“But now my eye seeth thee”1
Even though I had read and understood who God is, there is nothing like experience testing your knowledge of who God truly is. God does not conform to my mind and ideals; I bend to Him. And thank God because without His unshakable character (that I am just now starting to experience), my life would feel all too shaken, but since He is unmovable, I feel like I can pass through storms and look back to Jesus, sleeping in the back of the boat2 and smile.
I find the biggest obstacle in discerning God in all aspects of your life to be the validity of our emotions. One can’t ignore their emotions and yet we can’t make them all there is. Especially if you’ve had trauma or difficulty in the past. Which is why, “we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”3
We have the Spirit of Christ living inside of us, and therefore; complete freedom4. For life-giving5 purposes did Jesus come to earth. Out of love for our emotions did God send His one and only Son. However, like the psalmist, in our emotions we don’t stay. Yet yearn to be where He is: “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus”6
Jesus (God) throughout the bible, is called many things, many of them a representation into His character. Here are a few:
- Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace – Isaiah 9:6
- The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety -Psalms 18: 2 NLT
- He is the Rock, his work is perfect: For all his ways are judgment: A God of truth and without iniquity, Just and right is he – Deuteronomy 32: 4
- And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation – Exodus 34: 6-7
- But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance – Galatians 5:22-23
I also find that in situations that are difficult, the connection to the character of God is most strenuous, although surely even in situations of good a connection can still be hard because it is true, that it is easier to search for God while you’re going through a storm. But because it is God that desires us to know Him and experience full satisfaction in Him alone, He elicits a pull in us to search for Him instead of being in an emotion we find ourselves in.7
“…but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us”8
I once heard a Sunday church talk of how God can use pain and work out our experience of pain into an assurance of who God is. And not only in assurance, but revelation of who He is. For example, Lazarus. He was loved of God, allowed to die by God, and resurrected by God.9 In 2 Corinthians, Paul emphasizes his life being allowed to experience the same sufferings Christ experienced, so people could see Christ in him. And that’s exactly what Romans 5:3-5 says, hardships are for experiencing the love of God. Sounds backwards, but the kingdom of God is exactly that, unexpected! Now what helps us remind ourselves of the truth, goodness, control and love of God in hard times? His word!
Isaiah 26: 3
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.”
Notice how the true God, promises you’ll experience peace over all other emotions you could feel, if His word remains inside your mind. And don’t strive or worry to keep it in your head, because grace works in you10 to keep it in your head. Trust me, God wants you to have His word in your head, more than you want His word to be in your head.
Jeremiah 17:7
“blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is.”
In John Bevere’s book, The Awe of God, he explains that the verb “nabat” meaning “I will bless” is defined as “to look, to watch, to regard” meaning, God looks intensely and in a focused way at those who trust in Him. Compare that with Psalm 32: 8 talking about how God will instruct and lead you (through trust), with His eye on you, Psalm 17:8, says we are the apple of His eye.
Numbers 13: 31-33
v.32 “And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched…”
In this context, the spies sent to search the land God was giving the children of Isreal (the promise), saw the land and brought back a report saying the promised land was EVIL! Meaning to harm. Now this is the people’s perspective. As in, we look at our lives, our situation, or even ourselves and think, “this is for my harm.” Now compare with the words of God, before the children of Isreal even left the land of Egypt, to moses.
Exodus 3: 8
“…I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey…”
Notice the word God uses to describe the promised land: GOOD! The children called it EVIL! But God first called it good. I wrote in my notebook, “perceive wrong and you’ll speak wrong”. Because you understood wrong. “But perceive right, through the lens of God’s word and you will speak right” because you understood through scripture.
Our lives are devised to be coser to God11, and our life situations are the vessels to do just that! God bless you and keep you! Amen.
Index
- 1- Job 42: 5 KJV
- 2- Mark 4: 38 KJV
- 3- Hebrews 4:15 KJV
- 4- 2 Corinthians 3: 17 KJV
- 5- John 10: 10 KJV
- 6- Ephesians 2:6 KJV
- 7- Psalms 65: 4 KJV
- 8- Romans 5: 3-5 KJV
- 9- John 12 KJV
- 10- 1 Corinthians 15: 10 KJV
- 11- 2 Samuel 14: 14 NLT