Take a moment to picture God in your mind. What do you think of? Do you see someone in the clouds with a long, white beard? When I was a child, I remember imagining that God looked a bit like Steve from Blue’s Clues, sitting up there on His own “thinking chair,” only His shirt was a plain yellow t-shirt, and there were clouds all around Him. (Yes, there is the distinct probability that I watched too much Blue’s Clues growing up. In my defense, though, God did look like an older, whiter, bearded Steve.)
Maybe you don’t see God as a person. Do you see clouds, light, more of vague bits of scenery, like an idea of God, almost? What is His expression? What is His disposition?
But, more importantly, how do you see God acting? How do you see Him treating you?
It’s said that we associate God with the way our earthly father acts. I’m not sure if I believe this is true 100% of the time, though it’s a good place to start. I think it might be more appropriate to say that we associate God with the way an authority figure in our life acts, maybe mix in a few our own ideas and knowledge that we’ve gleaned from the Bible, and sprinkle it with some fear and love. What we come up with, then, is more of a human way of relating to God. This isn’t bad, because that’s the only way that we can really think about God is through our own human mechanisms, but it isn’t complete. God is so beyond anything that we could conceive, and we can only rationalize what small bits and pieces we can see manifested in our own lives. And God is multi-faceted, God is ever higher, God is ever more awesome than we can possibly fathom.
Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us: “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” If God’s thoughts and ways aren’t our own, we can only assume how different that He, Himself is! Any way that we imagine or think of God is tainted by the limited grasp of...well, everything.
But God doesn’t fault us that we have an incomplete picture of Him when we honestly try our best. He understands that we can’t fully comprehend His glory, just as Moses could not (Exodus 33). But that doesn’t mean that He wants us to stop trying. It doesn’t mean that He wants us to settle for an incomplete version Himself.
God is a blend. God is justice. God is mercy. God is so many more attributes than we even have human words for.
Today, I feel like God is too often misconstrued as two opposing ends of a spectrum: God is love. God loves everyone. God will never punish anyone. The other end is: God is a firm, legalistic power. God only wants to punish everyone. God is staring down at you, waiting for you to mess up, so that He can send you to Hell.
The truth is in the middle. God is firm, but God is love. God can be firm love—and God can be soft love. God will punish, but God never stops showing you grace. It’s you that chooses to either accept it or reject it. He will never stop calling you, but you can stop listening.
So: what is your view of God today?
When you see God, how do you usually view Him?
But also: how does He view you?
It would take a much longer post and more words than I could possibly know to break down my view of God, to separate what is faulty and what is true in my own mind. But today, I only want to relay to the message that was put on my heart.
God adores you.
Think about that. I asked you to imagine God back at the beginning of the article; now, I want you to turn His expression into a smile. Put a twinkle in His eye. You know who put that twinkle there? You did. With your praise, with your worship, just by being you—God adores you.
Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever felt that I was “adored” by God. Oh, by no means did I think He hated me—I knew He loved me—but “adore” is a heavy word. It shows an unfathomable love, but not only that: a joy. I had never put much thought into if I gave God joy. I mean, why would I give God joy? I’m not that funny. I’m not that special. I mean, sure, He might have a laugh at my klutziness every once in a while, but joy? Why would I possibly give God joy?
The answer, dear reader, is because God adores us. We are His children. And, yes, He can get upset at us. He can dislike the things we do. Hello, Paul’s letters are filled with things that God hates, and if you open the Bible up to any Old Testament page, 8/10 you’ll probably see God giving Israel the what-for.
But that doesn’t mean He doesn’t adore us. Like any parent, He takes the bad with the good and loves us anyway. He smiles down upon us. Sometimes, it seems “off” to picture God smiling. Like it might conflict with our view of this Being in the Sky. Like it doesn’t seem appropriate for the “crotchety old grandfather professor” to actually smile.
But He does smile. He smiles because of you, when you love Him, when you worship Him, when you take time to talk to Him, when you follow Him. All these things make Him smile upon you.
Numbers 6:24-27 says this: “‘“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’ Some translations even translate this as: may the Lord smile upon you.
There isn’t some big moral to this story. It’s more of just a hope that a feeling will be conveyed upon you: that, yes, God smiles upon you. God loves you.
Regardless of what you think of Him, God adores you.
Song: He Knows My Name by Francesca Battistelli
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