WHAT'S GOD LIKE?

WHAT’S GOD LIKE? 

He is a God who always repays and will give back to you sevenfold. 

But offer no bribes; these he does not accept! Do not trust in sacrifice of the fruits of extortion.  He is a God of justice.  (Sirach 36: 13-15)

This book is called The Wisdom of Ben Sira or simply Sirach. It doesn’t really matter what it is called. What matters is that its message is as valid today as it was in its time. It begins “All Wisdom is from God.”  Further on it states, “The beginning of wisdom is awe of God.”  

When I was a child and first heard of fear of the LordI decided I didn’t want to have anything to do with God.  I never wanted to be frightened. I tried to avoid being afraid by being optimistic and careful.  Then I heard them say that God was our Father.  That made quite a difference, because my father was wonderful, so I thought, God must be wonderful, too.   As my life progressed I realized it was up to me to discover who God is and how Jesus fits into the picture. 

Some years ago seminary student Phillip Yancey stopped his studies and set out to find out who Jesus really is/was.  He went to the libraries of Divinity schools and universities and asked the librarians to show him the books about Jesus.  What he discovered is that there are thousands of them.   He then wrote a wonderful book called The Jesus I Never Knew, which was the first of many I have read on the same subject.  What I discovered is that God reveals himself to people in as many ways as there are people. I learned something from every book and still reached my own conclusions.

The whole point of this is to get to know God better for yourself.  Not the God you were taught, but the one to whom you pray and in whom you place your trust. You’ll recognize him in the works of others doing the same kind of searching. Our Christian society today has whittled God down to manageable size so that discrimination and exclusion and judgment are deemed righteous.  This cannot be true for us.  We are expected to know the immensity of God and yet know he is as close as our next heartbeat.  We are expected to live our lives in imitation of Jesus who lived his in imitation of the Father.  

We should pray for wisdom. We should read Sirach and the book of Wisdom. 

The lessons therein are shockingly similar to everything we know to be right and they were written through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit thousands of years ago. More proof that God is ever present and ready to be revealed to those who seek him. 

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin OPA