When you think about God, what do you see in your mind? Who is He to you? Do you picture Him like “the force” in Star Wars? Do you see Him like Kurt Russell’s character in Guardians of the Galaxy? We’ve been studying the attributes of God at our Thursday night bible study. Honestly, I believe it is difficult for our small minds to comprehend the complexities of who God is. But I want to point out some glaring lies the enemy Satan likes to throw at us.

God is not some celestial kingpin, watching you from afar as you live your life, just waiting for the right moment to strike you down so he can watch you squirm. Maybe this is how you see him…I know I have struggled with this myself. This past year, I have had some difficult trials. I’ve had work issues. I’ve had health scares. We all have those times when we are on top of the mountain and then other days, we find ourselves in the bottom of the valley. Sometimes, when everything is going great, I will catch myself waiting for “the other shoe to drop.”  Lately, I have been studying more and I genuinely feel like I am closer to God. But then, I hear this voice in my head say, “Hold my beer.” I feel like when everything is going great, God is up in heaven watching me and He says to his angels, “Watch This!” Can you relate?

This is not who God is. This is not the character of our Father in heaven, who loves us and desires what is best for us. Ezekiel 18:23, “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” If God doesn’t take pleasure in punishing the wicked, how much more will He do for His own children?

We can’t see the whole picture from this moment in time. We don’t know what God allows; what He will use to benefit us or others, through our struggles and trials. I will share an example from my own life. 40 years ago, a night in December, changed the entire trajectory of my life. While the experience at the time was traumatic, God’s hand was moving, creating for me blessings I could never have imagined! Satan is always trying to steal and destroy. He wants to destroy the good name of God. He wants to destroy the good character of God, creating for us a lie that creeps into our minds to pull our faith away from the truth of who God is. In Matthew 7, Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

I am seeking to know God more, reading and studying His word. In doing this, He will show me more of Himself, not use this as an opportunity to strike me down, in some form of twisted heavenly entertainment! These thoughts are the work of the enemy, and it is important for us to see that. God’s character is complex, but we can be assured that He is always good and always fair. He will always act in accordance with what is right.

The best example I can share of this truth is found in Genesis. Joseph was hated by his brothers and sold into slavery. Bought as a slave to serve in the house of Potiphar, Joseph then found himself falsely accused of rape by Potiphar’s wife. But even in prison, God continued to remember Joseph and gave him favor with the prison guards. “And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed.” God took Joseph from a slave in Egypt and elevated him to the second highest position in the kingdom. God used Joseph to save not only his own family from famine but many others. Years later, after the death of their father Israel, Joseph’s brothers were afraid of how he would retaliate for what they had done to him. But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.”

What do I want you to hear, dear friend? I want you to hear that God loves you,  and even when you are in the midst of the struggle, He has not left your side. He is not up in Heaven playing some cosmic game with your life. Yes, you will have trials—we all do. But, in the midst of the struggle, God is there. God’s power and holiness demands our praise, for He is the one true God. But as the prophet Zephaniah wrote, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; his will exult over you with loud singing.” God’s love does not change as the wind. His ways are true and steadfast. He is our rock in times of trouble, our safe harbor during the storm. May our lives cry out to him equally during times of sorrow and times of rejoicing, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”  -Amen