What is God like?

Chapter Fifty-five:

If you were to ask the average Christian believer what God is like, I am sure you would hear such terms as "loving" and "forgiving".  Some may even add in some big fancy words like "omnipotent" and "omnipresent", but if those people were to be totally honest with you, I believe they would struggle in going much further in describing what God is really like.  They may have an experience to tell you about or have stories to relay that they have heard from others, but for the majority of us, sadly, we have a very limited view of what our Holy God is truly like. 

However, if you were to ask that same person to describe a family member or a good friend, they could probably talk for several minutes, describing the characteristics of the person, their likes, their dislikes, what makes them laugh, what makes them upset. They can describe this person in detail because they have developed an understanding of what he/she is like. They have learned about that person's character, their nature. And the way this has happened is as a result of spending time with that person and developing a relationship with them.

Unfortunately, many have only learned about God's character from hearing a sermon, or listening to a teaching or from what they have read in their Bible, if they own one. And while those are ways that we learn something about God, they are rather limited in their scope as it is human nature to focus only on those characteristics that we find appealing or acceptable. It is quite common for us to view God as we see ourselves or to try to conform Him into some idea, or mold, of what we think He should be like.

However, The Bible teaches that there are many sides to God.  The characteristics of God are many. He is sovereign, holy, just, wise, loving, merciful, faithful, compassionate, and forgiving. But, we also need to remember that He will be the ultimate judge of this world and is absolutely intolerant of sin and any forms of rebellion.  He unquestionably expects obedience, surrender, holiness, self-control, and ongoing transformation to the likeness of His son, Jesus Christ, from His followers. As you can see, there are many aspects to God that we often overlook or do not want to acknowledge.iH

 It is my opinion that the Christ of the average believer today is not the Christ of the Holy Bible.  It is a distorted image that portrays Christ as being soft and timid and discards that side of Him that is angry over the state of this current world, and especially the poor spiritual condition of His Bride, the Church. They have simply modified Him to fit their needs, their view of how the world should be. 

We are not willing to let God be who He declares He is. We want to change, correct or alter Him so that we can make Him more acceptable to those who find His ways rather narrow minded and not in line with modern views of life. We certainly do not want to be called "intolerant" or "narrow minded", so we bend our beliefs just enough to fit into both camps. Some followers have taken all the judgment, justice and hatred for sin out of the very nature of God and we are left with a mushy God who just loves everybody and accepts anything.

If truth be told, many of the difficulties the Church has struggled with over the years have arisen from beliefs about God that were simply untrue, or from over emphasizing one of His characteristics over His others. To focus on any one characteristic to the exclusion of another is like looking at one piece of a picture to the exclusion of the rest.  For instance, some focus solely on God's desire for justice and His intolerance for sin and preach only "fire and brimstone", all the while downplaying the grace and mercy that God offers us.  

There are people who believe God has a very strict set of rules and guidelines we must follow, all the while ignoring the fact that when one is a believer we no longer walk in bondage and slavery, but in freedom and liberty.  

Then there are those who overemphasize His love and compassion to the exclusion of His intolerance and hatred for sin and the fact that He is a Holy and just God, and now we are left with a God who overlooks our sin.  I believe this is why many today have a hard time accepting the fact that God is a God who will judge the just and the unjust...they have focused solely on God being a loving God.  This makes us feel better because we can now believe everything will work out just fine in the end if one simply has good intentions and love for their fellow man.  

All of His characteristics, His nature, must be kept in balance. We tread on very thin ice, indeed, when we ignore any of His characteristics that we do not like, or do not line up with what we think God should be like. I believe it bears repeating because it is so very important...to magnify any one aspect of God and diminish the others is always wrong. 

God is who He is, and we had better learn to accept this because if we remove any one of the characteristics of God we weaken our entire concept of Him.  Sadly, the Church has lost its majestic concept of God.  No longer do we gaze upon Him as the Holy God that He is. We do not sense His divine presence. In our busy world, we have so little time we no longer spend time alone with Him in adoring praise.  We have brought Him down to our level and no longer sing, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty."  No longer do we prostate ourselves before him, as the angels fly around His throne day and night, singing "Worthy is the Lamb". God has simply become "the man upstairs".

 

Many will have a difficult time getting free from their wrong ideas about God.  These wrong ideas put up roadblocks in our walk with Him. They cause fear, uncertainty, unbelief, doubt and mistrust in our lives. We know we are to trust Him, but when difficult times arise, we soon find just how little we really do trust Him. And this is all a result of not really knowing who He is and what He is really like. Many have an incorrect view of what He is like and this must change if one is  going to follow Him and know Him intimately.

Often the difficulties we face are due to our unwillingness to accept God as He is. We insist upon modifying Him to suit our own needs or our own ideas of what He should be like. We have set limitations upon Him, but just think how reassuring it would be to know that we serve a God who has no limitations. For many, the void between knowing about God and really "knowing" God is due to lack of time spent in His presence and reading the Scriptures, with the intense desire to discover more about Him and develop a deeper relationship with Him.  

We tend to pick and choose what Scriptures we will read and in doing so, we do not see the overall character and nature of God come to light. Some will focus on the Old Testament and say, "See, He is a  God of judgment and  cruelty", while others who focus on the New Testament will decide that He is really a God of only love and mercy and He proved that to us when He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins.  The problem we develop when we only look at part of a person's character is that he/she becomes out of balance.  It is critical to our understanding of God that we understand Him in His totality, even if it goes against what we would find more comfortable in our own theology.

I challenge you to ask God to reveal to you what He is truly like. Spend time in the Word and in prayer getting to really know "Him" and not just about Him. You will find that He never changes, He always stands by His Word, and He is very patient.  But you also have to reconcile that with the fact that He is a God of judgment and can have no tolerance for sin, no matter how minor. 

If you cannot reconcile all the different aspects of God, then you will have a difficult time walking with our Holy God.  You will ultimately walk away with a different version in your mind of who God really is and what He is like, and that will be to your detriment. You may feel better compartmentalizing and rationalizing "your" version of God, but that will not change who God really is. God cannot change and He will not change.  It is simply impossible for Him to change who He is or any aspect about Himself. Scripture tells us that "He is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).  And for those who feel that He has to change to keep up with the times, they will sadly find out just how wrong they are. 

As A. W. Tozer said, "What peace it brings to the Christian's heart to realize that our Heavenly Father never differs from Himself. In coming to Him at any time we need not wonder whether we shall find Him in a receptive mood.  He is always receptive to misery and need, as well as to love and faith. He does not keep office hours nor set aside periods when He will see no one.  Neither does He change His mind about anything. God never changes moods or cools off in His affections or loses enthusiasm. God will not compromise and He need not be coaxed.  He cannot be persuaded to alter His Word nor talked into answering selfish prayer. In all our efforts to find God, to please him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part." 

We need to fully understand God's character and nature in order to truly know and trust Him so we can unquestionably obey and follow Him. When times are difficult, you will want to know what kind of God you are following.  You must know what kind of God God is, because during the uncertainty of trials and struggles that may be all  that you have to fall back on.  As Job said in Job 13:15, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face."  He was able to sincerely say that because He intimately knew God's character.