"Our" God

For the LORD is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
Psalm 95.3

As the song says, “Our God is an awesome God,” but is He “our” God? He is “Our Father,” as Jesus rightly instructed us in the Lord's prayer. But I have to admit there are times when I hear some folks talk about “my God” and “my Jesus” when I wonder about who belongs to who. Sometimes I get the impression that people misunderstand just who holds right of ownership, if you will.

You see, God is the one who creates us, who calls us, who claims us, and our lives belong to Him. There simply is no way that He is beholding to us, much less that He can in any way be controlled or “made over” (“re-imagined” if you prefer) by us. But there are an awful lot of people who want to have a God they can tuck on their belt, or in their pocketbook, to pull out when they want to use Him, like a cell phone or a Scout's pocketknife. To some, I believe, God is sort of a faithful companion, like their dog: accepting, caring, forgiving, always happy when they give Him some of their attention.

Now all this might work for the many false gods in the world. False gods and idols can be manipulated and used pretty much anyway you please. So I don't really have a problem that Muslims “have” their god, and Buddhists their god, and Hindus their countless gods, and so on. When your god is but mere creation, as opposed to the Creator, you can “have” your god be who you want, “Have” him or her do what you want. Christians do not have any such option because we don't “have” a God, God has us! We are His, and He alone gets to determine what He will do. Even more, we are supposed to turn over decision making control of our lives to Him. As sheep belong to the shepherd, and not the other way around, so we are the people of His pasture (PS 95.7). He is our God because He has made us His flock. We follow the Shepherd, we don't lead Him.

So, as emotional and moving as so many of the songs about “My” God, and “My” Lord, and “My” Jesus are, I confess that I worry about what a lot of these songs say. And, even more, I worry about what many of those who so passionately sing these songs, believe about “their” God.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4