Explorations into Love, Marriage & God - Part 3

God

The American Heritage Dictionary defines God as “A being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions.”

Isn’t that nice and vague? So if the dictionary is of little help to us to understand who God is, where do we turn? Some people believe you can’t use the Bible as a reliable source to prove the existence of God. I don’t see why not. Find me something in the Bible and prove it didn’t happen. Prove to me that God isn’t who He says He is.

So, who is God? The New Testament tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8), and man that just about does it for me! How do we know we can trust God, can we believe His promises? Well, let us examine Him. How can we trust someone we don’t know? Well, I’d say it is time to get to know the G-man.

How do you get to trust a person in your life? By looking at their track record, if they say they are going to do something, or that they believe something and act to the contrary then it becomes increasingly difficult to trust them. But if they do what they say, then each time it becomes easier to believe them. So, you could use the same principle and apply it to God. Look at His word, examine it. Find some promises and follow up. Did God keep His word?

In Genesis we find Abraham and Sarah, married and childless. Sarah was well past the age of having children, yet God made a covenant with Abraham and promised that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars. Fairly unbelievable, yet at the tender age of 100 Abraham became a father to the child Sarah had carried. And sure enough, a few generations down the line his decedents became the heads of the tribes of Israel.

Also, God told Abraham that his decedents would be “strangers in a foreign land, and they will be oppressed as slaves for four hundred years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.” (Genesis 15:-13-14) So what do you think? Are Abraham’s decedents slaves for 400 years? You can bet your last dollar that God was telling the truth, just remember the story of Moses (Exodus 12) and the plagues.

In Mark 9:31 Jesus tells his disciples that, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” His disciples didn’t understand at the time, but God is a promise keeper. We needed a sacrifice to atone our sins and He sent Jesus to be that sacrifice. Even through out the book of Isaiah there are promises of Israel’s redemption, that He would be “led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth....For His life is taken from the earth.” (Isaiah 53:7,8 NKJV)

Later in Mark 14:43-49 Judas betrays Jesus, Jesus is taken away tried in an unjust court and sentenced to death. He is unjustly sentenced to death yet refrains from defending Himself (Luke 23:9 NKJV); He was beaten, mocked, crucified, died, and three days later He rose again. Mary Magdalene was the first to see Jesus after the resurrection (Mark 16:9 NLT), but she was soon followed by two people walking (Mark 16:12-13) and then to the disciples (John 20:19, John 20:24-29, John 21)

For those of you who really don’t want to trust the Bible, I can prove from my own life that God is a promise keeper. When I was a baby, less than a year old, I was severely burned. I had 2nd and 3rd degree burns all over my body, as well as severe brain damage. The doctors didn’t expect me to pull through, they performed at least two surgeries and informed my mother that on the off chance that I did make it I would be brain damaged for the rest of my life and would continue to need surgeries annually to repair the damage from the burns. After such a bleak diagnosis I was taken to a prayer meeting where I was prayed over. I had a tent full of people interceding for a miracle, for healing.

I can stand here today and tell you God is a God of healing, He is true to His word, and He says in numerous places through out the Bible that if you believe & ask then it shall be (Matthew 9:18-31 alone has two cases of people being healed because they believed and one girl being brought back from the dead because her father believed it could happen). Since that time I have only had one surgery my entire life to repair the damage from the burns, and with the exception of my right leg you would never even know anything had ever happened to me, and there has been no brain damage since that intercession!

So, by following God's promises and reading on we see He follows through on those promises. And ultimately He will prove Himself above all for the final time. I long for the return of Christ. I trust Him because He's proven Himself time and time again and soon He will put every doubt of His character to rest.


-------------------------------Sources-----------------------------------

The King James Bible
The New King James Bible
The American Heritage Dictionary
Veggie Tales: Love Your Neighbor

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