Who is God?

Thank you Hyde Park Methodist

Wow, that is too big of a question to even try to answer here or anywhere.

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Christians at Rome wrote this:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! Romans 11:33 ESV

God is not unsearchable as if to say we should not spend the rest of our lives trying to get to the depths of understanding. Paul was declaring that we would never run out of discovery in searching out and delighting in the wisdom and knowledge of God.

Inscrutable - now that's a funny word! I had to look it up because I wasn't quite sure what it meant. Here is what Dictionary.com had to say:

Inscrutable - Impossible to understand or interpret; impenetrable; mysterious.

This word is not meant to be a stop sign. God is impossible to understand - but this does not mean that we should not study to understand everything we can about God.

Paul's exclamation of the mysterious God is your invitation to jump in, there is NO bottom!

So, why should we plumb the depths of who God is? Why take the time to know him and understand him? Isn't the study of who God is the job of the pastor or Sunday school teacher?

No, in fact if you don't take the time to discover the mystery of God, you can't please him.

But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]. Hebrews 11:6 AMP

If you possess faith you please God and if you don't possess faith you do not please God. It's that simple. It is impossible to have faith in God without knowing about Him.

In one of my earlier posts I mentioned that in Christ's hometown he could perform no mighty miracles because of the unbelief of the people in that community. Look at your own life? Is it characterized by miracles? I mean real miracles.

Look - see what Jesus himself said about the miraculous and believers:

And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages;

They will pick up serpents; and [even] if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well. Mark 16:17-18 Amp

What signs follow you, what signs follow me? Do these signs, that Jesus spoke of as he ascended to heaven to be seated at the right hand of God, follow us?

Most of us battle with demons rather than drive them out, we speak of doubt, defeat and worry rather than speak in new languages. And while most of us wouldn't dream of picking up a serpent we do drink deadly drinks daily - and it destroys us. We do not seek to lay hands on the sick for their recovery - We ARE the sick!

So, who is God?

He is who he says he is. Whenever we experience less of God than everything he says is, and everything he says he can do, it is our faith walk that must come into question, not the faithfulness of God.

I know. This makes me uncomfortable too.

What can be done about this huge discrepancy between what the Word of God and our experience?