“Pick five of God’s attributes and write down their relevance to your situation.” That was the instruction from a seminary professor to a group of men only starting to sense the superior nature of Biblical counsel over every worldly alternative.

Add you own circumstantial details, but the basic exercise can look something like this. The five perfections of our Lord selected today are God’s sovereignty, justice, omnipresence, truth, and goodness.

God is completely and utterly sovereign over everything (Ps 103:19). God’s Sovereignty demands complete trust and instills perfect hope (Rom 8:28-31, 37). God’s Sovereignty also necessitates His omnipotence and omniscience.

In His Sovereignty, God is perfectly and righteously just (Ps 7:11; 96:13). God always condemns the evil and acquits and rewards the righteous (Ex 34:7) and is never partial to anyone (Deut 10:17). We must therefore not seek justice on our own terms, but rather trust in the hope of God’s ultimate justice (1 Sam 26:23; Pro 20:22; Isa 65:6). We can rest in His comfort and help in time of need (2 Thess 1:5-7).

God is also everywhere all the time. He is omnipresent (Ps 139:7-12). This fact, combines with God’s goodness and sovereignty gives us much hope during trying circumstances (Rom 8:38-39). God’s continual omnipresence is also an effective deterrent for sin – especially sin that is committed in private (Pro 15:3).

God is Truth. This means He is the only true God and that there is none like Him (Isa 46:9). God is the only Being that inherently sees all of reality as it really is, and because He cannot lie (Num 23:19) His revelation to man reflects His truth and should then supersede all human philosophies and explanation of the reality of our earthly life.(John 14:6; Rom 3:4). This truth is counsel and encouragement for life’s circumstances (Heb 6:18).

Combined with God’s sovereignty, is God’s goodness. It provides perspective and incentive to do what is pure and right (Ps 73:1). Instead of possible apathy or even anger, the knowledge of God’s goodness brings about thanks in the believer’s life (Ps 118:1) and hope in the final purpose of everything (Rom 8:28)