Who Is God?…

Sunday school today had us talking about the Old and the New Testament.

How much weight do we accord the Old when reading the New?

For me the Old Testament is the history of a nation.

Their search for God,

Their ideas on His nature,

Their struggle with faithfulness,

Their attempts at putting Him into the context of their lives,

Their strengths and weaknesses,

Their falling away and returning.

A record as damning as it is redemptive,

A human story.

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The Old Testament reflects the phases in my life, my struggles, joys and sorrows, as I make an effort to reel God in for a deeper relationship, or is God doing the reeling?

I rejoice, I stumble, I fail, I question, I whine and I surrender.

I read, I worship, I pray and study, I stop doing and try to be.

I receive and long for,

I thirst and am quenched,

I hunger and go without,

I stay still and absorb His grace and find a smile on my face or tears tumbling down my cheeks.

The bible is divinely inspired and some of the words we read show God as a vengeful warlord, cruel and violent, exacting, possessive, complicit in atrocities, mighty, unyielding, demanding.

As human hands wrote the divinely inspired words mortal shadows lingered on the page, their culture littered the texts as they tried to fit God into their messy lives.

When wars were won, God was on their side and consequently condoned, desired, even directed their actions.

When they were taken captive, God was displeased with them and punished them for centuries.  He wanted His chosen people to feel His wrath so they would turn back to Him, a jealous God.

Is this the same God of the New Testament?

The gentle, loving, peaceful God?

Did God change from one testament to the other when He sent His son?

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“Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

Where would I be if I couldn’t count on God’s steadfastness?

I believe that when we feel God has changed, we must look to ourselves.

God is constant,

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It is I who change.

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