What is your image of God?

One day I was thinking, what kind of image do I have of God? The result of my own thought startled me! The picture that I had was that of a revengeful God, who was nitpicking on every sin that I had committed and was eagerly waiting to punish me. I thought, can it be true that a God who says that He loves us immensely become a revengeful God? How can he say that, He came to die for us and that too for our sin if He was a revengeful God? The thoughts were bewildering but I wanted to know the truth.

Many times our world views and thoughts are created and established by the things that we see around us. If a person was taught that all men are liars or vice versa, he or she would grow up thinking that it is the truth. Haven’t we found something like this in us or in our friends? But compare it with truth and check, is it true? I believe the answer would be No! Even in the case of God we have many preconceptions about God that He is that and this. He is a revengeful God, he is the cause of all evil and he is not concerned about the lives of mere human. We even can add more to this list. Today I was reading the Book of Job in the Bible. The first chapter says that Job was blessed and was the richest than any one at his time. “He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.” (Job 1:3)  When we read further we find that all these blessings and possessions are destroyed in seconds. (Job 1: 13-19) In the next chapter we find that even his health is affected. Still, the image of God for Job doesn’t change. He never curses God and says anything bad about him. Now, compare Job with ourselves and try to answer this question – What is our image of God? Do we say that God is good all the time? Or is it when everything around us goes nice and good? What was our response to God when trying situations came?

Can God become bad when we have to go through trying times? Can he become the propagator of evil, when he defines himself as love? One thing that I have learned in my life is that hard times make us stronger. It prepares us to push hard when we have to face the next challenge. It is not because God is a revengeful God that He takes us through hard times, not even because he wants us to suffer. It is just because God wants us to be stronger. He still loves us as He loved us before. So the next time that you feel like cursing God or you want to trade the true image of God for a untrue one, remember, no matter what you do, God will be the same!  He is still the loving God who died for you!