One of the favorite hymns I used to sing while growing up was written by Aaron W. Dicus. My favorite verse and chorus go like this:
Our God, whose Son upon a tree,
A life was willing there to give,
That He from sin might set man free,
And evermore with Him could live.
There is a God, He is alive,
In Him we live and we survive;
From dust our God created man,
He is our God, the great I Am.
I’ve thought about why I love these words so much. I think, at the core, is because the word “OUR” is used. He is OUR God. OUR God made a sacrifice for us. OUR God wants us to live with Him. OUR God is alive. OUR God is who we live in. OUR God created us. OUR God is the I AM who communicates with us, saved us, and is our father.
That means a lot to me. OUR God is different than other gods. OUR God is real. OUR God isn’t a carved-up piece of wood, or cast metal, or inanimate object. OUR God literally came to earth and lived as a human – a human written about in non-religious historical documents. OUR God knows everything about us, and still loves us. OUR God wants to live inside of us and wants us to live in Him. OUR God is generous. OUR God is kind. OUR God desires a relationship with us. OUR God is so close to us – He works inside us to make us look more like Him … every single day.
But, I don’t want to confuse people either. OUR God is not OUR property. We don’t own OUR God. We don’t somehow possess OUR God in the sense that we control Him. The word OUR is used to annotate an association with Him. Similar to saying OUR galaxy – we are simply identifying ourselves as being unique because of this connection. It is a way to distinguish ourselves from others who have a different god.
If you are part of the OUR that this song speaks of, I am so happy you came across this blog entry. My prayer is that OUR God will bless you, protect you, comfort you, heal you, guide you, and transform you.
For the rest of the words and a good rendition of the song, please follow this link: https://oc.edu/spiritual-life/chapel/great-songs/our-god-he-is-alive