December 13
Bible Reading: Exodus 3:14-15; Isaiah 44:24; Acts 17:24-25; Colossians 1:16-17
God is self-existent and self-sufficient, needing nothing outside Himself for His life and being. The question “Who created God?” is answered with a resounding “No one.” God existed alone, self-contained and self-satisfied, before creation. As Arthur W. Pink writes, “‘In the beginning, God’ (Genesis 1:1), when there was no heaven, earth, or angels—just God, from everlasting.”
There was no heaven, where His glory is now particularly manifested. There was no earth to engage His attention. There were no angels to sing His praises; no universe to be upheld by the word of His power. There was nothing, no one, but God; and that, not for a day, a year, or an age, but “from everlasting.”
Creation, including the universe, angels, and humanity, added nothing to God’s essential nature. God is unchanging (Malachi 3:6), and He had no obligation or necessity to create; He did so solely out of His sovereign will for His glory (Ephesians 1:11).
In contrast, humans are neither self-existent nor self-sufficient. Abraham Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” outlines the basic necessities for human survival and self-actualization, emphasizing our dependence on the Creator. As A. W. Tozer notes, “To stay alive every created thing needs some other created thing, and all things need God. To God alone nothing is necessary.”
Sin, at its core, is rebellion, often manifesting as the belief that we can exist independently of God. In today’s secular world, many live as though the universe revolves around them, only to face frustration when the universe doesn’t comply.
Though God needs nothing from us, He created us in His image and sent His Son to save us from sin (John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4). By His grace, He calls us to serve Him, having prepared good works for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). The self-sufficient Creator, who needs nothing, deserves our worship.
“To stay alive every created thing needs some other created thing, and all things need God. To God alone nothing is necessary.”—A. W. Tozer
ALL POWERFUL, SELF-EXISTENT GOD
All-powerful, self-existent God,
Who all creation dost sustain!
Thou wast, and art, and art to come;
And everlasting is Thy reign.
Fix’d and eternal as Thy days,
Each glorious attribute divine,
Thro’ ages infinite, shall still
With undiminish’d lustre shine.
Fountain of being! Source of good!
Immutable dost Thou remain;
Nor can the shadow of a change
Obscure the glories of Thy reign.
Earth may with all her powers dissolve,
If such the great Creator’s will;
But Thou for ever art the same;
“I Am” is Thy memorial still.
LookingtoJesus 