Skip to main content

Do you know This God?



            At the start of the school year, my girls and their friends were discussing their schedules and their conversations went something like this: “Who do you have for English?”  “What is he like?”  “Is he nice?”  “What about math?”  “Does she give a lot of homework?” 

           I listened for a while and then asked, “Who cares what your friends think of them?  Why don’t you just go and find out for yourselves whether you like your teachers or not?” 

            Their response was, “We are not asking whether we should like them or not.  We are asking what sort of people they are and how they react to things.  It is always good to know a little about someone’s character before you have to deal with them”. 

            I couldn’t argue with that. 

            When it comes to spiritual things, many people ask “Should I like God or not?”  A much better question would be, “What is God like?”   If I knew God’s attitude, his nature, his character and how he sees me, then I could make up my own mind about whether I like God or not.

            So, what is God like?  If someone asked you that question, what would you say?  How would you describe him?   If you wanted some help, the book of Psalms is a great place to start.    

            For example, here is one description: “Praise the Lord because he is good.… (he) builds up… God heals the broken-hearted and bandages their wounds.… the Lord helps the poor… he provides… the Lord delights in those who honour him and who put their hope in his unfailing love… he blesses… he grants peace… he proclaims his word… Praise the Lord” (Psalm 147).

            The Psalms, and other Biblical books, describe a God who is good, kind, merciful, loving and forgiving.  He is a God who is near us and cares about everything that we are going through.  Not only that, he will provide us strength to get through those tough times and he can even turn them into something good (See Romans 8:28).  Our God hears and answers prayers.  He is great enough to have created every star and he knows them all by name (Psalm 147:4), yet he also knows you so well that he could number every hair on your head (Luke 12:7).  God loves us so much that he even sent his son to pay for our sins so that we could have a new start (2 Corinthians 5:21).

            Is that the God that you know? 

            If not, maybe it is time to stop listening to what others say and meet him yourself.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Noticing.... Seeing what we need to see and what we miss when we don't

 What we focus on in life matters. Here are some scriptural reminders that will help us see correctly.  https://youtu.be/Rn76tV0ZH8s    
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: Twenty-three Descriptions of God (Psalm 145)

  Let’s play a quick game.  Take 10 seconds and list 5 or 6 words to describe God.  Got your words?  Good!   Here comes the game part.  I will list twenty-three ways that David describes God in Psalm 145, and we will see how many of his words match yours.   David says that God is, the king, great, majestic, wonderful, powerful, awesome, abundant in goodness, righteous, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, rich in love, good to all, glorious, mighty, trustworthy, faithful, supporting, generous, providing, near, saving and watching.     How did you do? This is not a useless exercise.  The words we use to describe God not only indicate something about how we see him, but they also influence how we interact with him.  For example, if I know that God is “Gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love” (verse 8), I will not fear him, and I will not assume that he is against me.  When I remember that...
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: What is so Great About Grace?

If you were to drive by our house, you would see that Sara loves plants.  Our yard is full of flowers, and Sara lovingly tends every one of them. Which is why I was so afraid when she left town and put me in charge of keeping things alive. She must have been a little concerned, too, because she sent me two videos with specific instructions on how to water, when to water, and what to do.  Honestly, those first two videos helped, but the third one she sent was the one I liked most.  In that one, she said, “Please do your best. I want the yard to look good for the family reunion in two weeks.  However, if something dies, we will dig it out and pretend that it never existed!” That is what grace looks like!  Try your best, do what you can, but if it goes wrong, it will be ok. Sometimes we talk as though grace and effort are opposites.  That is not true.  They are partners. In one place, scripture asks, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone c...
Post a Comment
Read more