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All sincere believers
desire to love and trust their Creator but, because some have a limited
understanding of their God, their faith in Him is weak and frail. Knowing
God deeply leads to loving and trusting Him deeply.
Delving into His mind, and reflecting upon His great works, leads to the
realization that God’s love, wisdom and justice are without bounds.
God’s works among men
manifest a Being who has a great plan for humanity that He wisely, and
justly, advances in very effective and, at times, mysterious ways.
In fact, on occasion, His works may even leave us perplexed and confused.
Yet God reassures us that all He does -- no matter how seemingly unusual
-- is based on justice and fairness: “I am the Lord which exercise
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these
things I delight, saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:24).
This work was written to
increase the reader’s knowledge of the great God. More specifically, it is
meant to increase his/her understanding and appreciation of God’s
character, His love for righteousness, His great wisdom and His unending
love. Above all, it is meant to strengthen the reader’s faith and trust in
the Almighty so that he/she may turn to Him with total assurance in the
fact that “He is, and that He is the rewarder of those that diligently
seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
To accomplish this aim,
this book will take the reader on a journey through the Bible that will
explore God’s nature and His works, in a way that is both original
and unusual. Each entry begins with the thought-provoking
hypothetical question, “What if God…?” and will then ask the reader to
imagine a god who would have handled people and situations differently
than the Eternal. Afterwards, the reader is reminded of how God truly is,
and the reasons for His, at times seemingly incomprehensible actions.
For instance, we believers
accept the fact that God is “longsuffering,” and this assures us that He
will be patient toward our frailties. But what if God were not
longsuffering? What if God were not willing to be patient with our
rebellious and sinful spirit? If this were the case, what would have
befallen humanity? Fortunately, the scriptures assure us that God
is longsuffering, and many events in the Bible spotlight this great
truth.
The Bible tells us that God
destroyed the ancient world and only saved Noah and his family. This seems
to be quite a drastic measure, and some skeptics point to it as an example
of incomprehensible cruelty on God’s part. But what if God had not
destroyed the inhabitants of the earth and had allowed them, instead, to
continue in their degeneracy? Would that have been a wiser decision? Or
could it be that God’s verdict was both appropriate and necessary?
Again, God appears to be
very harsh, when He orders Israel to totally eradicate the
inhabitants of Canaan. Scoffers point to this as one more example of
sadism on God’s part and insist that it contradicts the “God is Love”
idea. But what if God had not ordered the Canaanites’ total destruction,
and had allowed all of them to live side by side with Israel,
though extremely evil? Would God have shown more justice by doing that?
Moreover, God appears
surprisingly unjust when He decimates thousands of seemingly innocent
Israelites, because of David’s stubborn sin. Once David realized his
grave mistake, he begged to be forgiven; yet God responded that His
decision to destroy thousands of Israelites was irrevocable. Why would a
God of goodness not forgive a repentant sinner? Most of all, why punish
Israel when David was the one who sinned? Could it be that even this most
perplexing event reveals God’s divine wisdom and justice?
In the New Testament, we
take many events surrounding Christ for granted. But what if God had not
allowed Christ to give His life for us, or if Christ had chosen not to
come and die for the sins of humanity? In addition, Christ chose to die on
the cross after hours of unbearable anguish. But what if Christ had simply
died a quick death, pierced by a Roman sword or by a fast-acting poison?
He would have died for us anyway, but He chose a much more gruesome end.
Could that, also, have great significance in helping us understand the
mind of God and Christ?
Lastly, what if God would
not climax the end of our age with the horrific events described in the
book of Revelation? What if He would, instead, orchestrate Christ’s return
in a much more peaceful and much less catastrophic way? Would not that be
much more appropriate from a loving God, or could it be that even the
cataclysmic end of the age is another manifestation of God’s wisdom and
greatness?
As believers will discover
by reading each entry, God’s actions are invariably wise,
fair and just. No matter how seemingly cruel or unjustified, every
one of his interventions, when looked at closely, reveal great
patience, wisdom and justice.
This work is meant to be a
mind expanding and transforming experience. The author’s hope is that by
reading and reflecting upon God’s traits and motives, the reader’s
understanding of God’s mind will reach new heights and that his love and
respect for God will multiply. Most of all, the author’s hope is that by
reading this work readers will be greatly reassured that the ruler of the
universe is the best Creator there could ever be, the best Father we could
ever have, and that humanity is in very good hands.
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