalms

that sense of justice that God is going

to bring judgment upon sin and he's

going to bring Vindication to to the

righteous is a major theme in the Psalms

and that's something I noticed I went to

to Russia in around 2000 and to teach uh

for a couple weeks over there to pastors

and so I had the chance to go to several

different Services uh in Russian

and the one thing I noticed in their

their hymns and their songs in their

time of worship they were focused on the

justice of God interesting huh so it's a

cultural thing almost well and I think

it's an experiential thing is you know

living under communism where you're

oppressed why yeah yeah there's a sense

that hey

I need God to to respond and bring

Vindication for us

absolutely and if

any of the year for people

let go and give their burdens to God if

they feel like he cares about Justice

being done because otherwise you feel

like well it's not going to happen if I

you know unless I do it but if you trust

that he really

really care of it then that enables you

to actually cast your cares and trust

that it's going to be taken care of in a

right

yeah so I think in our worship how do we

move from

certain attributes attributes to the

totality of who he is

uh the other thing I I think it does is

sometimes in our worship

we can easily become man-centered in our

worship yes seriously that is very true

you know so I think in several ways one

is first of all we look at worship and

it's like well what did I experience

yeah well that's not the right question

the right question is what did God

experience

he's the recipient

we're not the recipient he's the

recipient

uh the second thing I think sometimes is

that in our worship we focus on what he

does for us now that's certainly true

and and you know that's certainly an

important part of our worship

but

we should also be asking the question

what does he want us to do for him

as part of our worship because worship

ultimately that the term worship

literally means to bend the need to Bow

it's it's an act of surrender so in our

worship are we asking God to take care

of us only or are we surrendering to

whether to whatever he does in our life

uh

so to me that's when we start looking at

the god in in his attributes and

that is what should be the focus is who

he is in the totality of of his

character so that we worship Him

for all his attributes

curious at your perspective on this I've

been going through the Psalms and

looking at almost the way not the parts

of speech exactly but the fact that

sometimes it's who uh like is it first

person or is it second person sometimes

it's praising God and it's saying you

are so great and you are so awesome but

a lot of times it's the psalmist telling

himself to worship God or it's the

psalmist telling other people you guys

should be worshiping God or all creation

should be worshiping God it's

interesting how it's like stirring

themselves up but I've never really

thought about it in those in that way

anymore I thought worship was always you

are so amazing and awesome but there's

there seems to be that certain element

to it can you comment on that at all

well I I think that we all struggle

really genuinely worship

because

when we when we lack an understanding of

God

which we all struggle with

you know and what I say is that

when the finite is confronted with the

infinite

the way we try to understand the

infinite is we make him finite oh

interesting so we struggle to to really

get aggressive so we bring him down kind

of to our level

and the struggle is to say you know he

is he is worthy of of our praise and so

how can we become more expressive of

that sort of true expression of our

heart not just well we're singing our

hymns and well we're taking our offering

and then

that's an endless sermon then we go

watch the football game at home

and let that become kind of in the

background

um what would you see is the difference

or is there a difference between

thankfulness and praise

well there I think there is uh in terms

of the concept of thankfulness

thankfulness is is

related to being grateful for what he's

done for us so it's kind of looking at

that aspect of saying here's what he's

done for us we're thankful praise is

acknowledging who he is and celebrating

that and living within the context of

that independent of what he's done for

us yeah

yeah and the question is can we praise

him

when we have no quote-unquote reason to

be thankful

and let me kind of expand on that that

what I mean by that is

you know when life is going hard

and we're looking and saying I don't see

God's blessing in my life right now

can we still praise him and that's where

the psalmists and the Psalms of lament

really come into play that you know

Psalms 13 you know and I

you know my life is a mess right now but

I will still praise God in the midst of

that and that's the challenge yeah yeah

well and there's stories certainly in

scripture too where praise actually

turns things around too so there's that

expectation of he is going to come

through and I will praise him because I

know he's faithful even though I don't

see it right this second and lo and

behold he comes through which is also

amazing

so yeah well that's why I like the Book

of Job I love the Book of Job because

here he is

questioning God God doesn't

condemn joke for for questioning but in

the end

to sum up kind of God's response to job

and the end God just says listen I'm God

you're not now you got to learn to deal

with that

just that awareness hey I'm God I'm in

control I'll take care of it you got to

just trust me

and sometimes you can't explain there's

so much going on that it's he job

wouldn't have understood had he oh tried

to translate all delete all of that yeah

so so what have I not asked you that you

want to make sure that you leave with

our audience

uh

that's you know I think the biggest

thing that

if I were to leave one thing with the

audience is that

as we worship him let's we need to just

learn to get to know who he is uh

Stephen charnock in his classic

on the existence and attributes of God

makes a statement he says there's

something of a secret Atheism in all of

us not an utter disowning of the being

of God but the denial or doubting of

some of his nature

uh

uh practical atheism is not the the

absolute disowning of God rather it's

the inconsideration of God or the

misrepresentation of God

and I think that's the challenge we face

in our Christian Life is

and it's a journey it's a process we're

still in process of learning to allow

God to be God for who he is not trying

to make him down to where we want him to

be

but just loving him

and living in response to him for his

character and that's what I you know

that my bottom desire of the book is

that people would just

grow to appreciate God more and more

and uh

you know if that's the end product it

drives them the scripture to read and

say this is God's autobiography let's

study him right yeah that's great I love

it so where can people go to learn more

about you and about your book

well I I have a website uh

the attributes of

god.net they're all lower case and

that's where I post daily devotionals

where I try to go through and just focus

on attributes revealed in scripture so

right now I'm kind of going through the

books of the Bible each week a different

book and just highlighting what it

teaches us about God

the book that I've written on the

lighthouse is available on Amazon just

go there type in the lighthouse by Glenn

Damon you can find it and but most

importantly go to the Bible and learn

about him

absolutely so I will link in the show

notes to those and thank you so much for

all of your wisdom and Time Dr Damon

this has been great well thanks for

having me and appreciated it

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