Last week I was studying Ephesians 4 and came across a verse I loved but wasn't really sure why.
"one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."
That's great but what does that mean? So I started to google Webster definitions to discover the difference between all these prepositions and what that means about who God is.
OF: expressing relationship between a part and a whole // indicating an association between two entities, typically one of belonging
OVER: extending directly upward from // expressing passage across // higher than or more than
THROUGH: moving in one side and out of the other side // continuing in time toward completion of // continuing or valid to the final destination
IN: expressing the situation of something that is or appears to be enclosed or surrounded by something else
1) I am the part; He is the whole. I belong to Him and He belongs to me.
2) He is above all things. Not only does He see the bigger picture and purpose, but He controls it. "I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (Isaiah 43:19) God is never gonna give me less than His best but sometimes His best looks different than I expect it to. I think this is a fundamental problem believers struggle with. If He's good and if He's faithful then blah blah blah. If He really loves me then He would blah blah do what I want blah blah. If I could predict how He works all things to the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28) then there would be no point to God. I wouldn't need God and trust me, I need God. When we put limits and ultimatums on God, what we are really doing is telling a God who knows all that we know better.
3) Jesus meets me in my mess and molds me and changes my heart to be more like His. He works in my life to make me more like Him. "he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6) When I screw up, run away, ignore God - He is still continuing in me. God moves in every broken situation to bring it to the completion of His eternal glory and our joy. When Jesus died on the cross, I became precious and honored in the eyes of the Lord (Isaiah 43: 4) in other words VALID. Jesus gave me a title and it is child of God. I am a child of God and I am valid and loved by God until the final destination. Nothing can rob me of this title because it was given to me in mercy and because of His great love for me (Ephesians 2:4) and that is enough.
4) God is IN our mess when it seems surrounded or enclosed by something else. That something else is sin. Idols, selfishness, doubt, fear, lust, addiction, the list goes on. I love this because so many times in my life I have believed a lie that I am unworthy of His love and far from Him but He is always near. He is in the thing I feel enclosed or surrounded by. It is easy sometimes to believe a lie that I am trapped, held down by sin, but I am free and I am a child of God.