Chapter 1: God Cares About You (Loving)

1.  What comes to mind when you hear the word love? How does your experience of love compare with the biblical ideal?

2.  What in your life makes you doubt God’s love?

3.  What do you think it means to love God with “all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength”? Be specific.

4.  How have you been able to express the love of God to others?

5.  How would your life be different if you could affirm Paul’s words from Romans 8:31-32 in every situation, saying, “If God is for me, who can ever be against me? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for me, won’t he also give me everything else?”

6.  Take a moment to pray, asking God to deepen your knowledge of his unfailing love so you can reflect his kindness to others.

Chapter 2: God is Better than You Think (Good)

1.  Close your eyes and imagine you are Moses having a conversation with God. You feel a thrill at his promise, “I will make all my goodness pass before you.” Stay in God’s presence. What do you see?

2.  God says he will “lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations,” but he also warns that he will inflict consequences even to “children in the third and fourth generations” of the guilty. What do you make of this distinction?

3.  Think of the person you know who best reflects God’s goodness. List his or her qualities.

4.  Make a list of all the ways God has revealed his goodness to you.

5.  Have you ever been tempted to think that God isn’t always good? What were the circumstances?

Chapter 3: God is Bigger than You Think (Infinite)

1.  Take a moment to look at your surroundings. Is there anything within your range of vision that could not be measured, provided you had the proper tools?

2.  When Solomon dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem, his prayer recorded in 1 Kings seems almost incredulous, expressing a sense of wonder that God would choose to dwell in an earthly temple. How can an infinite God be present on earth?

3.  Comment on ways people try to measure God. How might this tendency affect their faith?

4.  Though creatures are, by definition, limited, the Creator is not. What are the implications of God’s infinite nature in terms of his energy, power, understanding, and love?

Chapter 4: God is not Moody (Unchangeable, Immutable)

1.  Though God’s nature and will are unchanging, our under­standing of him can change. Describe ways in which your picture of God has changed over the years.

2.  How has your relationship with the unchanging God changed you?

3.  The writer of Hebrews reminds his readers that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever and then warns them against “strange, new ideas.” What are some strange ideas you have encountered that do not align with God’s Word? How did you respond?

4.  James tells believers that “whatever is good and perfect” comes to us from God. Have you ever been tempted to blame God for things that are bad and imperfect? What were the circumstances?

5.  How does knowing that God’s will and nature never change affect your view of current circumstances? What are the implications for the way you will respond to your circumstances in the future?

Chapter 5: God is Not Weak (All Powerful, Omnipotent)

1.  Psalm 89 says it pleases God “to make us strong.” Have you ever experienced a time in which God made you strong? If so describe it.

2.  The psalmist implies that he rejoices all day long in God’s “wonderful reputation” and that God is his “glorious strength.” What might your life look like if you were able to do this every day?

3.  Why is it sometimes difficult to believe that God is all powerful? What can you do to strengthen your faith during such times?

Chapter 6: God is Close to Everywhere (Present Everywhere, Omnipresent)

1.  God calls the Tabernacle “the place made holy by my glorious presence.” What are the implications of this passage for our own places of worship, even though they differ from the Tabernacle spoken of in the passage?

2.  What must it have felt like for an enslaved ­people—​­the lowest of the ­low—​­to be delivered through the intervention of a God who was near enough to hear their cries for help and powerful enough to help? How does God’s presence deliver us from evil?

3.  What does God’s desire to dwell among his people say about his character and his intentions regarding us?

4.  John’s Gospel indicates that when Jesus came into the world he had created, the world failed to recognize him (John 1:10). Why do you think so many people in Jesus’ day were blind to the presence of God in their midst?

5.  Have you ever been especially aware of God’s presence in your own life? If so, what were the circumstances? How did the experience affect you?

Chapter 7: God is Never Surprised (All Knowing, Omniscient)

1.  How does it make you feel when you realize that God knows everything?

2.  David, the author of Psalm 139, seems to have been given a profound understanding of God’s omniscience. How and why might God have communicated this to him?

3.  Have you ever had a sense that God knew everything about you? What were the circumstances?

4.  Have you ever felt the need to explain yourself to God? Have you ever felt misunderstood by him? If so, what happened?

5.  Why is it important to know, as David proclaims, that God sees us before we are born and that he has recorded every one of our days in his book?

6.  How might your perspective change if you lived every day with a profound awareness of God’s omniscience? 

Chapter 8: God is Never Frustrated (Patient)

1.  How has God shown patience toward you? Be as specific as possible.

2.  The scene described in Exodus 34:5-7 occurred immediately after God inscribed the Ten Commandments on two stone tablets. Comment on the significance of this timing.

3.  On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, how would you rate your ability to be patient? What could you do to improve your score?

4.  Why is it hard to be patient?

5.  Do you ever think God gets frustrated with you? Why or why not?

Chapter 9: God Always Knows What to Do (Wise)

1.  Read the first five sentences in Proverbs 2 and note all the verbs. What do these indicate about how a person can grow in wisdom?

2.  According to Proverbs 2, what are some of the benefits of wisdom?

3.  When was the last time you failed to act wisely? What were the circumstances, and what were the consequences?

4.  Describe a time God gave you wisdom to deal with a particular circumstance. What was the outcome?

5.  Why do you think there is such a close relationship between obedience and wisdom?

Chapter 10: God Has No Limits (Eternal, Self-Sufficient)

1.  Is it logically necessary for God to be eternal? Why or why not?

2.  What does Scripture mean when it says that “his everlasting arms are under you”? Have you ever experienced God in this way? If so, how?

3.  Note that Isaiah speaks of the “everlasting God” and then quickly identifies him as the Creator. Why do you think it’s easier for us to place our trust in creatures rather than the Creator?

4.  What do you need, in this moment, from God? Ask him for it, and then tell him you want to learn to depend on him.

Chapter 11: God is a Lover (Jealous)

1.  What images of God come to mind when you think of jealousy? How do they make you feel?

2.  In the passage from Exodus, God warns his people against allying themselves with foreigners. What reason does he give for this?

3.  What does God’s jealousy reveal about him?

4.  How should we think about God’s jealousy in our own lives?

5.  Have you ever observed a person who showed zeal for God? If so, describe him or her.

Chapter 12: God is Always Fair (Just, Righteous)

1.  What comes to mind when you hear the word righteousness?

2.  What makes ­self-​­righteousness so unattractive?

3.  What does Jesus imply about the “righteous ones” in the passage from Matthew 25?

4.  What emotions does the phrase “final judgment” evoke in you? Why?

5.  Do you think Christians are called to engage in social justice? Why or why not?

Chapter 13: God Leans toward Compassion (Merciful)

1.  How have you experienced God’s mercy? Be as specific as possible.

2.  Have you ever thought that God was angry with you? What were the circumstances? How did it affect you when you thought he was angry?

3.  Compare the first two lines of Exodus 34:7 with the remainder of the verse. What is God saying about the nature of his mercy compared to the nature of his judgment?

4.  Think for a moment about the phrase unfailing love. How would your life change if you were convinced that those two words sum up God’s attitude toward you?

5.  How has God enabled you to show mercy to others? Are you growing in mercy?

6.  Psalm 103:13 says that God is “tender and compassionate to those who fear him.” Why do you think the psalmist links the fear of God with expressions of his mercy?

7.  Is it possible to make mercy inoperative? If so, how? Take a look at Romans 2:1-11; 11:22 to see what the Bible has to say.

Chapter 14: God Never Gives Up (Faithful)

1.  The passage from Lamentations implies a link between hope and God’s faithfulness. How do you think those two ideas are connected?

2.  How might your life be different if you lived with the expectation that each morning would bring new mercies from God?

3.  What does it mean to “live in the shelter of the Most High” and to “find rest in the shadow of the Almighty”? Give specific examples.

4.  Why is it difficult for human beings to comprehend faithfulness?

5.  What circumstances challenge your ability to be faithful to God and others?

6.  What does the psalmist mean when he says that “no evil will conquer you”? How have you experienced this in your life?

Chapter 15: God is Better than Anyone You Know (Holy)

1.  Why was Isaiah distressed when he found himself in the throne room of God?

2.  Isaiah couldn’t praise God or proclaim God’s message until his lips were purified. What does this symbolic act convey regarding the importance of purity? What are the implications for our own hearts?

3.  How has our culture’s attitude toward God’s holiness changed over the past several decades? What do you think accounts for this shift?

4.  Have you ever experienced a sense of awe in God’s presence? What were the circumstances?

Chapter 16: God Is an Artist (Creative)

1.  Read Genesis 1 and count how many times God evaluates his creation, proclaiming it good. What does this indicate about his attitude toward everything he has made? How can you reflect that attitude in your own life?

2.  How does Genesis 1 reveal God’s provision for the world he created?

3.  What do you think it means to be created in God’s image?

4.  What are the practical implications of God’s call for us to be ­stewards—​­first regarding human life and then regarding the rest of the created world?

5.  Think about the miracles Jesus performed while he was on earth. What do they tell us about God’s creative power? What do they foretell about the new heaven and the new earth God has promised?

6.  How does human creativity relate to God’s creative nature?

Chapter 17: God is Above It All (Transcendent)

1.  What does the passage from Genesis tell us about God’s transcendence?

2.  Take a moment to prayerfully read Isaiah 6:1-5. Imagine that you are Isaiah and that you have been caught up into God’s presence. What would you learn about God and about yourself?

3.  How can God be both present and far away, as Jeremiah says?

4.  What do you think it means to fear God?

5.  How should healthy fear operate in the life of a Christian? How does fear operate in your own life?