God on the Easy Chair

Who is God? A fairy tale figment of the imagination, some say. Or a jolly old grandfather figure, desperately good, but pathetically unable to stop evil. His plans can be thwarted, say others. Or at least, they can certainly be helped. But really, to fit in with our relativistic, postmodern society, the question would be criticized. They would say it should be changed to, "Who is God to you?" Grandpa, curmudgeon, abba, dictator, misogynist, obsessed with love, driven by death, angry, happy, tyrant, legalist, one of many, one alone, man, woman, big "G" or little one - who is He (or She) to you?

We know that there is only one God, in the Bible and in reality today. One God who created a world and a people, allowed them to fall within His sovereign plan, and then manifested Himself as one perfect man to a broken mankind, saving them from themselves. Today, people have a thousand and one ideas of who God is, and they really believe that the idea of a deity is subjective enough that we can ask, "Who, or what, is God to you?" Idolatry runs rampant in the public square. And unfortunately, we as Christians can be just as guilty.

Who is God?

Colin Smith wrote in The 10 Greatest Struggles of Your Life:

The God of the Bible is who He is. That means He is not whoever you want Him to be. He is neither a product of some ancient culture, nor a reflection of the ideas of Moses. He is who He is. He is the Creator and the sustainer of all things. He is the unchanging, self-existent God, and that means that He depends on nobody. He is neither helped nor hindered by our unbelief.

We would like to be a little more tolerant, wouldn't we? Or at least tolerant by the world's standards, which means basically all-accepting, all-encompassing, and all-endorsing. We would like to downplay sin, promote God's love over His wrath, and make Him seem a little nicer and more attractive to our unsaved friends and family. We would like to leave room for the possibility of other Gods, big "G," little "g," whatever.

But this is idolatry, plain and simple, yet gruesomely sinful. God is who He is. There is no room for fudging the borders, adding or subtracting, uncrossing the t or un-dotting that i. He does not depend on us, and is "neither helped nor hindered by our unbelief."

We often think of idolatry as worshiping something other than God, like money or success or food. But changing the character of God, attempting to fit Him into our box, slipping Him onto an easy chair in our comfortable lives, is just as idolatrous. God does not leave room for change. He does not wish to be marginalized, downplayed, dressed in human terms, and displayed with a cup of tea and twinkle in His eye. God is who He is.

"Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones! For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him? O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD, with your faithfulness all around you?" - Psalm 89:5-9