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God is the same yesterday, today, and forever
He is always the same no matter what happens (Hebrews 13:8) Malachi 3:6 tells us that God does not change. Our Father is so perfect He cannot confuse us by doing anything confusing. He is not the author of confusion, as we are told in 1 Corinthians 14:33.
If He judges one because of sin, He will judge all because of sin. He loves us all and will judge us all according to the law. Knowing exactly where we stand with God is such a blessing. We truly have no excuse if we disobey. We know we have sinned and we know we need to repent.
There is no guessing with God. He lays out His plan before us in the Bible and we can get to know Him through His Word and through heartfelt prayer. We need to reciprocate and lay out all of our plans to God (Proverbs 16:3). This develops our relationship further. In contrast, if my Dad was in an ultra good mood from perhaps having a few drinks he would be ‘nice’ to us and we would relax and not be so uptight with stress and worry. On one occasion I forgot one of my books at school which I needed to do my homework. My Dad ‘hit the roof’ and I was made to walk all the way to school and back again to get it late in the evening. The walk to school was over an hour. He could have driven me but that was the punishment apart from being screamed and yelled at, so I went to get the book. I never really knew how my physical father would react to things on any given day, and the amount of fear that produces in a child is not healthy.
I know we are to fear God but if you look closely at the scripture it tells us to have healthy fear. Healthy fear is all about respect and honour (Psalm 111:10) He is perfect and always reliable (Deuteronomy 32:4) Psalm 145:8 states “The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy”. It is so comforting to know that God has perfect self control; it takes an awful lot to make Him angry and it is justifiable anger. We can rely on God to be patient with each and every person He is working with because He is perfect and He knows just how to get the best results from us. Thankfully we are not destroyed instantly when we sin. If we go to Father with a sincere, humble, repentant heart, then all is forgiven. He removes our sin from us as far as east is from west. (Psalm 103:11-14)
I love the scripture from Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together”, says the LORD. He invites us through prayer to come to the heart or core of a matter through loving guidance with His word. I love how we can talk to Him reasonably and quietly, as a child talks to a wise Father, unafraid and knowing He will listen and will always give us His wisdom to keep us from stumbling. (Proverbs 2:1-9)
He knows the true intention of our hearts when others judge us (Hebrews 4:12-13). This is a very big thing with me. I particularly do not like it when others think badly about my motives, when I know I am being genuine. It never ceases to amaze me how negative some people can be.
Doing good to others can seem negative in some people’s eyes. It reminds me of the account in Genesis 4:3-8 of Cain and Abel. One brother goes about his business and tries to honour God with a respectful offering, while the other brother does not give a respectful offering and then murders his brother in a fit of jealous rage. Now, even though others may perceive our actions as questionable based on what their eyes see, or what they have heard secondhand, I’m reasonably alright with that now and can move on, because it really only is God’s opinion that counts at the end of the day. He knows the intentions of our hearts (Jeremiah 17:10). As long as we check our own motives for doing what we do and examine the why of it, then we ensure we have pure motives.
I used to get offended but that is not a place where anyone should go. Think of the worst thing others can do to offend you and determine in your heart a plan of what you would do that is Christ-like to counteract the offense. Plan to do them good. It really works. He never gives up on any of us (Philippians 1:6). How good is it to know that God will never give up on any of us? In Philippians 1:6 He tells us “being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”
I had a history of giving up on myself when things get tough before God called me out of the world, mainly through all the damaging messages from my Dad. I recall the time when I read this scripture and really understood it for the first time. I remember crying at how beautiful these words were to my ears and eyes. If God won’t give up on me then this surely is enough for me to keep going, knowing that if I am willing to be righteous, obedient to His laws, then God will ensure this will happen. Of course this requires daily effort on our part, but God has already given us momentous motivation.
We need to take ownership
Psalm 138:8 contains this promise. We can totally rely on His word. If you read Hebrews 6:17-18 you will know that God cannot lie; it is impossible for God to lie.
He never gets tired of helping us (Matthew 11:28-30). I truly love the fact that I can pray at any time of the day or night to Father and He will hear my prayers. He is never too tired or too busy. He always listens and gives me the answers I need. In fact, Father tells us to keep praying in 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 through Paul’s words. The more we pray to Him the more our relationship develops and deepens. Father is there at all times for us waiting patiently to hear from His children. This is very comforting to know.
In contrast, our physical fathers get tired, busy, overloaded with work, sick, even grumpy, and mine used to bellow at me, “children should be seen and not heard”, which was used quite frequently in our household, and as a young child I believed it. How I came to fear and hate those words. Whilst I cannot completely forget these damaging words from my childhood, thankfully God has adjusted this belief in my brain through the healing benefits from prayer. At last I have a Father who is not only approachable, but seeks me out (Psalm 14:2).
It is such a blessing to see how fathers relate to their children on the Sabbath and at The Feast of Tabernacles. I yearn for this time too when my physical father will be healed and be made whole.