Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. — Romans 1:21-25 NLT
The mentality of today’s generation is to put God to the test for the purpose of approving Him based on our criteria or specifications. And if God does not meet those specifications, we disapprove of Him as the God that deserves to be worshipped.
Many times, we ascribe our humanness and emotions to God. We expect God to feel, reason, think, and act like we do. We see this play out when we experience or hear of a tragedy. You hear people say things like: Where is God? Why did God allow this or that to happen? or Does God really exist?
You sometimes hear people say, “If God is real, let Him prove Himself, or if God is as powerful as people say He is, then let him prove it.” I’ve also heard some people, including myself, say things like, “If I were God, I’d do this or the other, or I’d handle the situation differently.”
God, in His mercy and sovereignty, may choose to prove or reveal Himself to someone who is genuinely desperate to know Him. We should never view, judge, or relate to God by our ways, thoughts and standards.
As humans, our thoughts, ways, actions and standards are often motivated and governed by our personal or selfish interests. Our decision-making, actions and thoughts are based on earthly sentiments and restricted or limited by what we know or don’t know.
God is not like us. He is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. He thinks and acts in ways that transcend anything man could ever imagine or comprehend. God’s thoughts and ways are motivated, directed, ruled or governed by His righteousness and holiness.
God said through the prophet Isaiah, “‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the Lord. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.’” Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)
The omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience of God means that nothing escapes His knowledge; nothing takes Him by surprise; nothing happens without His awareness.
God is all-wise and all-knowing; therefore, man should always align his ways, thoughts, and standards with God’s.
Stay blessed,
LaraLex
Hills and Valleys 