WHO IS GOD?

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Hey guys and welcome back to Daily Manna daily.

Well, I can’t believe I’m at my third article already. I feel like Wednesdays come around so quickly, when one ends, I can’t wait for the next. By the title you know today we’re diving into who GOD truly is, in order to do this, I’m going to speak about suffering and other arguments people use to discredit HIM.

When in secondary school I studied religious studies and there were a lot of topics that made me think, ‘who is this GOD that I serve’. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one second guessing. I will always remember the day a girl said out loud “miss I think you’ve made me agnostic” (a person who believes nothing is truly known or can be known of the existence of GOD. In other words, you are simply unsure). GOD doesn’t condemn us for having doubts, (John 20:26) especially teenagers who are being taught by teachers and society who are not fully equipped for such a heavy subject.

‘If GOD is all loving, he should want to take away peoples suffering. If he is unwilling, he cannot be all loving. If GOD is all powerful, HE should be able to take away peoples suffering and if HE is unable, HE isn’t all powerful. If GOD is all seeing, HE should be able to prevent suffering before it happens, if HE can’t, HE isn’t all seeing.’

Now there’s a time (or a few times) in everyone’s life where they are met with unfortunate circumstances, we pray but we don’t see a change, we then turn on GOD. we feel HE isn’t listening, or HE doesn’t care and ask why.

There’s a beautiful verse in 1 peter 5:10 that says, “and the GOD of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will HIMSELF restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” Now I know this sounds like one of those cringy quotes we see on the internet but let’s dive into it.

Focus on the line that says, ‘after you have suffered’. It says after, not if, GOD doesn’t promise us a life without suffering, for when we subjected ourselves to a life of sin in the Garden, we then welcomed suffering in our lives (from genesis 3:16-23). When you send your child to school, you cannot promise them that they’ll never get hurt; there’s bullies, they fall over and there’s mean teachers. The only thing you can do is dust them off and let them know you are there for them. You may not be able to physically sit with them in class and sometimes they may not feel you’re there, but little do they know you’re behind the scenes calling the teachers and praying for their wellbeing. Suffering will happen and we all don’t enjoy it but its something that must happen. We look in the bible and there is not a time that everyone didn’t experience suffering; King David, Mother Mary and of course Jesus Christ Himself.

The next part of 1 peter 5:10 to focus on is ‘a little while’. At the time, you may feel like ‘when will my suffering end, I’m praying and waiting for the moment my cup will overflow’. The prayers where you point out you’ve been fasting and are even on a better path than others and trust me GOD sees it all. But we can’t allow our suffering to make us look down on others no matter their journey, for Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:7 “if anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do”. Never judge someone else’s walk for you never know how high GOD could raise them. No matter how long we feel our suffering is going on for, it never lasts forever. Even those who unfortunately die in their suffering receive peace after their last breath (if they die in The LORD).

The final line I want us to look at is ‘will HIMSLEF restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast’, and this is my favourite part. In those moments of prayer when we feel unanswered, just know GOD is storing them to bless you later. Not only would it make you feel stronger, but you feel firmer in the foundation you’ve built under you, you see that since GOD has brought you out of the mud, what can’t he do. We’ve all heard that suffering builds character, but we see it also brings strength. There are many examples in both the bible and our everyday life that we see people getting dragged through the darkest pits of hell and make it out stronger than ever. I’m going to say something I used to say when I was younger, ‘just because I can, doesn’t mean I should’, and that’s the same with GOD. Of course, he doesn’t say it in a way that sounds like a bratty 6-year-old but in psalm 115:3 it says, “our GOD is in the Heavens; HE does all that he pleases.”Yes, there are times GOD allows us to suffer, and we may feel alone during those times but always remember to continue praying and when you come out on the other end, there is restoration waiting for you. See it as getting a reward for your suffering.

When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane ‘his soul was grieved’ as He learnt how He was going to suffer and die. He asked His FATHER “if it is possible, let this cup (of suffering) pass from me; yet not as I will but as you will”. Jesus’ suffering started from Thursday morning and continued into Friday when he died, Imagine knowing every single minute going towards your death, we would try desperately to avoid it, and Jesus did but he ultimately knew His FATHER’s will had to be done. GOD loves his Son, HE knew what would happen down to the last detail, and he had the power to prevent it as Jesus says, “do you think I cannot appeal to my FATHER, and HE will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels?” But GOD allowed the suffering to happen, not because he didn’t care but because there was a bigger picture to the immense pain Jesus was to experience. “For GOD so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” And that’s the bigger picture. Whether we live in the world or walk in the truth, suffering is inevitable and sometimes GOD will not stop it, not because its fun but there’s always a purpose behind it.

I was watching a debate show on YouTube the other day and someone mentioned All of GODs characteristics seem very humanly for example, jealousy, anger and vengeance. That is a misconception about GOD that needs to be set straight. In genesis it says “then GOD said let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness. – so GOD created mankind in HIS own image, in the image of GOD he created them; male and female he created them.” (genesis 1:26-27) when we were created GOD was the blueprint, not just physicality but our emotions. GOD was not created by humans so HE can’t have humanlike characteristics, if anything our characteristics come from HIM the same way a child gets genes and features from their parents. The only difference with GOD’s ‘emotions’ and ours is they are righteous. The way Jesus became angry in the temple is not the sinful anger that James 1:19-20 refers to, it is the type of anger that slays the ungodly giants (goliath) and defeats the idol worshipping enemy. This is the righteous anger of GOD. Although these emotions come from HIM, there are certain feelings he wants us to stay away from such as vengeance and jealousy, we see this in verses like Romans 12:19 and proverbs 27:3. Because we are not as holy as GOD, we are unable to righteously and fairly seek vengeance. GOD doesn’t want us to feel these emotions because he doesn’t want our hearts to be burdened by the pain and hatred it produces. The love GOD feels for us is more than any human could feel for we are incapable of true unconditional love, GOD says ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love.’ What HE feels we cannot, we have destroyed his perfect creation and filled it with sin, but he still loves us, that is a type of love no human or animal could give. I don’t know about you, but I want a GOD who smiles at my joy and angers at my pain, I want a GOD who says I am for HIM and HE is for me, a GOD who will fight my every battle and win because he hates injustice. I want a GOD who feels, and I’ve got HIM.

So, who is GOD? He is love and joy, peace and kindness, beginning and end. He is everything.