One of the most familiar search engines on the Internet today is Google. Have you ever thought about the name Google? The term Google is a noun that became a verb. You have most likely heard people saying “I Googled it.”  Used in this way, Google is a verb. But what about the sentence, “Google is one of the most popular search engines on the Internet”? Used in this way, Google is a noun. Google is both a noun and a verb.

“Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”  Exodus 3:13-14

Our God’s name is also a noun and a verb—I AM. The verb tense here is imperfect and could be translated “I Am who was, who is, and who will continue to be.” God is completely and totally everything that He could possibly be. In fact, this means that He also has no potential to be anything other than what He is. God is life and we have life because He shares it with us.

The term google was originally a creative spelling of googol, a number equal to 10 to the 100th power. Googol was coined colloquially as an unfathomable number in the 1930s and is attributed to the nine-year-old nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. With this in mind, it is worth noting a striking difference between God and Google. As huge and expansive as Google is, it is limited and has potential to grow in a way that God does not.

“GOD HAS NO POTENTIAL”

When it is said that a person has “no potential” it is generally not a positive statement because it points to the person’s inability to develop to a higher level. However, in God’s case, He has no potential because He already is actually at the highest level possible. He is infinite, unlimited, and fully actualized. God, then, is Pure Actuality. He is Being. Everything else merely has being. God having “no potential” is actually positive because it affirms His total completeness and lack of need (and ability) for any growth or change. I AM.

Are you regularly reaching into the riches of your relationship with God? When I need to know something, it is typical for me to search Google for an answer. However, as large as Google is, it has nothing on our God. Our God is beyond the limits of the best search engines. He is an unlimited source of knowledge and wisdom and He is always available. Further, the scripture teaches us that God actively searches us as well. Our relationship with God is interactive in a way that is rich in rewards and unique from all other relationships we experience.

“I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” Jeremiah 17:10