The True Nature of God

When you do not know someone or know very little about someone, you usually make incorrect assumptions or draw incorrect conclusions about that person.  The same is true of God the Father.  When we do not take the time to get to know Him more fully, we may make incorrect assumptions or draw incorrect conclusions about Him. 

If we have not had an earthly father available to us or we have had an earthly father who has been a poor example to us, we may see or know God the Father the same way.  We may think or say, "Oh, he is never around" or "He is always leaving me."  Or...we may say, "Oh, he does not love me" or "He is not a good father."  We may think that God the Father is not available to us, or He has abandoned us, or He hates us, or He is a bad Father.  However, none of that is true about our Father.

The way we see our Father affects the way we receive from Him.  Therefore, it is very important that we correctly see Him and accurately know Him as God the Father.  We will look at God's word now in order to learn more about the true nature of God.

First of all, God is love.  (1 John 4:8)  Therefore, if He is love, His primary character trait is loving.  We can know Him more fully through His love for us as His children.  Next, please look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.  If "God is love" as we just learned in 1 John 4 and "Love is patient...kind..." as we just learned in 1 Corinthians 13, then God can also be seen and known by these characteristics.  Therefore, God is patient.  He is kind.  He is...so on and so forth. We can come to know our Father as patient, kind, and so on.

David who wrote a lot of the book of Psalms had a good and close relationship with God.  He was sincere or "real" with His Heavenly Father.  It did not matter what David was going through at the time.  He knew that he could cry out or call out to His Father whenever and wherever he wanted or needed Him.  David knew that his Father God was available to him anytime and any place.  He also came to know his Father more closely and dearly.  Thus, because of David's intimate and deeply loving relationship with his Father God, he learned more about his Father's true nature through various situations in his life.  He came to rely, depend, and trust his Father more fully because of everything they had experienced together in their relationship. 

David came to know that his Father was worthy of much praise.  Now, look at Psalm 145.  In this particular Psalm, David is actually praising his Father and talks about His characteristics.  In verse 8, David says that "The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love."   "The Lord is trustworthy in all He promises and faithful in all He does."  (Psalm 145:13b, NIV)  "The Lord is righteous in all his ways..."  (v17) "The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth."  (v18)  "The Lord watches over all who love Him..." (v20) 

Like David, we can also come to know Him more fully and accurately.  We can come to know our Father's true nature by being in a close, deep, and intimate relationship with Him.  We can also call out or cry out to our Father anytime or any place.  He is always available to us.  He is always with us!  He never leaves us!  He never forsakes us!  (Deuteronomy 31:6, 8)  He meets us exactly where we are at any given time or place.  He always loves us!  He is a good Father!

  Copyright 2013 by Dawn Freeman. All rights reserved.