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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.

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