What do you understand about the kind of God that we have? Some people understand God to be the creator of the universe, but once He created it and set everything in motion, He just sits back and watches what happens without interacting with His creation. Other people see God as a critical, vengeful God who is trying to catch them in doing something wrong so that He can punish them. It has been said that we each tend to see God like our earthly father. For example, if our earthly father was loving, then we see God as loving, or if our earthly father was very critical of us, then we see God also critical of us. The Bible helps us understand about God. We come to an understanding about God when we see how He interacted with various people and nations described in the Bible. We see His creation, commandments, grace and principles He has given. We see Jesus who was God in the flesh. Note what Jesus said in John 14:7-11 “’If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.’ Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.’” Through Jesus, we come to know God the Father.
There are many aspects of God that we could investigate. But one characteristic of God that I wish for you to understand is that He loves you and cares for you. If you truly appreciated how much God loves you, it should motivate you to seek to please Him in all things.
God has already demonstrated His love for you. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Romans 5:7-8 “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God sent His only begotten Son that He loved very much, to come to this earth and to go through an agonizing death for you so that you should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus took the penalty for your sins when He died on the cross. This alone demonstrates the love that God has for you.
God’s love does not stop with His gift of His Son. He continues to seek your success. Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Hebrews 13:20-21 “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” He continues to lead you, protect you, discipline you and care for you throughout your life.
He will lead you. You have been given the Spirit of God to lead you. Romans 8:14 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” The psalmist David saw the leading of God in his life. Psalms 23:1-6 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” David saw how God was involved in his life.
He protects you. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 “But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.” 1 John 4:4 “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” Psalm 55:22 “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”
He disciplines you. Hebrews 12:7-10 “If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.” He disciplines you so that you will be a partaker in His holiness.
He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:5b-7 “And be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” Whatever concerns you have, whether they be spiritual or physical, or whether they be great or small, He wants you to give them to Him. You do not need to be anxious because the God of the universe cares for you.
God loves you and wants you to be successful. If you let Him, He leads you, protects you, and disciplines you. My encouragement is for you to seek to please Him in all that you do. Trust Him and lean upon Him because He cares for you.