One year ago I was having a conversation with a friend. He had been curious to know how I was fairing and so I decided to explain to him what I had been going through. After a long explaining of how I had been, he challenged me that I needed to know who God really is through a deep experience. That to me did not sound right because I had always imagined that I had a true picture of who God is. I left that conversation not feeling so great about it. However, I left with a desire to understand what my friend meant by “knowing who God is”. One year down the line, I have come to realize that he was right. I realized that you really need to have an encounter with God to understand who He is; His personality. Digging deep into the word, I have come to realize that all characters of God that we know were all discovered as a result of encounters with God.
Looking at some of these characters:
Faithfulness- we realize that it just did emerge from nowhere. We get this from the encounters of example Abraham who was told to leave his homeland and go to a place that God would show his. He was further promised that he would have many descendants and that his name would be great (Genesis 12:1-3). At this time, I know it was easy for Abraham to believe that the one who was calling him was able to do it. It was just kind of easy to leave because Abraham had the means and I believe maybe he thought the blessing would be fulfilled soon. From the bible, we know that his wife was barren and therefore the promise of many descendants was a sign that God would open her womb. For these and many other reasons I believe it was easy for Abraham to believe and move to where God was promising to take him.
The challenge however came when Abraham had to receive his promises. The bible tells us that just has God had promised, He made Abraham so rich. He had so much wealth but there was no heir. I want to believe that in his mind, Abraham was thinking that God is not faithful, that He is mean and so many other negative thoughts that we get when we think that God is ‘taking too long’. This I imagine is why he was considering having Eliezer his servant as his heir (Genesis 15). So when God intervened and told Abraham that his heir would be from his body, he imagined that God was wrong to create one man for one woman. He bought into Sarah’s idea of taking in another woman and getting an heir through her.’This would fulfill the word that God would give him an heir from his body’.
But then who is God? That was not His idea of fulfilling a promise. Later God opened the womb of Sarah and she became pregnant and bore Abraham a son, an heir. So Abraham was happy but sorry (I imagine) for not being patient enough for God’s promises. Abraham now had a son and was contented that a generation would emerge from the son born from him and his legitimate wife. But it was until God, who had given him this son to him, asked him to sacrifice this son. Was God about to start the game of taking the son away and then making him start the process of waiting and believing for another son again? I imagine such kind of questions accompanied with pain and bitterness filled his heart and mind. But when he went to sacrifice his heir, God provided a lamb so Abraham offered the sacrifice and went back home with His son. However, I imagine that while on his way home, he might have left wondering what God would have him do next. Sometimes I imagine that Abraham may have lived in fear that maybe God would decided to do something different and maybe take away the son but then God proved Himself faithful because God gave him a long life to see His son get married which meant that Abraham’s lineage was continuing, a nation was emerging.
When I think of Him being merciful and forgiving, I think about the woman caught in the act. Jesus was holy, and everyone I imagine wanted to be good in His eyes. However, this woman was unfortunately caught sinning and as the society dictated, she was to be exposed and stoned. This time, the people decided to take her to Jesus so that she could be condemned. She expected condemnation or even being stoned because this according to her time was a great sin. She ‘deserved’ being stoned. However, the person who mattered most forgave her and let her free. I also thing about Mary, (commonly known as the sinful woman), with her alabaster bottle washing Jesus’ feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, kissing them and covering them with oil/perfumes when all she ‘deserved’ was being locked out and a complete separation from Jesus. Who would better explain what mercy and forgiveness is? The bible says that the debtor with a bigger debt loves the money lender more that the one with a small debt when both their debts are cancelled (Luke 7:41-43).
Talk about holiness and the Israelites will explain to you how they experienced it when they had to slaughter their brothers and sisters in the desert at Mt. Sinai after they decided to worship a calf and engage in revelry. God would not tolerate this sin and he had to deal with it else He would abandon the Israelites completely. The bible says that on that day 3000 people died (Exodus 32).
Going further, I would write about the experience of the bleeding woman who after trying all means to get healed without success experienced God as the healer by just touching the hem of His garment. About God being powerful and mighty when He separated the Red sea, Jordan and even brought down Jericho for the Israelites to receive the promises that He had given Abraham in a prove that He is faithful…. that however would mean doing so much writing. However, I pray that we would all desire to know God at a deeper level and let Him show Himself to us.
Keep growing in Him.
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