Who Is God?
Have you ever wondered who God is? Maybe you have an idea, but does that image you have in your head match who He truly is? Many times we view God through our own filter of experiences which gives a construed perception of who we think He is. Perhaps your image of God is from movies, books, or from who others say He is. It can be difficult to view God as a loving Father if what you have experienced from your earthly father is a stark contrast. If you have had an estranged relationship with your dad, it may feel awkward or unsafe to trust God.
How can we know for sure who God is and what He’s like? First, you have to believe the Bible is true because it tells us and shows us who He is. Jesus says in John 14:7, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” We find out who God is and what He’s like through Jesus and what the scriptures say about Him.
The first thing we need to understand and believe about God is that He IS LOVE. He Isn’t just loving, but He is actually love itself. 1 John 4:7-8 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
This passage of scripture is telling us that to understand who God is, we have to be in the position of love. In other words, you will never see God for who He truly is if you’re viewing Him from a worldly perspective.
For example, I’m a music teacher at our school and teach around 75 students a day. My students know who I am, but their knowledge of me is minimal. They know my name, they know I can sing, play instruments, and know music “stuff.” However, most of them have no idea that I have a podcast, have written books, and have a life outside of teaching music. Although they see me every day and sit in my class, they don’t really know me. I also teach private music lessons. Those students get one-on-one time with me each week and some of them are very inquisitive about who I am. They ask about my favorite color, food, place I’ve been, and all kinds of other random inquiries. And although they have more knowledge of what I like and don’t like, they still don’t know everything about me.
Now, if you asked my parents and kids who I am, their answers would be very different than my students. They know my daily routines, and what makes me happy, sad, or angry. They could tell you a story - or two or three about who I am from their own experiences with me. But even further than that, my husband knows me better than anyone else because He knows me intimately (I’m not just talking about sex). We have a covenant relationship and have become one. Therefore, his perspective of me and understanding of who I am is far different than anyone else.
Now consider your relationship with God. Do you know about Him? Do you know some of the stories in the Bible about how He did miracles here and there? Or perhaps you pray to Him, but it’s usually a one-way conversation. You tell Him what you need, or pray for others, but maybe you’re not as familiar with listening for His response back to you. Just like it took a covenant relationship with my husband for Him to know me intimately, we have to be in an intimate, covenant relationship with God to know Him and have the revelation of who He is.
That means, repenting of our sins, asking Jesus into our hearts, and becoming “born again.” But then we can’t stop at the door of salvation. We also must obey His commandment which is to love God and love others. It is only when we are abiding IN love that we can know God.
The Hebrew word for love in 1 John 4:8 is the word khehsed, which means merciful and kind. Is that how you see God? Do you see Him as merciful and kind or do you see Him as someone keeping tally marks every time you mess up?
Let’s look at this further in 1 Corinthians 13 (the love chapter) to define more of who God is. We often hear this scripture quoted at weddings and so we have demoted the definition of love to a feeling or an emotion. But let’s look at it as the characteristics of who God is. Since we learned that God IS love, let’s insert God in for love. Verse 4-8 reads, “Love (God) suffers long and is kind; love (God) does not envy; love (God) does not parade itself, (He) is not puffed up; (He) does not behave rudely, (He) does not seek its (His) own, (He) is not provoked, (God) thinks no evil; (He) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (He) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love (God) never fails.”
Wow! That totally changes our perspective of who God is. I covered a whole chapter about this in my book, Planted. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly suggest ordering it today.
The names of God also reveal who He is and demonstrates His love:
Jehovah-Shalom – the Lord is our Peace (Judges 6:24)
Jehovah-Ra-ah – the Lord is my Shepherd (Psalm 23:1)
Jehovah-Jireh – the Lord will provide (Genesis 22:14)
Jehovah-Nissi – the Lord our Banner (Exodus 17:15)
Jehovah-Tsidkenu – the Lord our Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6)
Jehovah-Rapha – the Lord our Physician (Exodus 15:26)
It’s impossible for us to begin to scratch the surface of who God is, but we get a better understanding when we enter into a relationship with Him – in love. God wants to be known by you. He doesn’t want to be a mystery. He created us to have a relationship – for someone to lavish His love on.