God desires to know us and be in a relationship with us. He created us with intentionality and purpose. In the creation process, God designed mankind with a desire or need within our souls that can only be filled by him. For so many of us, though, we waste so much of the life we have been given trying to fill that need and desire with things that will never be able to fill what was designed by God for himself alone.
Why is God – the God of the Hebrews and the God of Christians – the right God? How do we know that this God is the One and only, and that the gods of other religions aren’t pointing back to him?
Throughout scripture, God is very clear that he is the One and only. This God is unlike the others. His word stands the test of time and the tests of science. His word matches history and in fact makes predictions time and again that consistently have come true. This God is not a manmade god. This God does not change his mind and therefore change and morph with culture with “new revelations.”
Recently I have found myself more and more aware of a sort of acceptance of everybody and everything. In an attempt to “be kind” we have began to confuse kindness with honesty. We have softened sin to the point of accepting it – even embracing and encouraging it! We have exchanged happiness for holiness. We have desired our will and freedoms (which are actually facades) without any thought to God’s will for us and the true freedom that comes from obedience to God.
Why do we do this? Why do we so quickly forget who God is and what he has done? Why do we somehow believe we make better gods than the LORD God himself? Why do we think we know better than the LORD of all creation?
Why God? Why choose him? From the depths of my heart, I believe that the more we encounter God – the One True God – the more we will desire him and only him. The more time we invest in knowing him and dwelling in his presence the more we will crave him and the fruit that is brought forth from that relationship.
God can be known, but we can only handle knowing God – really knowing God through consistently pursuing him. God reveals himself to those who earnestly seek him. God is not going to reveal himself and all his attributes at once – at least not this side of heaven. God reveals himself bit by bit in varied ways.
While I have truly been blessed to have experienced God through circumstances and the happenings of life, I have loved the way he continues to reveal himself through the living word. God’s word changes my heart and mind every time I read it. It is never without purpose and meaning. Additionally, I find that words and passages seem to speak into my current situation and state of my heart at just the right time.
Just prior to starting this post, I was reading out of the book of Isaiah. I was blessed this morning by words of truth that reveal who God is, and God’s promises for those who live for him. “This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us! This is the LORD, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation that he brings!” (Isaiah 25:9) “We are surrounded by the walls of God’s salvation. Open the gates to all who are righteous; allow the faithful to enter. You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD God is the eternal Rock.” (Isaiah 26:1-4) “But for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them. LORD, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.” (Isaiah 26:7-8) “LORD, you will grant us peace; all we have accomplished is really from you.” (Isaiah 26:12)
Why God? There is no other. All others fall short. All others contradict. All others morph and change. All others promise what they cannot deliver.
God holds the keys, to the universe, for truth, for what is right and wrong, and perhaps the absolute best news of all – the keys to eternity and a life spent in his presence.
Blessings.