Troublesome Topic: What Do We Know about God That Relates to This Topic

While there are many things we could say about the nature of God, what follows are aspects of God’s character that relate specifically to the topics of guidance and hearing God’s voice.

We know God loves us and wants what is best for us.

Romans 5:8 says: God proves

His own love for us in that, while being still sinners, Christ died for us.

Anyone who doubts this is true is ignoring what Jesus did on the cross and is looking only at his own desire for comfort, success, or self-advancement. Jesus’ death proves beyond any possible doubt that God wants what is best for us.

We, however, sometimes question God’s desires for us because we often put physical comfort or financial stability above spiritual growth. We have it backwards. God does want what is best for us and He knows that spiritual growth has eternal benefits, while everything else has only temporal benefits.

God is consistent; He will not violate His own nature.

Numbers 23:19 says: EL is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change his mind. He has said something, will He not do it? He has spoken something, will He not fulfill it?

God has many titles because He has proven to men down through history to be trustworthy on many levels. All this is based on His character, and we can trust that He will act according to His nature. In fact, He cannot violate His nature. If it is God’s nature to do something He cannot do otherwise.

God is loving and merciful, but He is also holy and just. In Him these things do not pull in opposing directions as they seem to do for us; in Him they are perfectly balanced. For God that balance is very important. We should not ask God to do things for us that will upset the balance between His holiness and His kindness. He will not contradict Himself or work in ways that are contrary to who He is.

God is a gentleman; He will not force His will upon us.

In Scripture we read words such as “seek me” “choose this day,” “follow me,” “obey”, etc. All these are actions that involve the will. If God forced these things upon us that admonitions to do them would be meaningless.

God gave us free will and He expects us to use it wisely. He will not force us into something we do not want to do; He will not over-ride our freedom to make choices. He will allow us to suffer consequences of our choices, but He does not make the choices for us.

God has revealed Himself to man.

There are many places where this is demonstrated in Scripture, one of them is Jn 1:14

“And the LOGOS

became flesh and set up his tent among us.” Jesus was God’s revelation of Himself in human form, who came to show us how God acts, How God responds, how God feels, and how God thinks. Jesus is the proof that God is intent on revealing Himself to us.

It is God’s nature to reveal Himself to us. He cannot reveal everything about Himself to us because we could not handle it, but He reveals as much of Himself as we need in order to live as He desires. Unlike other religions that have a god that is far away and hard to understand, the God of the Bible wants to be close to us; He wants us to know Him. What’s more, His divine power has given us “everything required for life and godliness” (II Pet 1:3).

God does not tear us down.

God wants us to become more like Him so we can be little reflections of His character. He wants to help us reach the potential He has placed within us. Jeremiah 24:6 says: “I will build them up, not tear them down.”

In contrast Satan is the accuser of the believers; he wants to see us punished and destroyed.

God has given us both the authority and the task of being His administers on this earth.

This authority to rule was expressed to Adam with the words: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over…”

God gives us the freedom to administer the aspects of life that we have control over, and do so as we see fit. He wants us to do so in ways that glorify Him, but He gives us the choice. He does not tell us what to eat each meal, what to wear, whom to spend time with, or even bigger things like where we should work or whom we should marry. He may open doors and close others, but He usually does not give us as much direct guidance as we would like. God has given us the task of administering our small portion of the world and He lets us do it, but He will not do the managing for us.

The next lesson is: How Can I Hear God’s Voice?

Footnotes

1: “proves”

Two Greek words are combined to make this verb, one is the preposition “together, with, united,” and the other is the verb “to stand.” Thus it means “to stand together,” and was often used of facts that were brought together to “prove” a case or an argument.

2

Logos is a rich word with much meaning. It carries the idea of “the revelation or manifestation of something,” and that is how it is used in John chapter 1. It also means and organized presentation of something, or the logic behind something. It is the word from which we get our word “logic.”