In a World Of Chaos. Who is God?

Posted on Nov 02, 2022

We are living in crazy times these days. Everywhere we look it seems another disaster or tragedy is occurring, from riots to killings, it feels as though the bad news is never ending.

When disaster strikes it really pulls us back from the distractions of life to take a look at the bigger picture and ask "what's it all really about, why am here?". It is in these moments we often wonder, is God real? If so, who is He? Does He care?

We often refer to God as a He because of the representation to the "Father" of all things, overlooking and taking care of everyone and everything. But in hard times we wonder, how could God let bad things happen. To answer that question, we must understand who God really is.

The world often depicts a picture of God like this one, an old man with white hair, usually holding a staff in the sky. But this is fiercely inaccurate, at a far stretch it is merely a poor attempt to portray wisdom because after all, God said never to make a graven image of Himself or anything in Heaven.

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below." - Exodus 20:4

Gods ways are higher than our ways and His thinking is not conformed by the restrictions of a limited human brain. He is outside of time, space and matter.

The triune being that is father God, Holy Spirit and the Son are Elohim, which is a Hebrew meaning for "gods". But that word is plural, in the Hebrew Bible it takes a singular verb and refers to a single deity, particularly the God of Israel. Elohim always means "the one true God, the creator God."

In the Bible, the creator God can often times be referred to as a terrifying entity in the Old Testament and rightly so. God should be feared, but not because of who He is in His nature but rather who we are.

When we look at the hurt and pain in the world today we ask ourselves, why, how, or who would allow such things to take place. How can we have such rich countries and such poor countries, great famine and great wealth co-existing at the same time.

If we see there was another school shooting, we think to ourselves how could a human being do such a terrible thing to other human beings, or behave in a way that to the average person may sound insane. The answer to that is unfortunately a simple one. Because we are all bad. Hopefully we won't all go out and do something as terrible as a school shooting but one thing is for sure: the human heart is wicked. We only have to recount our own thoughts to understand that. The Bible says this:

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”

- Jeremiah 17:9-10

Now you're probably thinking, "well I'm not bad, I would never go out and kill another person or commit a heinous crime..." but understand in your own mind you are weighing the judgement scales according to your own perspective and not that of a good God, and by good I mean morally perfect. The dictionary describes the word good as;

1a : something that is good. b(1) : something conforming to the moral order (2) : praiseworthy character

Good is defined as Moral order. Morals are a standard of behavior, so who sets that standard of behavior? What standard is moral perfection and how do we achieve that as mere, failing and fragile human beings? To do what is right and absolutely never do what is wrong, even when it seems it is our very nature.

The highest standard possible would be the Ten Commandments, so lets look at those as an example.

The Ten Commandments are recorded in the Bible in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21 and are as follows:

1) “You shall have no other gods before me.” This command is against worshiping any god other than the one true God. All other gods are false gods.

2) “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” This command is against making an idol, a visible representation of God. There is no image we can create that can accurately portray God. To make an idol to represent God is to worship a false god.

3) “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name.” This is a command against taking the name of the Lord in vain. "OMG" for example. We are not to treat God’s name lightly. We are to show reverence to God by only mentioning Him in respectful and honoring ways.

4) “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” We, as fragile humans, also need rest.

5) “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” This is a command to always treat your parents with honor and respect.

6) “You shall not murder.” This is a command against the premeditated murder of another human being.

7) “You shall not commit adultery.” This is a command against having sexual relations with anyone other than your spouse.

8) “You shall not steal.” This is a command against taking anything that is not your own, without the permission of the person to whom it belongs.

9) “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” This is a command prohibiting testifying against another person falsely. It is essentially a command against lying.

10) “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” This is a command against desiring anything that is not your own. Coveting can lead to breaking one of the commandments listed above: murder, adultery, and theft. If it is wrong to do something, it is wrong to desire to do that same something.

Many people mistakenly look at the Ten Commandments as a set of rules that, if followed, will guarantee entrance into Heaven after death. But actually the Ten Commandments are to force us to realize that we cannot perfectly obey God's Law, and therefore we are in need of God’s Mercy and Grace. So how do we obtain that?

Believe it or not, God never intended for us to live in a world full of pain. He designed it very differently, but He chose to give us free will and the ability to choose for ourselves in the hopes that we would choose Him, who is good. If God took away the ability for us to choose then we'd all be robots. But as we've seen over the last several thousand years, our choices are not so good and have lead to where we are today. We certainly haven't chosen God. In fact, when God saw how evil the human heart was, it broke His own heart because it was never what God wanted for us because God is in His very essence, Love.

In Genesis men lived up to 900 years, but as time, sin and generational curses progressed so did sickness and disease and our lives got shorter and shorter.

Since we were made "in Gods image" as it says in Genesis 1:27, which reads: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." God also made us eternal, recieiving judgement for what we do here on earth that hold eternal consequences. Now that may be great for people like hitler, but what about those who only told "white lies" or sorrowfully cheated on their spouse, or stole something regardless of its value? Well, if God is a Just God - which He is - then unfortunately God's Law is waiting to judge us all and condemn us according to His moral perfection.

So who is God? God loved us so much that He wanted to understand what it was to be human and governed by the same fleshly desires we face, and ultimately to provide a way out; to save us and to be a sacrifice for the Law itself. God came to earth as a man named Jesus. Jesus lived a fully mortal life, experiencing pain, heartbreak, sadness, joy, and every other human emotion we feel. But He lived a very different life, a life dedicated to the Father and to prayer and fasting.

Until age 33, Jesus performed miracles, signs, healed the sick, raised the dead to life and casted out demons. Theres no question today whether Jesus existed, there is too much evidence to prove that He walked the earth and scholars agree about where He lived (Israel) and what He did with His time on earth, even agreeing on how he died: By crucification.

Jesus had great compassion for mankind. He was tortured publicly, humiliated and made to carry a heavy cross all the way to a place called Golgotha, outside of Jerusalem. Jesus was spotless in the eyes of God, He never once broke Gods Law of the Ten Commandments, which is impossible for any human being. Needless to say, He did not deserve what happened to Him.

As Jesus's blood shed into the ground, a great earthquake took place as He uttered His final Words, "It is finished".

Jesus's words confused those persecuting him and suddenly they realized who He was and by then, He took His last breath. By dying on the cross Jesus fulfilled the Law of sin and death, that whomever might believe in Jesus through faith will have eternal life and not be condemned.

We see a lot of hate in the world today towards Jesus, which should only open people's eyes as to how bad we really are. How can we hate someone who only loved us. We see people spit on those who preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the true word of God and what it means to Love.

While He was still alive, Jesus told people what was going to happen to Him and that on the 3rd day after His death, He would be raised to Life. If a persons says something like that and then actually does it, we really should pay attention.

Jesus was seen by many after he died on the cross and over 500 people saw Him ascend into heaven.

The Savior (Jesus) then appeared to Simon Peter and afterward to the 11 Apostles and others. “Peace be unto you,” He said. “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” - Luke 24:36, 39

It was testified to by so many people, that's one of the reasons why we have the Bible, the inspired and true word of God. The Bible was - for a very long time - the only book in existence. It is a collection of 66 books which formed the very first book ever in history, accounting from Dead Sea scrolls and other ancient texts.

More than evidence is this: Jesus is alive today and will answer to anyone who genuinely and sincerely calls upon Him. Relationship and salvation through Jesus Christ are possible via faith, for anyone who believes, God does not have favorites... Now if that's not love, I don't know what is.

So, to answer the question. Who is God and where is He? God is available through the life vessel that is Jesus Christ, the only link to God the Father due to our own human behavior.

"But I did find this: God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path.”

- Ecclesiastes 7:29

God is available and waiting for us to call upon Him today. Remember, God is not a liar, it is impossible for Him to lie.

"So God has given both His promise and His oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us."

- Hebrews 6"18

I hope this message touched you in some way, if you're reading this and doubting Gods existence I want to tell you...God loves you and He sees you, He is waiting for you.

Blessings,

Megan Bell xo

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In a World Of Chaos. Who is God?