Listening to people around me, I have realized we tend to think of God through our own filter, or the paradigm of everything you have come to believe about God. This is true with those that follow Him and those that reject Him for various reasons.
God is a spirit-being. I have a hard time getting my mind around that thought. Everything we know is physical. Jesus was physical in His time on earth. How then do I understand a spirit-being. So, I decided to see what God has to say in the Bible, His Word inspired by His Holy Spirit and written down by men.
Creation-
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
The rest of Genesis 1 describes creation. Have you ever really pondered that statement? A spirit- being so awesome that the intricacies of everything created and how they each interact with everything around them all came into being just by God thinking them into existence. The entire universe with millions of stars and planets perfectly held together in balance. Creation on earth with all the amazing intricacies and differences. The thought is overwhelming.
The Flood-
Genesis 6:11-14 “11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.”
The highest mountains in the world were buried more than 20 feet underwater. Where did all that water come from? It totally covered the whole world. Where did it recede to? Obviously, a supernatural act by a supernatural spirit-being, our God.
Parting of the Red Sea-
Exodus 14 13-28 13”Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to one side and light to the other side; so, neither went near the other all night long.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”
26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.”
Put yourself in the shoes of an Israelite walking through the bed of the Red Sea on dry ground, dry not even muddy. Then watch the Lord close the waters and drowned Pharoah’s army.What would be going through your mind? This generation had spent their whole life eating heaven-supply bread, manna, and now witnessed the Red Sea adventure. Amazing!
Probably God’s best description of Himself was during His conversation with Job-
Job 38 “Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together, and all the angels shouted for joy?
8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?
12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.
16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me if you know all this.
19 “What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!
22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?
31 “Can you bind the chain of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?
34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who gives the ibis wisdom or gives the rooster understanding?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard, and the clods of earth stick together?
39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40 when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?”
The conversation continues in chapters 39,40 and 41. Obviously Job had no answer.
Then I thought about the miracles Jesus performed when He was here on earth that are in the Gospels, changing water into wine, healing the blind man, healing the lame man, raising Lazareth from the dead, the list goes on and on.
So, I ask myself how do I envision God? There are not words big enough to describe Him, but He certainly can take care of anything that comes my way. His Sovereignty is real. When I have fully trusted Him, the peace He has given me in the major storms of my life has been truly amazing. I am glad He called me out of the darkness and into His light. Praise His Name.
Christian Life Coach 