Micah Tuggle - September 30, 2026
/Wednesday Devotional featuring Micah Tuggle on “The Freedom of God”. A teaching on how God, who cannot lie, binds Himself by His word, freely limiting His own freedom for our sake through His covenants with Noah, Abraham, Israel, and David, and the new covenant in Christ’s blood.
Transcript
Good evening. So we've already covered partial differential equations, and now we're moving on to non-homogenous. Wait, what? I have to correct my mind.
So in college and career, we are going over the attributes of God right now, and the one that we're currently on is freedom. That does not mean that God resides solely in the United States of America, the land of the free. So what does that mean? Well, here in the United States, we all have an idea of what freedom means for us.
So our government recognizes certain, it affords us certain freedoms, and you can kind of categorize this in two ways. Rights that are recognized according to the worldview of our founding fathers when they wrote the Constitution, and privileges that we are afforded. So an example is your right to free speech. According to the beliefs of our government, we have a right that is protected by the government to free speech.
Versus driving is a privilege which can be revoked, and you can just not have it if you don't have your license. So what does freedom look like for God? So he's not limited by any government, and he's not limited by the laws of our nation, but he's also not limited by reality. I am not free to just fly off into outer space.
I don't have that ability. I guess you could say I'm allowed to, but I just don't have the capability. Reality is limiting my freedom in that way. But God, well, he did that, actually.
So he is unlimited by, you know, human laws and by reality itself since he is omnipotent. So in what ways could he possibly be limited? Well, the book you've heard of that we are basing our kind of, not curriculum, but maybe curriculum, off of is Ryrie's survey of Bible doctrine and basic theology. And he calls the attributes of God his perfections.
So, you know, you could say the attribute of God, one of his attributes is truth, that he is truth and truthful. And Ryrie would say the same thing. He would just say that it is one of his perfections. And that reflects the nature of his attributes not having any negative connotation.
So let's just think about some of the ways that the attributes interact. Because God is omnipotent. How does that interact with itself? Well, can he make a rock so big he can't lift it?
I'm sure you've heard this before. That question doesn't even make sense. Because it's not that his ability to make a rock is limited. It's that his ability to lift a rock is unlimited.
A rock cannot have the quality of being so big that God can't lift it. So he's all-powerful, but he can suffer hunger and thirst by not using all of his power. So when Jesus walked the earth, he was tired and hungry and thirsty, and he could feel pain. He bore our pain and our sins, which is worse than the physical pain.
So let's look at something that's, I think, potentially a little bit more interesting and has some more neat implications. God cannot lie, so if he says something, it must be true. And so when God first created the universe and you have a blank slate, he's completely free to do whatever he wants. But if he says something, because he can't lie, he cannot contradict that.
And he will not contradict that. So in this way, it's possible for him to limit his own freedoms for the sake of whatever he's talking about. And in our case, he limits his own freedoms for our sake. And it's because he loves us.
He cannot ever leave you nor forsake you because he said so. And he limited himself in that way. Because God cannot lie, when he said, I will never leave you nor forsake you, he limited himself. He not only won't, but he can't because he cannot contradict his perfect and true nature.
And I think that is just about the coolest thing. So, let's now consider God's love for us, that he would not only send his son to die for us, but would also limit his own divine, omnipotent, limitless, free power for our sakes. So, not only did he do things for us, but he made it so that he cannot forsake and abandon us. So, some of God's covenants that he has made are good examples of this.
If you open to Genesis 9, 9 through 17, we'll just take a look at some of these covenants as God has made them. Genesis chapter 9, starting in verse 9. As for me, behold, I will establish my covenant with you and your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that comes of the ark, every beast of the earth. Indeed, I will establish my covenant with you, and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, and there shall never again be a flood to destroy the earth.
Then God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I am giving to you, to be between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all successive generations. I put my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. And it will be when I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. So the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.
And God said to Noah, this is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all the flesh that is on the earth. So, in Genesis chapter 8, it seems that God is free to flood the earth with water to destroy the earth unlimited amount of times as much as he wants to. But then, for our sake and for his love for us, he says that never again will he use water to flood and destroy the earth. And thus, he limits his unlimited power and restricts his own freedom for our sake.
So, just that one example is already, you know, knee-bucklingly significant that the creator of the universe would love us so much. If we turn to Genesis chapter 12, verses 1, 2, and 3, we read the Abrahamic covenant. And Yahweh said to Abram, Go forth from your land and from your kin and from your father's house to the land which I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great.
And so you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. So again now, God is saying something, and he is saying that he is going to do something. And because of his truth and his inability to lie, he cannot lie because he is truth, he is restricting his freedoms so that he has to act in accordance with his covenant.
You know, if I were a perfectly true person who could not lie, then when I promised you something, I would be forcing myself to complete it. Of course, I'm imperfect and I can lie, so I might not be able to, or I might not be willing to, you know, complete my promise. But God here, who is perfect, he can and he will and he must. If we look over in Genesis 15, 17, and 18.
Now, it happened that the sun had set and it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch, which passed between these pieces. This is talking about the, when Abraham cut the covenant. On that day, Yahweh cut a covenant with Abram, saying, To your seed I have given this land from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. And so, while previously, you know, before making a covenant, he was able to say, actually, I'll give you Brazil.
That seems like a nice area. But for our sakes, he makes us promises. And this is significant because if he wanted to, let's just say, you know, give Abram that land, he could have just done it. He could have just said, trust me.
And then he could have just left it off there. And he could have allowed himself, he could have afforded himself the opportunity to change his mind or just decide not to. Which, of course, he's omniscient and he knows the future and the possibilities of the future. But here, for our sakes, we can trust and rest in the Lord and rely on him because he is truth and because he limits his own freedom in these ways.
Exodus chapter 19, and we see the Mosaic Covenant. I'm going to read verses 5 and 6. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.
So Moses, sorry, that was verse 6. So I'll read 5 and then I'll read 6. I started in 6. Verse 5 of Exodus 19.
So now then, if you will indeed listen to my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my treasured possession among all my covenant. Then you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And these are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.
We see a conditional covenant where he says the word, if. I am obviously not, you know, in a position as God is, but if I had the power to say something and then limit myself, it would be a lot less scary for me to say, if you do this, then I'll do this. And that's not to diminish his conditional covenants to us, but I think it helps us to just reflect even further about the unconditional covenants of God and how great they are. If we move to 2 Samuel chapter 7 quickly.
We're going to look at 12 through 16. 2 Samuel 7, 12. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up one of your seed after you who will come forth from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will reprove him with the rod of men and the strikes from the sons of men. But my loving kindness shall not be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever.
Your throne shall be established forever. That's another time where he doesn't have to say, I will do this, you know, regardless of your actions, I will do this, but he does. And then we get to a very exciting covenant in Jeremiah 31, verses 31 to 34. We can read through that.
Jeremiah 31, 31. Behold, the days are coming, declares Yahweh, when I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the old covenant which I cut with their fathers in the day I took them in the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, but I was husband to them, declares Yahweh. But this is the covenant which I will cut with the house of Israel after those days, declares Yahweh.
I will put my law within them, and on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh, for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares Yahweh. For I will forgive their iniquity and sin, and their sin I will remember no more. How great is that covenant?
And we read in Luke 22, verse 20. And in the same way, he took the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. So how great is that? That we are so beloved by the Lord our God that he would make such effort and go to such lengths for us and for our confidence in him.
We don't have to hope that God decides to take care of us. He already has from the moment he first spoke it. And from the very beginning, he had a plan for us. If we finally turn all the way back to Genesis chapter 3, 14 and 15.
And Yahweh God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you more than any of the cattle, and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you will go, and the dust you will eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.
So you can see that God made up his mind with his, another perfection of God, his omniscience, from right here in the very beginning. So it's encouraging and incredible to reflect on what God does with his freedom. And with his freedom, he has decided to love us and take care of us and make provision for us to live with him for eternity and glorify him forever. That is what God has decided to do with his freedom.
He's made covenants. He has sent Jesus to die as a payment for our sins and thus justified us. He has made a way for us to be with him, and he has freed us from sin. So he used his freedom to afford us freedom from sin.
If we turn to Romans chapter 8, I'm just going to read 1 and 2. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. So if you're ever wondering how much does God love us, don't stop thinking when you think of the crucifixion. Keep on thinking until you think about all the covenants that he's made with us and all the times that he has promised us that he will look out for us and care for us.
Let's close in prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for your love for us. Thank you for freeing us from sin. Thank you for giving us abundant blessings.
We pray that you would help us to be a good steward of all that you've given us and glorify you. Amen.
