Most Christians believe that God is omnipotent or all-powerful. That there is nothing He can’t do. Some counter that claim with nonsensical questions like “Can God create a rock so big He can’t move it?” or “Can He make a square circle?”. But the Scripture does tell us that there is indeed one thing He cannot do.
If we are faithless, he remains faithful—
2 Timothy 2:13 (ESV)
for he cannot deny himself.
God cannot deny Himself, acting in ways that are contrary to His nature. As this verse says, He remains faithful, even when we are faithless. He will always be faithful to His covenant promises to His people. When God tells us that He is going to do something, we can be sure that He will follow through. It may not be in the way that we expected. But He is always faithful.
1 John 4:8 makes the claim that “God is love.” If God cannot act in ways that are contrary to His nature, then He cannot act in ways that are not loving. Everything He does is done in love.
Some will immediately respond that condemning people to hell is not a loving act. But we should recognize that God is not bound to our definition of love. Instead, God is the definition of love. That I do not understand all the ways that He is love does not mean He is not.
Deuteronomy 32:4 tells us that God is just and upright. He always does what is right. And He is just in all of His dealings with humanity. He is a righteous judge (Ps. 9:8). And, in Exodus 34:6, God says about Himself that He is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
God cannot deny Himself. He cannot be less than faithful, love, just, righteous, merciful, and gracious. In all His dealings with humanity, we can depend on Him being true to His nature. My simple mind often does not understand how that can be. But I can trust that it is so.
