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 "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” [1] So began A.W. Tozer in his bestselling book, The Knowledge of the Holy.  

He continues: “For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like." [2]  

What comes into your mind when you think about God? In your deep heart, what do you conceive God to be like? Is he like a cosmic grandpa, kind and doting on his grandkids but a bit forgetful? Is he like a divine butler, ready to meet your every need?  

Among readers of this blog, it is far more likely you perceive God to be a stern, harsh, judge with a cold, easily offended, brittle heart. If you’re honest, you often feel that God is out to get you.  

This is why we sometimes attempt to bargain with God to alleviate our pain. “If I give God what He wants, He’ll be nice to me.” This is why our first response to suffering is often “what did I do to deserve this?” This is why we feel like we cannot approach God to confess our sin. “He’s too mad, I need to let Him cool off first!”

The Scriptures tell a different story. As the prophet Jonah complained in Jonah 4:2, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”  

Or in the words of Dane Ortlund: “God is unswervingly just. But what is his disposition? What is he on the edge of his seat eager to do? If you catch me off guard, what will leap out of me before I have time to regain composure will likely be grouchiness. If you catch God off guard, what leaps out most freely is blessing. The impulse to do good. The desire to swallow us up in joy." [3] 

 

 [1] A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: HarperOne, 1961), 1.  

[2] Ibid.  

[3] Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly (Wheaton: Crossway, 2020), 140-141.