I serve a different God now than the one I served as a child. Oh, it's not the fault of the people who raised me. I just somehow had my perspective skewed. My understanding of God now is so completely different, it almost feels like I've changed religions. The Bible is the same. The terminology is the same. I don't have the right words to describe exactly what has changed. But my God is not the same.
It's like going from a 22-inch TV screen to Omnimax; or perhaps from a scratchy recording to surround sound - from one-dimensional to multi-dimensional.
The God I served as a child was puny and limited. The God I serve now is OMNIPOTENT.
Omnipotent.
What a word! He's not a flat
character bound by our choices and limited by our self-will because He's such a gentleman.
He's not a gentleman. He's the
Almighty God.
"Our God is in the heavens; He
does all that He pleases." Psalm 115:3 ESV.
Job discovered this:
"But he is in
one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth." Job 23:13 KJV
"Behold, God exalteth by his power:
who teacheth like him? Who hath enjoined him his way? or who can say, Thou
hast wrought iniquity?" Job 36:22-23
Horrible things were happening to
Job. He did not understand why these were happening to him - but his grief and
pain did not change his faith in his God.
"Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou
still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest
as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand
of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his
lips." Job 2:9-10
Why?
Because Job did not serve an
"If - Then" God. His faith was not grounded in his prosperity or the
things he hoped to gain in this life by serving God. His faith was grounded in
Who God was and what He promised.
Sitting in the ash heap, scraping
away boils, he resolutely declared,
"For I know that my redeemer
liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom
I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my
reins be consumed within me." Job 19:25-27
Wow! Job had just lost his wealth,
his children and his health. Why wasn't he shaken? Why did he still believe in
his redeemer?
I used to hate the book of Job. It
made absolutely no sense to me, because I, like Job's wife and friends, served
an "If-Then" God. "If" I did well, "then"
God would bless me. "If" God was displeased with me "then"
He would not bless me. When bad things happened, it was because God was trying
to perfect me. "If" I handled the bad thing perfectly,
"then" He would take it away and bless me again. "If" I did
not handle it perfectly, "then" God would make me go through it
again...and again...and again until I finally got it right.
The problem with this type of
thinking, was that the "ifs" became my gods, and I did not even know
it.
"Think of those things in life
that mean a great deal to you. If you were to lose this thing, would it destroy
you?" ("The
Sin of Idolatry", Rashid Alamir)
When I read Alamir’s article, my
heart almost stopped beating. I had no idea my "ifs" were idols. I
thought they were just what I was supposed to do. Then, one by one, the Lord
took away my "if’s." One by one, everything I did to prove I was
righteous became impossible for me to do. Each one left a hole in my foundation
until at last I could not even attend church. And it completely destroyed me. I
became a weeping, broken, non-functional mess.
In spite of my raging idolatry,
Jesus loved me. How amazing is that? He loved me enough to destroy each of
those idols - and kept me from doing something irreparable while He took them.
Only when all my works were gone and
my own righteousness revealed as filthy rags could I finally come face to face
with Who my Savior is, and what He has done for me. The more I understand the
awesome power of His gift of grace, the more I realize circumstances do not
matter. Good or bad, everything can be turned to God's glory, if we will let
Him work through and in us. Sometimes the hardest circumstances are the ones
where we discover the depth of our Lord's love and power in our lives.
Which brings me to the second reason
Alamir's quote stopped my heart:
I can no longer be destroyed!
My works did not gain me salvation.
Christ's work bought my salvation. I did nothing to earn it; therefore I can do
nothing to lose it. I am free - free to serve the I AM.
The I AM who created the universe - created me.
"Know ye that
the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not
we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." Psalm 100:3
I don't have a lot
of special talents or gifts. I can make a mean cup of coffee with any kind of
machine you care to throw at me, and that's about it for talent. But my
limitations don't matter - because the God who made me knows all of that - and He
wants to use me.
"For we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10
Isn't that
incredible? No matter how ordinary or talented we are, God has already decided
what He wants us to do. Look at that last phrase: "...that we should walk
in them." To walk implies motion - if the door closes on one thing, we can
be sure He has something else lined up. All I have to do is keep my eyes and
heart open for the opportunities. I don't need any "if" idols to be
secure in the love of my Savior.
What other idols did I hold?
I did not consider my church an
idol, but losing it nearly cost me my soul. Why? Because I believed God could
only be found within its walls. I was taught "If" I left that church
"then" I would be cut off from God. But I don't serve a God limited
by location any more. I serve the I AM.
The I AM who is omnipresent.
I had understood God was always
present, but somehow it's not the same. Changing the "always" to
"omni-" adds the sense of being surrounded. I love the church
I attend now. But if it falls apart or I have to leave it for some reason, I will still have my Savior.
There are other churches, but there is only one Jesus. I don't have to be
afraid of being abandoned.
"Have not I
commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou
dismayed: for the Lord thy God
is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9
My heart sings. I
want to dance for joy.
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit?
or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art
there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the
wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even
there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” Psalm
139:7-10
What a beautiful promise! I cannot
be destroyed by a change of location.
I serve the I AM.
ª The I AM who
is not bound by circumstances, not limited by location, not forced to conform
to man's ideals, not subject to my demands.
ª The I AM who
is the way, the truth and the life. (John 14:6)
ª The I AM who
is "...able to do exceedingly abundantly
above all that we ask or think..." (Eph. 3:20)
ª The I AM who
remains faithful even when I am faithless. (II Timothy 2:13)
ª The I AM -
"...the Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the ending... which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
(Revelation 1:8)
Do we know who our God is?
Today, I am only beginning to touch
the edges of His reality. It may take me all of eternity to even come close to
knowing Him.
Thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus, I
will have that eternity.
So can you.
God Bless,
Jules
