Who Is This God We Worship?

Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the Lord’s temple before the new courtyard. He said: "Yahweh, the God of our ancestors, are You not the God who is in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand, and no one can stand against You." (2 Chronicles 20:5,6)

Who is God and why should I worship Him? Jehoshaphat had just experienced a terrible military defeat because He did not do what God’s prophet told him to do. After that, God sends the prophet back to Jehoshaphat to basically say, “I told you so,” and to rebuke him for his unbelief. Then we see his total belief in God.

It is impossible to describe God in just one sermon. It is impossible to describe God in weeks of sermons. It is impossible to describe God in any adequate manner that will satisfy those who must have a clear picture of who God is. You see, God is indescribable.

There are some things that we can know about God, but there are many more things that we cannot understand about God. Or perhaps we just do not have the ability to explain them. There is one thing that I can certainly understand after years of studying who God is: He is God and I am not.

That may sound ridiculously simple and make no sense to you, but the truth is that I cannot understand why God does certain things in certain ways and at certain times precisely because I am not God. But in trying to figure out God I know for a certainty that God exists and that He is so much more powerful, comforting, vengeful, loving, , giving…EVERYTHING and more than I can even imagine.

C.S. Lewis, the author of the children’s classic “The Chronicles of Narnia,” was a skeptic. He did not believe God existed, but his friend J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the classic “The Lord of the Rings,” challenged him to learn about God. C.S. Lewis tried to prove God did not exist and in the end discovered that God does exist. Lewis is now known as one of the great theologians of the modern age.

Lee Strobel was a journalist for the Chicago Tribune and a devout atheist when he set out to prove that God did not exist. In his attempt he suddenly found himself not only believing that God exists, but became a modern advocate for Christianity. His book, “The Case for Christ,” describes the proof that he found and is a compelling appeal for others to accept Jesus.

Author H.G. Wells was never particularly religious, but after he had studied the history of the human race and had observed human life, he came to an interesting conclusion: "Religion is the first thing and the last thing, and until a man has found God and been found by God, he begins at no beginning, he works to no end. He may have his friendships, his partial loyalties, his scraps of honor. But all these things fall into place and life falls into place only with God."

Because of their personal experiences, Jehoshaphat, C.S. Lewis, Lee Strobel, H.G. Wells, and so many others before and after them, discovered that God is real and that God is worthy of our worship. They experienced God and were in awe of Him. They had a healthy fear because of who God is.

Some people believe in God but still wonder if He is worthy of our worship. They see suffering, illness, poverty, and more, and wonder why they should worship a God that allows these things to continue. A perfect example of their attitude can be found in the story of Job.

There was a man in the country of Uz named Job. He was a man of perfect integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. His estate included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man among all the people of the east. 

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.” Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Haven’t You placed a hedge around him, his household, and everything he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out Your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will surely curse You to Your face.” 

“Very well,” the Lord told Satan, “everything he owns is in your power. However, you must not lay a hand on Job himself.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence. (Job 1:1-3, 8-12)

Winston Churchill said the Soviet Union was “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” That phrase perfectly describes the book of Job as well. Job forces us to look at the questions that are often asked: “Why do bad things happen to good people? Where is God when tragedy strikes? If God is all-loving, how can he allow human suffering? Does he not care?

In one day Satan took everything from Job. He killed all of his livestock and his children and his servants. He destroyed all of his property and fields. Job had nothing left but his wife and the clothes they were wearing. When Job first learned of these great disasters, he fell down and worshipped God saying, “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21b)

God was pleased with Job’s faith, but Satan said, “A man will give up everything he owns to protect his own life, but if you allow him to be in physical pain then he will curse you.” God allowed Satan to do anything he wanted to Job just as long as he spared his life. So Satan infected Job with terrible, painful boils all over his body.

Job was in so much pain that he used a piece of a broken pot to scrape his boils and sat among the ashes of a fire. His wife then came to Job and said, “Enough! Just curse God and die.” What a wonderful person of encouragement and strength she was. But Job continued to praise God. Then Job’s best friends started accusing Job of some great sin that must be the cause of his suffering. Job insisted that he had done nothing wrong, but after hours of arguments with them Job cries out to God, “Why have you abandoned me to this torment and suffering?” God finally responds in chapter 38.

Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. He said:
Who is this who obscures My counsel
with ignorant words?
Get ready to answer Me like a man;
when I question you, you will inform Me.
Where were you when I established the earth? (Job 38:1-4)

God basically said, “Who are you to question me? I am God. I created everything that you see. Did you create it?” God then continues for several chapters asking Job and his friends if they are able to do even the smallest thing that He can do: let it snow, direct the lightening, bring rain, send the wind, etc. Job’s response to God was one of awe:

Then Job answered the Lord:
I am so insignificant. How can I answer You?
I place my hand over my mouth. (Job 40:3,4)

I know that You can do anything
and no plan of Yours can be thwarted.
You asked, “Who is this who conceals My counsel with ignorance?”
Surely I spoke about things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know. (Job 42:2,3)

Yes, bad things do happen to people. God’s original plan was for a perfect world where He could fellowship with us as He did with Adam and Eve in the Garden. But that ended when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Their disobedience brought death into the world and with death came sickness, disease, decay, pain, and suffering. But God is still in control and nothing happens that He does not allow. I don’t have an easy answer as to why God allows suffering. The short answer is that everything happens for a purpose. It is all part of God’s plan.

In an episode of Scrubs, Dr. Cox was tormenting Nurse Laverne Roberts because she believed that God does all things for good. When a little girl comes in with a knife wound, Dr. Cox wants Laverne to explain what was God’s good reason for that happening to this little girl. In the end, the knife wound leads them to find a deadly tumor. If she had not been injured, they would never have found it and the girl would have died.

I know that this was just a TV sitcom, but it depicts what has happened time and time again in real life. Bad things happen, but something good comes out of it. I have seen families brought back together because of the death of a loved one. I have heard of nurses and doctors that have come to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior because they encountered a follower of Jesus that was going through cancer treatments at their clinic. We may never know what good comes out of a bad situation, but God does. We don’t have to understand it; we just have to trust Him. The Apostle Paul said it this way:

Oh, the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable His judgments
and untraceable His ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been His counselor?
Or who has ever first given to Him,
and has to be repaid?
For from Him and through Him
and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:34-36)

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