Who is God to you? Who is he as depicted in his Word? Is there a gap between these two representations of him? Does it matter if there is? I have been a practicing Christian for over 38 years and I now find that my personal answer to my first question has evolved. Please note I did not say God has evolved; I said my perception of him has evolved. From the time I was a child, I have referred to him as “Father.” I can remember praying the Lord’s Prayer as a child and later as a young father, teaching my own children the same prayer which begins with the greeting, “Our father which art in Heaven.” Now, as someone who has more yesterdays than tomorrows, I still call him Father; however, the term now has a deeper and richer meaning to me. The Bible declares that Jesus (and by extension, God) is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. That means he is the same God today that he was during Old Testament times. What pleased him in the beginning still pleases him today, and what angered him then angers him now. He is not susceptible to political correctness from the Left. Neither is he influenced by the hypocrisy and self-righteousness on the Right.
Before him, we are all spiritually naked today just as Adam and Eve were in the Garden. my book titled Not Just Any Old God Will Do, I provide some unflattering insight into some of my past misperceptions of God that led to my disappointment during a very critical time in my life. However, in retrospect, the disillusionment I experienced was a blessing in disguise as it led to some much-needed introspection and ultimately, an internal reckoning on my part. Sometimes, I still get chills when I reflect on how gentle, patient, and sensitive he was in dealing with me despite my shortcomings during this time. However, of a certainty, he did not change who he was to make my pain go away. In the end, I had to adjust my perception of God to better align with his reality.
In analyzing the underlying cause for my disillusionment, I realized that I had fallen short in my understanding of who God really is. In my book, I discuss how my perception of him, over time, had become misaligned with his reality, and this caused a disconnect between his actions and my expectations. I had personalized God to the exclusion of the possibility that others had access to him similar to my own. More specifically, while fully embracing the fact that God was my father and loved me, I sometimes lost sight of the reality that he also loves my enemies and affords them the same access to his grace that I have. Just as he was open to hearing my cries for help, he was receptive to theirs as well.
Scripture tells us that God created man in his own image. From this, we can deduce that we have some of the attributes of God. But Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as high as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Please note that these verses declare that God’s thoughts and ways are not just different from ours, but they are immensely higher than ours. If we truly believe this, shouldn’t we embrace the notion that he knows what is best for us? Are we ever justified in becoming disenchanted with him because he did not respond to our prayers in the manner in which we desired?
Many Christians are guilty of the mistake I made. They erroneously form misperceptions of God that essentially place him in a box that enables them to formulate expectations based upon the god contained in their box. And when God does not accommodate those expectations, they are left questioning him and/or their faith. My experience taught me that God is too big to be contained in a box – even a really big box. Since his thoughts and ways are superior to ours, it stands to reason that we will not always understand his actions. It also means that we are not qualified to judge his decisions, even when they allow us or those who are close to us to suffer pain or death.
In Not Just Any Old God Will Do, I assert that the enemy of our souls can use any circumstance, favorable or unfavorable, to accomplish his goal – to separate the people of God from him. Counterintuitively, he can even use the institution of religion to our detriment as well. To the degree that leaders of organized religion erroneously portray God to their members, they are aiding the enemy in the advancement of his agenda. This is why I am sometimes dismayed at those who espouse the gospel of prosperity. They appear to overemphasize and perhaps, sometimes even misrepresent the benefits of serving God in this life. Please note I am not denigrating the institution of religion inasmuch as without the faithful preaching of the Gospel, I probably would not be a Christian today. I am merely saying that it is no small matter to believe God is something that he is not. Seeing him for who he really is does matters; not because he will abandon us if we don’t, but because we are more likely to abandon him.
From my experiences, I learned that it is a mistake to approach God as if we have the latitude to create him in our image, but I realize that he is much bigger than my experiences with him and he is not limited by them either. He can act on behalf or against anyone he chooses. Nevertheless, there is one thing for certain; God is not obliged to change who he is in order to accommodate our errant perceptions of him. Malachi 3:6 says, “For I am the Lord, I change not”. Therefore, it behooves us to establish and maintain a relationship with him in which we can grow in our knowledge of who he really is.
Please feel free to share your thoughts.