Character of God
by Ps. Elijah
Pastor started the sermon by saying that in India, everyone believes in God; some or the other form and then people tend to choose certain aspects of Him that appeal to them or seem most convenient. He focused on the all-powerful and loving traits of God and recounted an incident in college when his friend questioned these characteristics in wake of a sexual assault his friend faced.
To focus on the fact that God is all powerful, we looked at Isaiah 39:5-8 where God proclaims His impending judgement (in the form of an exile) over Israel. The same God is loving when He comforts Israel in Isaiah 40:1-2. Verses 9-14 remind the people about who God is; He is all powerful. But when we are in the midst of tragedies or serious challenges, we wonder why this all powerful and loving God allows such things to happen to us. We cry out just like the psalmist in Psalm 22:1-2 who asks God why He has forsaken him.
The preacher then debunked two views people generally have about God. Some believe that God is the sovereign/has all authority and hence is the cause of all things that happen, even evil! But we know from James 1:13-15 that God tempts no one. God cannot be the cause of evil, he asserted. The other view is that God limits His power to honour human freedom. Psalm 33 tells us that the Lord thwarts the purposes of the people and Joseph says in Genesis 50:20 that people intended evil but God wanted good to be accomplished/many lives to be saved. This can seem like a paradox but we must remember that God’s truth is too large to be boxed into tight compartments.
Amidst the sovereignty of God and the freedom of people to choose evil, there is the cross. We look up to the cross and know that He loves us. He became human and shed His blood so that God’s purpose to save humanity came to pass. He is all powerful and loving and we know that those who love God, all things work together for their good and the purpose of suffering/trials is that we get conformed to the image of His son. Our understanding of good means a job or a house. In Isaiah 55:8-9, God declares that my ways are higher.
Whatever happens to us is so that we can be confirmed to the image of God and this is bad news for people who do not want to surrender their lives to Him. It should be a prayer not to take away the difficulties but that we learn from them and become like Christ. We cannot pick and choose certain aspects of God but we need to wrestle with scriptures to understand Him deeply.