What Kind of God Are You Looking For?

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we [are] not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be [so], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver [us] out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Daniel 3:16-18

As people, we're generally both a fickle and a complicated lot.

When it comes to God, for instance ... on the one hand, we want someone to believe in that's gigantic, powerful, sovereign, all-knowing, eternal, perfect, holy, righteous, just, who's got our back and yet, is beyond our imagination and ability to fully grasp and understand. A deity that inspires awe, can't be controlled by anyone but Himself and is limited only by His own flawless character. That makes Him worthy of our worship and faith.

On the other hand, when we want something, our desires take on a life of their own and begin to reshape God into what we want Him to be -- our idea at that moment of a picture-perfect god -- so we can be sure we get what we want. Especially if those desires are something we see as good and which we think He would surely want too. Maybe it's a clean bill of health from a devastating illness, healing from a horrible accident, salvation from some disastrous circumstances, intervention to stop a spouse from walking out and filing for divorce or justice for someone who's been maliciously and cruelly abused.

We read in God's Word what He's like, what He says, and we interpret from that, at this time, in this instance, based on who He is, what He says and what He has done for others, and based on our limited understanding of the big picture of our lives, the world, eternity and what God's doing in all of that, that what we're wanting is definitely something He'll want for us. So we pray expectantly, to the god of our fashioning, believing God's going to answer just the way we want. We've got Him in a box and are trying to make Him act the way we want Him to act -- basically, in accordance with what we ask Him for in prayer or in line with our ideas and perspectives on things ... the very thing which would make Him NOT worthy of worship or faith because it would mean we could control Him.

Then, when He doesn't come through the way we expect, we get mad and pull away from Him. We decide praying doesnt work; He doesn't care; He doesn't answer; He's not loving or whatever. We get frustrated because we can't control Him and make Him act the way we thought He would act, according to what we believe His will is for us. Fickle ... complicated ... what is it we really want? A God worthy of worship or a god to control who'll give us whatever we want, as though we're the god and He's the servant?

Deitrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp for his faith in 1943 and then hung two years later, said, "If were to pray aright, perhaps it is quite necessary that we pray contrary to our own heart. Not what we want to pray is important, but what God wants us to pray. The richness of the Word of God ought to determine our prayer, not the poverty of our heart."

In the verse above, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, three Hebrew captives in a hostile land, had the right perspective on God. Whether He delivered them or not, and you can believe they really wanted deliverance from death, they were going to worship Him alone. They were more concerned with God's glory, plan and purpose in all things then they were with their own desires at that moment and what they perceived would be best for themselves. They believed God could deliver. They knew He had set patterns of deliverance for His people throughout their history that made their desire reasonable in their eyes and something God had proven in the past that He wanted to do. But, they decided that, even if God acted contrary, in this instance, to what they believed His pattern was, He was worthy of their worship and they'd worship Him with their dying breath.

Not fickle ... not complicated. These three men were sold on God for who He was, not just for what He could do for them. They knew He saw the bigger picture, loved them, heard their prayers, was true to His Word and His character and was faithful to the covenant He made to care for His people, even if they couldn't see it in their imminent circumstances. That's true worship. That's true faith in God. That's trusting God with your circumstances, even when you don't understand. That's letting God be God. That's loving God for who He is, not just for what He can give you. And that's how God loves you ... not for what you can do for Him but just for yourself. He's got the big picture, and is trustworthy to do the right thing at all times.

What kind of God are you looking for? It's important for you to decide whether you want the real God or just one that fits in your box.

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