Psalm 33:6-11 – “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.  He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses.  Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!  For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.  The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.  The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.”

It is a good and healthy thing to know and fear the awesomeness of God.  He is altogether different from us.  He is perfectly holy in a way we cannot fathom in this fallen world.  He does not experience time as we do, but everything from the past until the close of time is NOW to Him.  Space has no meaning to God, for everything in creation that is outside of Himself is contained within Him.  God is the only independent being, we are all dependent upon Him for our very being, and sustained by His power.  My will and purposes are wrong/change consistently, but His purposes are always perfect and are always fulfilled perfectly according to His will.

As important though, is to know that we serve a living God, a personal God.  He is not an idea, or a thought, but He lives and breathes (in Christ) and purposes (in the Father) and empowers action (in the Spirit) even as I write this, and even as you read this.  God feels emotion, God is acquainted with every sorrow and joy in their fullness.  We do not see God, therefore it is easy to think of Him as separate from us, impersonal perhaps.  My encouragement, therefore, is to know when you pray that you are praying to a God who is deeply relational.  They very being of God is relational within the Trinity.   While God may grow our faith through a time of feeling His absence, His love for us ensures that His ultimately desire is for us to know Him fully, and enjoy Him forever.  This was the same encouragement given by John to those who had not seen Jesus as He had:

1 John 1:1-4 – “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Our God is not a force or power.  Our God was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead.  He is risen, and lives today.  Take comfort that our God is not money, or a statue that is created by human hands; we serve a living God, and will be with Him for eternity.

Grace and Peace,

Adam