God is not

We need to focus primarily on who God is. However in several places, God inspires writers of the Bible to mention what He is not.  If we think about it, this is bound to be helpful.  We want to understand our God, and that has to include knowing the boundary between what is and what is not true of Him.

As Israel’s wilderness sojourn was coming to an end, a pagan king tried to bribe one of God’s prophets to curse Israel. The prophet, Balaam, wanted the money and eventually he succumbed to his greed, but to start with he spoke truly:

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Numbers 23:19)

Balaam goes on to explain that God had pronounced blessing on Israel, so cursing them was not going to happen. The reason?  “God is not man.”  Specifically, He doesn’t lie, and He doesn’t flip-flop the way we humans do.

This is really, really important, don’t you think?  We pray for, hope for, count on God’s blessings and His promises. It’s really good to have the assurance that God is far more reliable than people.  We’re all too familiar with people who lie or turn out to be incapable of keeping their word.

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul writes, “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” (1 Corinthians 14:33)  Paul is addressing a set of specific issues regarding noisy and inappropriate behavior at their worship services. But he states this as a general principle. Isn’t this important, helpful and very comforting to know?  There’s lots of confusion in our world, including confusion about God Himself. It helps a lot to know this about our God, that He is not the source of confusion. And in fact, on the flip side of that negative, He is the source of peace, harmony, quietness.

Here’s another one:

For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. (Hebrews 6:10)

God notices. He isn’t ignorant or uncaring regarding what we’re doing with our lives. Our work and our love don’t earn us salvation. But God certainly does want us to be working and showing love to those around us, and when we do, it pleases Him. But again we have a general principle: God is not unjust. Isn’t that a critical thing we need to know about God?

In this same letter, the writer comments on a bunch of faithful people from the past, including some who were called upon to uproot their lives. They did so, in faith, trusting where God was taking them rather than going back.

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)

God never has any cause to be ashamed of anything He does. But isn’t it interesting to think that we might do something that would make Him ashamed to be called our God? Apparently, that would be the result if we fail to continue believing in His promises.

God is not unreliable or vacillating.  God is not a source of confusion.  God is not unjust.  And I pray, God is not ashamed to be called my God.

Love, Paul