Glimpses

Insight Into God's Personality

Have you ever wished that you could see into, or know the future? If you mentally responded, “No.” then I ask, “Have you ever told a lie?” Being made up of impatient, curious flesh and blood, I think all of us would have to admit that there have been times when we would like to lift the curtain just a bit, and see what is on the other side.

Does the word “dread” have any past or present meaning in your life? Do certain changes in the seasons cause you to dread their arrival? Does looking for a job fall into that category? How about going to the dentist? So far, I have not had a dentist hurt me. In fact, I enjoy going to my dentist. We always discuss things of common interest and he has a great sense of humor. I’ll have to admit that I have experienced some discomfort (not pain) on occasion, but it has always been minor – except, just before exiting, when I stop and pay the receptionist.

Seriously, if we were given the choice, would we really want to be able to know the future? Would we really want to know that on a certain date we will need a root canal performed? Want to know in advance when a parent, child or close family member will suddenly and unexpectedly die? Like to know about the agony associated with your own death from an incurable disease? Personally, I don’t think that any of us could handle knowing what God knows, and has known since the beginning of time!

Our human emotions run the full spectrum, and since we are created in God’s image, I got to wondering what attributes that God saw fit to share with us. Generally when I think of God, I think of His all knowing powers, and being incapable of being surprised. Maybe a good explanation of how I see Him running the universe is like placing everything on “auto-pilot.” But further contemplation caused my brain to begin to heat up, so I cautiously sought some specific attributes from which some of ours may have been derived. On an elementary level, we all probably would agree that “God is love.” He has shared that attribute with man, but in this life we will never, ever, realize the full measure of His love. There are many other attributes that I might quickly mention that we share with some degree of human understanding: God is merciful, forgiving, patient, kind, faithful, is the source of judgment, gives rest to the weary, can be angry, and as demonstrated through his Son, knows sorrow. This list could become quite lengthy if we pursued the matter, but if we took no further than this capsule of attributes, we can hopefully gain greater insight, and understanding of the personality of our Heavenly Father.

Allow me to make a bold statement. Being God is not easy. From before the foundations of the earth, God knew man, knew his sins, knew what He as God must do to restore the bridge between Him and his children if they were ultimately going to gain access to the Kingdom of Heaven. From that era, before time itself was put into motion, God knew you, and He knew me. At his pleasure He assigned us a date on which to be born, and a time to die. We were never playing pieces on a great game board. He created plans for our construction and the ingredients that make us who we are, and He referred to that as “wonderfully and frightfully made.” He was so proud of us he even took the time to number the very hairs of our head, and the inventory on mine takes a little less time each year.

What fantastic plans God had for His creation, and his children! Create a literal paradise, in the ultimate sense of the word. Perfect atmosphere, no rain needed, no labor, just enjoyable work in His garden, plenty of food, and a climate so perfect that garments would have been a hindrance rather than a necessity. Everything was going great for Adam and Eve until one day a salesman showed up dressed like a snake. Oh, he was a slick operator. He made a really smooth sales pitch to Eve, and regrettably she later learned that he spoke with “forked tongue.” Both Adam and Eve liked his sales pitch about being able to know the future, and signed up on the spot. They were so excited that they relinquished the title to the earth, in exchange! Either they didn’t receive the full promised package, or with “their newly attained wisdom,” they didn’t think far enough into the future – like, for example, in the cool of that very evening – when God came around for a visit. Well, we all know that that turned out to be a bad hair day (the very first one) and God was plenty angry. It was then that He freely gave the couple a quick glimpse into the future. After all, that’s what they wanted isn’t it – to be as smart as God? To know everything? To Eve He said, “You will bear children with intense pain and suffering.” And Adam received no kind words either: “Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit I told you not to eat, I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day.” (Bummer!)

This was not a good day for Adam and Eve. This was not a good day for the snake. He also received a dishonorable mention. This was not a good day for you or me. This incident really tears it! NOW, HOW DO WE GET OUT OF THIS AND BACK TO BEING ACCEPTABLE TO GOD? The simple fact of the matter is – we can’t.

Meanwhile, back in Heaven, God is fit to be tied! He had done everything for mankind. He had done nothing worthy of such disobedience, or distrust! Faith in his goodness, love, caring and provisions had been thrown back in his face! Why shouldn’t He be upset? In the grand scheme of things, HE is now the ONLY ONE who can provide a plan to restore a right relationship with mankind – but it will be costly. Very costly. Under God’s rules, there is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood. Period! There is no plan “B” or “Get out of Hell FREE” card. No amount of sinful man’s so called “good deeds” or “works” can restore what mankind so stupidly destroyed. Sinful man’s blood, given as a sin offering, would be an abomination to a Holy and Righteous God. That would be as obnoxious to God as an offering of road kill! Before we give all the credit to Adam and Eve for this colossal problem, let us remember that Christ died for all our sins. It seems that early on, God looked into the future, and looked at our report cards. None of us have performed any more magnificently that Adam and Eve. There are no “sterling” performances. We are incapable of solving the dilemma; we only contribute to it as we take our few fleeting individual moments on the stage of history.

Since the remission of sin will require pure, sin-free blood, it will have to come from a sinless (Holy) source. No one’s blood on earth would qualify. The “cost,” afore mentioned, will have to be paid by the only one capable of doing so, God, and that by sacrificing His only Son, to die and shed his pure, sinless blood in mankind’s behalf. And now we come my thoughts about God’s attributes. God knew even before he first wound the universal clock, that this was going to happen. What a burden to carry! Knowing the future, and hoping against tremendous odds, that mankind, with the individual gift of free will, would make the right decisions. What feelings of apprehension did God carry, knowing that Adam and Eve could exercise freedom of choice? Did God have a good day when He pronounced judgment on Adam, Eve, and the snake? Who really feels good after being angry? Did God experience disappointment? I can’t believe that this was an “auto-pilot” day for God. This had to be an emotion filled day that contained a helping of “dread” and sadness that would last far into the future. This day put God in a position of having to do things out of context with his genuine nature, and placed Him in a position of having to fix something that was previously perfect. Adam and Eve no longer deserved the ideal lifestyle that God had designed and freely provided for them. The “one” thing that he forbade them do, they did anyway. One simple thing! I would imagine that if God’s thoughts covered past times that day, he thought of the great time He must have had when He had Adam give names to all the creatures. Don’t you know that they laughed at some of the names that Adam came up with, as he struggled to find enough names to complete the task? I would think that during those happy times, there were some real “knee slapping” moments. But without warning, the much loved couple burst the beautiful bubble! Another change:

               “GARDEN CLOSED FOR THE DURATION”

I don’t know how many centuries God endured the dreadful knowledge, that at a specific time and place, out in the future, His Son, HIS ONLY SON, was going to be sacrificed using one of the most cruel forms of death ever devised by sinful man. This, to provide a passageway to Heaven for ANY citizen of earth, if they would but come to the Father through belief in His Son. What thoughts did God have when Christ was born of a virgin on this earth? Could it have been a time of rejoicing, while knowing that His Son was to be put to death in only thirty-three more years? Knowing that not nearly all of mankind would accept salvation through Jesus, did God ever have second thoughts about giving up his blameless Son for only a portion of mankind?

How hard was it for God to turn His back on Jesus while hanging there on the cross, and hearing his Son pleading, “My God, “why have you forsaken me?” God could have lifted Christ up into Heaven in an instant, and put an end to the madness on the hill, but He couldn’t do that and still save you and me. It has to be tough to be God. What a painful decision He made that day. “Who do I save?” My Son – totally without sin, OR. you and me – our sins contributing to and leading up to His very death. What a choice! What grace! What love! God is love.

Maybe someday we will know the answers to these questions concerning the personal feelings of our Heavenly Father. Since He has shared many of His individual attributes with us, in some measure, based our understanding, I am lead to believe that the events of history touch Him deeply, even knowing every outcome. As we read Biblical accounts, we see God becoming emotionally involved in events. How could the joys, pain, dread, hope, love, forgiveness, etc. that we experience, be all that different from those experienced by the One who shares those traits with us? After all, God is a living God, who is faithfully maneuvering the Master Plan through the man-made muddle of world affairs, in order to bring all matters to a successful and triumphant close. according to His age old timetable. Events, that even today remain “On Schedule.”