Many people misunderstand God. How we understand God, impacts how we both view Him and how we deal with life. Jesus revealed a forgotten aspect of who God is. In the Old Testament, the Jews understood God to be Lord who maintained a holy distance from them. They could not approach him. Even in the temple the Holy of Holies was off limits to them except for one person once a year, on the Day of Atonement. This holy distance tended to create a fear reaction in the people toward the Lord God. However, when Jesus arrived, he began to reveal a different aspect of God. Jesus spoke of God as Father, his Father and the disciples’ Father. Curiously Jesus never referred to God as “our Father”, indicating that his relationship with God the Father was different than the disciples’ relationship with Him. When he taught the disciples’ to pray “Our Father”, he did not include himself in “our”, but referred to the disciples praying to God as “Our Father”. (For more on God as Father, see my book, “Outrageous Prayer”, chapter 2. See the link below.)
Jesus went on to describe the kindness of God toward his followers. He would take care of them and give them what they needed. He would not give them a stone, if they asked for a loaf of bread or a snake if they asked for a fish. In this way, Jesus’ disciples were to respond to God the Father as children, God’s children. He was a Father who rejoiced when he reconnected with those children who had wandered away as portrayed in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, when the father ran to the son and embraced him when he returned. He accepted the son back into the family and celebrated his return, even though the son requested to be made a servant. This parable reveals the affection that God has for those who follow Jesus.
Although God was revealed in the Old Testament as Father; he told David that David’s son, Solomon, would be like a son to God himself. This prophecy was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. However, the predominant understanding of God was that he was Lord and Judge, creating a respectful fear in the Jewish people, that at times bordered on holy terror. So much so that they would not even pronounce God’s name, because it was too holy for them to say out loud. With this perspective of God it was difficult for them to perceive God as good, because their fear kept getting in the way. Even today, many people perceive God as being angry and focus on God’s wrath. This perspective came out in Jonathan Edward’s famous sermon “Sinners in the hands of an angry God”. People came to God out of fear of the fiery pits of hell. However, this perspective loses much of what Jesus revealed about God as a merciful, kind and loving Father.
If you believe that God is angry with you then your view of life will be controlled by fear of that anger and a negative outlook on life. You expect God to punish you for any and every mistake you have made, your sins. You tend to view life from a pessimistic perspective. Life can become very much like children growing up in an abusive home. However, if we take Jesus’ at his word, yes God is displeased with sin, but he is overwhelmingly good. While he will correct his children, he does so for their good. God, as Father, desires to have relationship with his children, in the same way parents today delight in their own children and grandchildren. This was the mission of Jesus, to bring God’s children back into relationship with God the Father. It is why the curtain in the temple was torn in two when Jesus died so that the way back to God’s own presence was open again.
However, once you are convinced that God is good pessimism becomes optimism. While you may face difficulties, you deal with them from a position of hope, not fear of the future. Jesus told us we would face difficulties in his world, but we are to take courage, because Jesus has overcome the world. Why did Jesus overcome the world, because God is good.
David Freitag 